Falling behind in school is a common problem when students have mental health flare-ups. It can seem like a never-ending cycle of having to choose between prioritizing school and your mental health.
As a mental health therapist that specializes in counseling teenagers through a variety of mental health flares, I know that there’s a better way where you can choose both school AND your mental health. (WIN-WIN!!)
If you want to get caught up in school without ruining your mental health, this homework catch-up plan is the perfect way to get started!!
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PART 1: PREP
→ Get those Coping Skills ready.
This is going to be an emotional journey and you'll want to pace yourself. Coping Skills don’t necessarily solve the problem (that usually comes later) but they can help you hang in there through overwhelming or uncomfortable circumstances.
Some helpful coping skills when feeling overwhelmed can include:
deep breathing (this can help you settle your mind and body so you can focus a bit longer)
encouraging statements (“you’ve got this!” or “this won’t last forever” are some favorites of mine)
wearing something that feels comfortable but puts you in work mode (try not to wear pajamas)
→ Get clear on your Ultimate Goals.
Why are you even stressing about getting caught up in school? It’s usually tied to a bigger goal. When you can get clear on what your ultimate goals are, this can help you to stay motivated to get started and get it done.
Having trouble getting clear on your goals?? Then I highly recommend you check out the Visual Your Perfect Day and Finding Your Purpose videos. They’re both included in the Self Care Bundle with other curated goodies and treats for you, including some guided workbooks.
>> Sign Up for Access to the Self Care Bundle here <<
→ Get Support
Tell your teachers that you’re struggling to get caught up. They may help you prioritize you even eliminate some assignments from your catch-up plan. If you’re having trouble getting support and helpf from your teachers, then use your guidance counselor. They help students catch up all the time and are pros at navigating difficult conversations with teachers on their student’s behalf.
While you’re at it, tell your friends, your family, your coaches- pretty much anyone who might want to support you. This helps add a layer of support and accountability. Your friends, family and teams can’t support you if they don’t even know there’s a problem you need support with. Sometimes they can add unintentional pressure if they don’t understand how overwhelmed you are.
For even extra support, get a therapist or an academic coach- heck there are even educational therapists now. They can help you with the emotional burden of getting caught up in school as well as create healthier study and homework habits moving forward so you don’t keep recreating this stressful scenario in the future.
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PART 2: FACE THE MUSIC
→ Make a list of ALL your missing assignments.
You can't get started if you don't know what you need to catch up on. I highly recommend making your own list, and not an automated list that your school provides. While Google classroom, or other systems, can be great, it can also be very overwhelming to see all those missing assignments in one place while you’re getting alerts for new ones, too.
You can handwrite this (that’s my preference), or create a digital list. Whatever you choose, make sure you can easily see and cross off assignments as you complete them. That way you can see the progress you’re making as you go.
→ Stay Current.
It's a lot easier to stay caught up on your current assignments, while you're working on your backlog. Plus this will show your teachers that you are trying and interested in learning, which can go a long way come grading time.
If you try to work from the most overdue to current assignments, you’ll find yourself in a never-ending catch-up plan where the list keeps growing longer than you can keep up.
When you stay current, these assignments are often easier to complete because they are still fresh in mind, and you’ll build momentum to keep going on those overdue and missing assignments.
→ Prioritize Your List
After you’ve completed your current work, choose 1-3 missing assignments to focus on next. This can feel much more manageable than looking at the full list of missing assignments. Plus, if you finish these and still have energy, you can always work on more assignments from the list to get even more done.
You can prioritize your assignments based on a variety of different factors such as:
your energy and the level of effort needed to complete that assignment
level of importance
due date
easiest
most difficult
alphabetical
random pick
Whatever you decide, stay flexible and kind with yourself. You may think one assignment will take less time than it does, or find you need more information to fully complete a missing assignment. It’s OK to adjust your priorities as you go.
PART 3: DO THE WORK
→ Declutter + Clean Your Workspace
Taking the time to declutter and clean your workspace will help you stay clear-minded and focused on your assignments.
It’s important not to use this as an avoidance/procrastination strategy.
While it would be great to completely deep clean your room, that might not be necessary to get started. Just taking 5-10 minutes to declutter and clear your workspace should be enough to jumpstart your homework catch-up session.
→ Set a Timer + Start
There’s a time management principle that a task will take however long you give it. So if you say you’ll work on a paper all weekend, it will likely take you all weekend to complete that paper. Though if you tell yourself you only have Saturday morning to complete that paper because you have plans Saturday night, you’ll likely get it done on Saturday morning.
Setting a timer also allows you to stay focused on a task without having to constantly check the time. You can know that the timer will let you know how much time has passed.
I personally love to use the Pomodoro technique where you set a timer to focus on one task or assignment for 25-minutes, then take a 5-minute break, before starting the next 25-minute focusing round, and repeat.
→ Self-Care Maintenance
It can be easy to get caught in the burn bright, then burn out cycle if you stay too focused on catching up. This can actually exacerbate the problems that led to you needing to catch up in school in the first place. The best way to make sure you break this cycle is by maintaining your basic self-care.
Some main areas to make sure you’re maintaining your self-care are:
Sleep (are you getting enough sleep or are you oversleeping/over-relying on naps?)
Taking your medication as prescribed (if you aren’t or find yourself relying on alcohol or other substances, make sure your primary care provider and prescriber know)
Restorative Rest (yes, we need downtime to recharge)
One Thing (focusing on changing/adjusting one thing at time; stop trying to multitask)
Nutrition (make sure you are eating throughout the day and take note if certain foods or beverages are impacting your ability to concentrate, stay away, or focus)
Get Moving (take time to stretch, walk, or move your body- even dancing can help)
A super fun, easy way to stay on top of this basic self-care maintenance is with Self Care BINGO for Teens. These cards are included in the Self-Care Bundle.
>> Click here to access the Self-Care Bundle now <<
And of course, stay kind to yourself. Catching up in school can be quite a challenge! It likely took longer than one day or one weekend to fall behind, so stay gentle that it may take more than a weekend to catch up. YOU GOT THIS ROCKSTAR!!
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