When completing school from home, having a place to zone in and focus on schoolwork or college applications is essential for maximizing productivity.

My biggest piece of advice is to… 

GET OUT OF BED!

I am guilty of this myself, but sitting up at a desk or somewhere with a table and chair will help you be more engaged in your courses. If you are lying in bed and doing work, your bed is used for multiple purposes and your body gets confused. If you work in one place and then sleep in your bed, it is likely that you sleep better and fall asleep faster.

1. Organize your room and other areas for studying

If you have an older sibling who is in college, use their bedroom as a study space and use yours for relaxing and sleeping. If you can use the dining room, use the space to your advantage! With more room to layout work, textbooks, and stationary, it provides a new setting that becomes associating with schoolwork. With whatever space you decide to use, keep it organized! Having a messy workspace will create messy work. Have a clean slate to study on and fewer distractions will be present.

2. Get school supplies that you like

When you have different pens, pencils, and highlighters to take notes with, the colors can help you remember information. For example, I only use my yellow highlighter for definitions of words, so when I color the sentence in, the connection between the color and the type of information may help it stick in your brain. I do this for all of my highlighters and it has improved my organization of notes. Making a key to the color and the type of material to stick to the back of the front cover can help you remember what shades go with each fact. 

3. Snacks

Eating enough is essential during online school. With spending hours a day staring at the screen, you can get fatigued very easily. Having a snack nearby in your space can help with low energy.

• Nuts
  • With high levels of essential fatty acids, nuts like almonds, cashews, pistachios, and walnuts help the brain perform well. They also have a higher amount of calories, but these calories are great for energy. 
• Granola bars 
  • Luna Lemon Zest bars are great because they have less than 10 grams of sugar in them!
  • RXBars and LaraBars have very few ingredients in them, so it is easy to know what exactly you are eating when you have them. 
• Fruit
  • Making a smoothie can be an easy way to make sure to get all of your fruit and vegetable servings fulfilled for the day.

4. Sleep

Sleep may not be part of making a study space, but you do need it to be productive in the nook you have created for yourself. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the average teenager should be sleeping about eight to ten hours a night,  but that amount can feel impossible at times. If getting enough sleep is a hard task for you, following these tips may help you with hitting the hay. 

• Make a specific time when you go to bed and try to stick to it. 
• Getting the screens out of your room helps calm down your brain 
• Open the window to keep the room cool 
• Taking a warm shower before bed
• Diffusing essential oils (Chamomile or Lavender)

5. Caffeine

If you are struggling to stay up during the day, caffeine or another source of energy might be helpful for you. 

Coffee may seem like an obvious choice, but brewing your own cup at home can save you and your wallet. These beans are great in the cafe, but they are also smooth and enjoyable in the comfort of your own home. If coffee isn’t your favorite, a drink from the brand Celsius might do the trick. 

• Tala Coffee Roasters: Ruca House Blend
• Hansa Coffee Roasters: Baltic Gold Blend
• Celsius Peach Mango Green Tea

But before you worry about having a good place to study, ask yourself how much water have you had today? Studies have shown that up to 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, which can lead to headaches, fatigue, and the feeling of sunken eyes. Having a reusable bottle of water next to you during online classes can prevent those symptoms, helping with your focus and performance in school. 

Stay focused, Scouts!