Weighing In

Tips for Balancing School, Friends and Extracurricular Activities

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million different directions, you’re not alone. Today’s middle school student is faced with tougher classes, more homework, sports, new clubs, social events and digital distractions. You want to do it all, but is it possible? The answer is “yes,” you can succeed academically and socially. It just takes a little planning and practice, as well as knowing your limits.

Step 1:
Use a calendar. You’re probably already using a calendar at school for assignments and due dates, but are you using it to the maximum potential? When we’re better organized, we tend to feel less overwhelmed. Write your schedule down in your
calendar and as far out as you can. Use different colors to code things like red for schoolwork, blue for sports, and green for fun time with friends.

Step 2:
Plan ahead. Part of using a calendar is time blocking, where you actually schedule out how long something should take. It’s easy to block time like soccer practice that lasts an hour, but when it comes to homework assignments and making time for friends, you’ll need to be a bit more disciplined. For example, it’s Saturday and normally a time when you want to hang out with friends but you also see that big project for history class is due in less than two weeks. This is a time when you’ll need to prioritize. Schedule time to work on your assignment for a couple of hours before meeting with friends.

Step 3:
Make time for fun. A whopping 61% of kids surveyed said they wish they had more free time, and most say they’d use it hanging out with friends. At your age, it’s important to spend time socially and making new friends. You also need to do fun
things you like to do so that the “important” things don’t feel so stressful. Whether it’s sports, movies, music or art, just make sure you set some time aside for fun.

Step 4:
Talk to your parents. If even after trying these tips you still find it difficult to balance your time between school, activities and friends, talk about it with your parents. It might be that you just have too much on your plate and time to think about making
some changes. Sometimes simply making an adjustment in your schedule or dropping a certain activity will free up time for other things and most importantly… result in a happier you!