Back to school tips

It’s almost time to go back to school. It’s kind of a weird mix of sadness and excitement. It is always sad when the holidays are over, but I’m also kind of excited to start some of my new classes, especially the ones I have chosen that I haven’t been able to do in previous years. Today I wanted to share some back to school tips.


1.Buy your books and stationary early.

If you get in before the summer holidays, or as early as you can, books and stationary it usually cheaper, and there is a lot more to choose from.


2.Get organised before term starts

If you need to do any cleaning out, the best time to do it is before school starts. It is always easier to start the term organised and ready, instead of having to rush around and be lost before you’ve even been at school for a week.


3.get rid of all your old school things that you don’t need anymore.

There is no need to keep your sheets from four years ago, go through and throw them out before you collect any new ones for the year. Sometimes it could be useful to reuse books, but if you don’t need them don’t keep them.


4.try on your uniform and buy new clothes early.

Don’t pull out your uniform the day before school starts and suddenly realise that you need a new one. It’s possible the shops will be sold out before then.


5.don’t take all your books on the first day.

I have 8 subjects, that means at least 8 books. Nothing is worse than having a heavy school bag and sore back. If you don’t have 8 subjects on each day, don’t take all your books. I would take my maths one, and five others. But I don’t label them first, because that way you can label the books that you need, and save your back.


Let me know in the comments below, if you have any back to school tips.

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Bullet Journal #2

Hey,

As promised yesterday I am going to give you an update on my bullet journal experiment today. Check out this post if you want to learn more about this experiment.

In the last post I just touched on what I was going to be doing with the bullet journal and a few of the things that I was liking about it. Today I am going to be talking about the weekly layout and why I find it has helped me.

For the last two weeks I have created a two page spread that contains room for do-to lists and events for each day, as well as study tracking, blog tracking, notes and goals. In the next few days I will be uploading some pictures onto a page of the blog.

Layout

I found that this layout works really well for me, especially since I am a very visual person. I find it helpful to be able to sort from the events and tasks for each day because this allows me to break up my day and plan ahead, and there is enough room for me to add some quotes, pictures and colour.

Study Tracker

The study/blog trackers I also find really useful. My study tracker consists of a table of 9 colums and 9 rows, down the left side I write all my subjects, in the first colum I write if I have any assessment that week, and what day the assessment is on, and on the remaining 7 colums (one for each day of the week) I write a day of the week. When I spend time working on homework or studying for a subject I colour in the box for that subject on the day that I completed the task on. I find this helps me balance my time and ensure that I am spending equalish amounts of time on each subject.

Goals

I have 3 boxes for my goals in each weekly spread. I use the first box for a goal for that particular week and the other two boxes are for my long-term goals. This goal set-up helps me keep track of my aims and goals and is always there to remind me of what I have to remember to do.

That's all for today, but next Monday I will share some tips for making your bullet journal pretty and interesting. Let me know in the comments what you thought of this post and/or what you do in your bullet journal.

See you on Wednesday,

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Bullet Journal Experiment #1

Hey there,

On Monday I decided that I was going to start a bullet journal. I really enjoyed looking at the ones I found on pinterest and I decided that it would be a great way to organise myself. 3 days later I have found a journal to use, a pen and started my index page as well as some other pages. For those of you who do not know below is a video that explains what a bullet journal is.

I've decided that I am going to make my bullet journal an experiment and publish weeklyish updates here. Each week I am going to give you a few tips that I have learnt and include some photos of my journal. Today I am going to share some tips for getting started.

1.Don't stress about it being neat and the order making sense- the index page means that you don't have to worry about keeping things in any order.

2.Experiment with different layouts and find the one that works for you. I am still finding the layout that works best for me and I'll let you know when I find it.

3. Use colour and pictures to make it more interesting. I am going to stick with 3 or 4 main colours to use for each page and add pictures instead of words to make my journal more exciting and, hopefully, make me want to use it more.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any tips for me to use in my bullet journal , or if you have a bullet journal.

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5 Benifits of Playing a Team Sport

Hi there,

On the weekend I played my last netball game of the season, unfortuneatly we lost but it was still really fun playing with my team. That got me thinking about some of the ways that playing a team sport is good for you. I did some research and have put together this list for you.

1.It teaches and improves goal setting and teamwork skills.

2.Playing sport, particularly a team sport, can help improve your self-confidence and confidence in general.

3.You learn and improve leadership skills.

4.You become more persistance and resilient and can manage stress better.

5.Sports improve memory and concentration.

I am sure most of you have played a team sport at sometime in your life, and I encourage you to take on up if you don't already. It is fun, good for you and has lots of hidden benifits. Let me know in the comments what sports you play.

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Being more productive.

Hi there,
Once again, it's Poppy. I've got a pretty lengthy post for you today, so strap yourselves in. Today I wanted to share with you my thoughts on being more productive and some things that help me make the most of my time. (which I am really not the best at, so please leave some more tips in the comments below)

Everyone has the same number of hours in their day. It is what you choose to do with these 24 hours that makes the difference. You can choose to make the most of your hours and get heaps done and out of the way or you can sit around and do nothing. You still used 24 hours in that day, the same amount someone who went to school and finished 3 assignments. Being productive isn't easy and sometimes it isn't fun but it is rewarding. It saves you time and energy in the long run and can help reduce your stress levels.

After reading that paragraph I hope you have decided the being productive could be slightly useful and you want to give it a go, now I'm assuming that you would like to see some step by step instructions or 5 ways to be more productive. But unfortunately it isn't that simple. There are thousands of ways out there that claim to make you more productive and I haven't got any proof of how well they work. Instead I want to share a few things that help me be more productive. Understand that this might work for you, if you are similar to me, and may not if you aren't. If you want to find more ways, simply search ways to be more productive (I just did it and there were a lot of results).

1.Creating aims and deadlines.
I used to and still do really dislike setting goals at the beginning of each semester and generally mine are the same 'do better in PE' 'contribute to class discussions' as always. I know that goal setting is good but I can't seem to see the benefits for me. However, setting out aims of what I want to achieve in each day, or by a certain day is one super useful way I find to make me more productive. It gives me a clear list of what I need to do, and I can then sit down and work out how much time I'm going to give each thing and create a checklist of stuff to do for that day. Deadlines are also useful, telling myself I need to have my draft essay written by the 7th of September can help me break stuff down and not spend hours doing not-much.

2.Take breaks
This one has been scientifically proven. Taking a 5-minute break every half an hour can help make you more productive. As much as I like to think so I know I cannot stay focused on one task for an hour and a half. Usually I will give myself half an hour to work on something, take a five-minute break, then move on to something else and come back to that first task another time.


3.Don't put it off.
My final tip is to not put things off. It makes it 100x harder to get other stuff done and you will be distracted all day. If you do it straight away, you can be more focused and get more done.

Wow, that was a lot of typing. If you've read all the way down to here I really hope you have gotten something out of this post and it will help you to get more out of your 24 hours. Please let me know in the comments ways you find help make you more productive, also take a look at this video.

See you on Sunday

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September Photo Challenge

Hey everyone.
Last month I write up an August Photo-a-Day challenge and challenged all of you to take a photo every single day for the 31 days of August. I don't know how many of you did it but I do know that I tried (and failed) to keep up with everything and taking a photo every single day. I really liked the idea of a photo challenge but I couldn't work it into my already bursting schedule. But that gave me the idea of something a bit more relaxed and easier to fit into your lifestyle.  (Drum roll please.....)

The September Photo Collage Challenge

The September Photo Collage Challenge is simple (I guess) and it allows you to fit the challenge in and adapt it to suit your lifestyle.

The challenge is to, between now and the last day of September, fill a 3x3, or 4x4 or 5x5 or even 6x6 or 9x9 (if you are feeling ambitious) grid of photos. You choose the sized grid that you think will be most achievable for you (if you think you can take 81 different photos in the next 26 days go ahead, and make sure you let me know how you go).

Here is how it works:

1.Choose the grid that best fits what you will be able to do (I think I will be doing 5x5 or 4x4, that is only 20-25 photos).

2.Simply take the number of photos in the grid you chose that summarise your September.

3.Try and make the gird as accurate as possible, that is the challenge try and not just take photos of your exciting holiday but capture the not-so-interesting parts of you life as well, if the majority of your September was spent at home doing not-so-much your grid should reflect that.
4.Create the grid, using a collage app or website.

The exciting bit:
I figured that to make this challenge that little bit more exciting I would make it a competition.
If you participate in the challenge and at the end of September decided that your grid is amazing and you want to share it with the world (or the small part who have discovered this blog) you can email it to us (as a photo please) with a short summary about your experience and/or September for the chance to get it displayed on our blog, and the chance to create the October photo challenge with us (if that is what you would like).

So get your cameras ready and start snapping at September! We'd love to know if you are participating, let us know in the comments below. Over the next four weeks we will be sharing some tips and ideas for your September Photo Grid.


 

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