Homework: Learning to plan, focus and stimulate
Sometimes I wish my children were in school in Finland, as homework does not exist in elementary school there. Unfortunately, I live in the Netherlands and even if your elementary school doesn't give you homework, you will get it in high school and especially in your college days.
Doing homework, then, is an art to be learned at an early age in order to make a success of your period in school and get the most out of it. However, doing homework is easier said than done for most of us.
Therefore, in this blog, I discuss doing homework, continuing to do homework and provide tips for both those who need to do homework and parents to especially encourage yourself or your child to do homework.
Schedule homework
One of the most effective steps you can take to get your homework done is to plan it well. By planning well, you’ll work more effectively, ultimately spend less time on your homework, and most importantly: you’ll actually get your homework done.
A schedule means you are making some kind of commitment to yourself; it is a kind of stick.
There are an awful lot of other fun things you can do, but if you don't do your homework you will learn less and get lower grades. In addition, you will have less knowledge than if you had done your homework, and that disadvantage in particular is a shame. You may learn something that will benefit you for the rest of your life.
In any case, research does show that there is a correlation between the time students spend doing homework and the results for their subjects( 1). The more time spent on homework, the higher the results in those subjects.
Tip #1: Buy a diary
If you don't already have a calendar, it's helpful to buy one. Ultimately, you can't always remember all the dates for homework and assignments well. This also constantly makes you feel like you're forgetting something, you can use your brain much better for memorizing and not for planning the lessons.
The calendar allows you to keep track of everything and not forget any assignments.
Tip 2: Also, write down when you do homework
You can also use the calendar by writing down in it when you do homework. For example, you can choose to do math homework every Thursday afternoon and geography homework every Tuesday afternoon.
Tip 3: Write a homework schedule on a piece of paper and hang it by your desk
If you don't find it convenient to put everything in your calendar because you'd have to have such a large calendar, you can also put it in an outline and hang or put it by your desk.
The best part, of course, is that you purchase a whiteboard. Here you can put a new schedule on it every week and check off what you have already finished. A schedule like this above your desk gives you a foothold and makes your planning tangible and clear.
Planning help
Sometimes you need help with planning. While planning, it can all get too much for you, and also the assignments may vary so you may need more time for Dutch one time and more time for math the next.
In that case, you can ask your parents for help to help plan. If this is not possible or if your parents are not such talented planners either, there is usually a student advisor at your school or college who can help you with this.
Tip for parents
Children are fairly easy to influence because they are still open to suggestions. For example, if you tell them they’re very good at planning and doing their homework, they’ll want to live up to that image.
If you say they are just not good at it, it often stays that way. Therefore, occasionally comment to your child that he or she is so good at planning and so focused while doing his/her homework. This is a form of giving hypnotic suggestions, if you do this subtly before bedtime it can influence behavior in a positive way.
Learn to plan
Planning is not always something that automatically goes well. If you've bought a calendar but aren't doing anything with it, there's still a lot to learn.
Tip 4: Make it a challenge
It takes about 4 weeks to form a new habit. This is also why 30-day challenges are so popular. Fortunately, you can use them for more than just exercise or healthy eating—for example, to help you use your calendar more effectively.
For 30 days, use your calendar to write down homework and plan homework. Then after that, it will become automatic.
Tip for parents
Help your child make any changes necessary to maximize homework planning. For example, you can check together every Monday to see if a particular subject requires more space than initially thought.
Learning to focus
Then when you have the planning in place, there's another problem. You start doing homework, but after 10 minutes you get distracted and suddenly find yourself spending half an hour watching YouTube videos or doing other things. Concentrating properly because of this is sometimes an art.
There are several things you can do to focus better.
Tip 5: Use mindfulness
Mindfulness is a way of being with your thoughts in the here and now and with the task at hand. By being mindful you are aware of your thoughts and therefore you are also more quickly aware of distractions. This allows you to stop that more easily.
So an example would be that you are doing homework and you are trying to get into the flow of doing homework. Then when you notice that your thoughts start to wander to your smartphone or to other things you can do, take a few deep breaths and focus again on the feel of your pen in your hand or your fingers on the keyboard and the lesson material you need to read in order to do the homework well.
Tip 6: Meditate every 40 minutes
Meditation is a great way to relax and suffer less stress. Especially if your homework assignment is very demanding, it can be quite frustrating. That frustration is not conducive to your ability to concentrate. By doing something else every 40 minutes for 2 minutes, like meditating, you calm that feeling and then you can move on.
During meditation, you sit or lie down quietly and focus on your breathing. You breathe through your belly, which then moves instead of the chest, and you also try to relax your muscles. You can do a quick body scan for this.
Tip for parents
Change your wifi password and don't give it to your child until the homework is finished, without being rattled off. Of course, this only works for homework that does not require the wifi.
Tips for studying better
By now you can plan and improve your concentration, but you may want to further your studies. In that case, you can also implement the following tips.
Tip 6: Turn off the wifi and your smartphone
For most homework assignments, you don't need the Internet. If this is the case, it is wise to turn off your wifi and also to turn off your smartphone or at least put it in another room. The temptation to do something else then anyway becomes a lot less and this way you get into the flow faster.
You can also get apps for this that temporarily block your Internet at the times you study. Very effective!
Tip 7: Exercise every 40 minutes
You can also alternate meditation by exercising every 40 minutes, or at least every 90 minutes. For example, you can do 10 pushups, squats or walk to the kitchen to grab a cup of tea. As long as you're moving for a while.
This will give your body and also your mind more energy.
Help with concentration problems
Are these tips not helping you stay focused? Do you have thoughts that are about something completely different than what has happened on your social media or is in the news right now? Are these thoughts just about whether you can handle everything? In that case, you can also get help to get rid of those kinds of thoughts.
Self-hypnosis, for example, is a way to boost your self-confidence. This can be achieved, for instance, through suggestions about all the things you are capable of, even if you’re still struggling with them right now. These are suggestions about things that are achievable for you, even if you aren’t yet convinced of it yourself. A hypnotherapist can help you with this.
Another way to increase self-confidence is to visualize how you are doing homework. How it feels when everything is going well, how you are when you are in the flow and how it looks when you turn in the homework.
In addition to self-hypnosis, you can also see a hypnotherapist to find out what’s making it difficult for you to stay on top of your homework. Is there a belief you hold that makes you think you can’t do something? If so, a hypnotherapist can help you get to the bottom of it. This can be done using techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy or regression therapy.
Would you like to learn more about mental techniques to help yourself or others with personal development? Then join the free online masterclass or check out the courses offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.
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