It is easy to get lazy over the holidays, especially when it comes to school work. Who wants to read The Scarlet Letter when everyone else is lounging around with their family or out ice skating with friends in the cool, crisp winter air? However, as you know far too well, schoolwork doesn’t disappear over the holidays. It is important to try to stay focused and complete your homework even though there are many distractions. While online school allows you to have incredible flexibility, it also requires you to discipline yourself.
Plan Ahead
The luxury of digital learning is that you get to set your own schedule. However, that blessing can quickly become a curse if you don’t properly schedule your time to complete your coursework – especially during the holidays. Rather than procrastinating and cramming together sub-par work at the last minute, map out what school work you need to complete by the end of the year, and make a plan of how you are going to accomplish it all. Dedicate time every day to work on your homework, and if you can, get ahead on your coursework so that it is not as stressful later on in the holiday season.
Don’t Leave Things to the Last Minute
As mentioned above, try to get ahead in your coursework before the holiday jingles sink in. Assume that you will not do much (if any) work between Christmas and New Year’s Day and resolve to accomplish as much as you can beforehand instead. By scheduling a little bit of extra time every day to work on school work, you’ll nix the holiday stress and ensure you produce quality work.
Reward Yourself
You shouldn’t have to keep yourself cooped up all day during the holidays! Make sure to take breaks to enjoy the season. Set time and task bench marks, and when you reach those benchmarks, reward yourself. Make yourself a cup of hot chocolate, or eat a slice of pie. For more major accomplishments, allow yourself to go spend time with friends and family in winter activities like sledding or ice skating.
Take Advantage of Time
If you have a few extra minutes after a family dinner before dessert, take that time to do a little bit of coursework. Take your English novel with you when you visit friends and family just in case you have a few minutes of down time.
Study in a Quiet Place
With the hectic nature of the holidays, it may seem impossible to get any work done. If you try to study in a noisy area with lots of friends and family hanging out, you will become distracted. If you need to, leave the house and go to the local library to get some peaceful study time.