With the return to the rigor and rhythm of the school year, we at SchoolTutoring.com want to provide tips and advice for families so that their children can succeed in their academics. An often overlooked element of a successful weekly routine is to balance academics, extracurriculars, and free time. In order to achieve this balance, we will present a few principles that can be of help.
1. Prioritize
Before signing up for sports, dance, martial arts, tutoring, or any other extracurricular activity, an important first step is to determine priorities. With limited time and energy throughout the week, not all desired events and activities can be completed. While specific priorities may vary from family to family and from student to student, determining which extracurriculars are the most deserving of time, energy, and effort is crucial both in determining what to add and what to subtract (if necessary) from the weekly schedule.
2. Identify Hidden Costs
It can be easy to get excited about a new activity. Whatever the event, when signing up we often focus solely on the demands of event itself, not everything else. For example, it can be easy to think of playing on a basketball team as requiring 2 hours per week, 1 for games and 1 for practice. This is a dramatic underestimation of the true cost of signing up for the league. In addition to the hour of game time or practice, transportation time, equipment, whether siblings must also attend, and fitting in meals are also impacted. It is not unreasonable for a 1-hour event on a weeknight to turn into 2 hours when travel, preparation, and the actual event are included. That is to say nothing of how family members and mealtimes are affected. Considering the true cost, both in terms of time and money, can help to contextualize the current demands of a weekly schedule and whether there is room for anything more.
3. Value Free Time
Empty time in the calendar is not useless. It represents time to catch up on obligations, deal with unexpected events, or simply relax. A mistake that is easy to make is to need to fill every available slot in the weekly schedule. While children may not always use free time to do something overtly productive, they often use this time to express their creativity through play and subconsciously process events from the day. This is not a useless endeavor, as it represents a less formal method of learning that is valuable.
If you have more questions about building a balanced weekly schedule or wish to get the help of a tutor, feel free to contact an Academic Director at +1 (877) 545-7737.
