❤️

it’s almost time to go back to school, and the transition is never easy, but you can help ease yourself back into the swing of things this next week!

day one:

get your schedule back on track

after three months of no school, I’d guess that you haven’t exactly been waking up early very often. start getting back into the swing of things by slowly adjusting your bed time starting tonight.

day two:

tidy up

clean your room up so that you don’t have to worry about it later! bonus points for cleaning out your closet and donating anything you don’t want to charity, so you have more room and someone else has a new outfit to wear on their first day. 

day three:

go shopping!

but only some of them. hold off on the things you’re not sure you’ll need, but pick up the essentials today (pens, pencils, those super cheap comp notebooks).

day four:

get organized

now’s the time to get things in order before your schedule is filled back up again. whatever you need to do to come home stress free after your first day of school, do it now!

day five:

set some goals

write down some things that you want to accomplish in the next year and put them up in your study space. be specific so you’re more likely to follow through! check out this article on smart goals if you haven’t already.

day six:

relax!

don’t waste this last little bit of summer! go spend time with your friends, check off the last things from your bucket list, or take this last opportunity to spend a whole day doing nothing.

day seven:

get all the last minute things together

pack your backpack, double check your schedule, lay out your clothes, pack a lunch and make something to eat before you run out the door have everything ready so you can have a relaxed morning and a great first day of school!

Alana- Black sea (hair)

Adella- Mediterranean sea (personality is romantic) 

Aquata-  Coral sea (personality is shy)

Arista- White sea (hair)

Andrina- Caribbean sea (personality is carefree)

(here are some study tips straight from my psych notes)

1. interest: the brain prioritizes by meaning, value, and relevance so u remember things better if ur interested

find a study partner

do extra practice or research

teach it to someone else (this works so well!)

2. intent: be actively paying attention. very little learning actually takes place without attention

use a concentration check sheet (every time u get distracted, put a check on ur sheet. this is supposed to program ur mind to pay attention)

while u read, talk back to the author

ask questions during lectures (this is scary ik!! but do it!)

3. basic background: make connections to what u already know

preview and skim the material before u read it. or google it!

write out a list of vocab words before a lecture and leave some spaces between them to fill in during the lecture

read ahead of lectures

watch crashcourse tbh

4. selectivity: start by studying whats important

look for bolded words, graphics, pictures, chapter review questions in ur readings

listen for verbal clues like emphasis and repetition during lectures

make urself a study guide as u read and write down questions for urself to answer later as review (kinda like cornell notes)

5. meaningful organization: u can learn/rmr better if u group ideas into diff categories

apply vocab words to ur life

make flashcards and sort them (try not to have more than seven items in one category!)

use mnemonics

6. recitation: saying ideas aloud in ur own words strengthens synaptic connections! when u say something aloud u r forcing urself to pay attention

after u read, ask urself questions

talk abt what u learned w/ classmates outside of class

again, teach someone else

7. visualization: ur brain’s quickest and longest-lasting response is to images

convert info into a chart or graph

draw it out

make a mental video of a process

look at picture/video examples

8. association: memory is increased when facts are consciously associated w something u already know. memory = making neural connections

ask urself: is this something i already know?

9. consolidation: give ur brain some time to establish a neural pathway

make a list of what u remember from class

review notes at the end of the day, every day

stop after reading each prg to write a question in ur notes

make ur own practice quiz

10. distributed practice: we all know cramming doesnt work but we do it anyway! but yeah short and frequent study sections work better

make a daily/weekly study schedule

create a time budget/time tracker (track everything ur doing for a week and see how u can be more efficient w/ the time u waste)

divide the reading/vocab by the number of days before an exam and do a little bit each day (u can use sticky notes to divide ur reading)

other tips:

stop stressing! this sounds stupid and it isnt going to be easy, but anxiety causes u to lose focus. try ur best to think positively. sleep a lot. minimize ur caffeine intake. take a walk maybe

when u need to remember something, look upward or close ur eyes (when ur eyes are open ur using visual parts of ur brain that u might not need to be using)

find a rival! (like the person right above u in class rank) secretly compete w/ them (envy can improve mental persistence bc it makes u focus more intensely) but dont overdo it! 

walking and sleeping build memory storage in ur brain

eat flavonoids! (grapes, berries, tea leaves, cocoa beans make neurons in the brain more capable of forming new memories + increase blood flow to the brain)

*Updated* April, May and June calendar printables by thearialligraphyproject

Its original post has been sitting on my drafts section for two weeks because I forgot to add them to my queue. *facepalm*

Anyway, here are the next three calendar printables in case you need to plan some things in advance! I reverted the list layout back to the original one and tweaked it a little because I saw how you used them based on the photos you sent and posted and the suggestions you left on my previous survey (Really cool of you btw! Thank you! 😘).

April Calendar

Links for download: Option #1: Standard Calendar Layout (Week starts on a Sunday) Option #2: Standard Calendar Layout (Week starts on a Monday) Option #3: List Layout + Goals for the Month

May Calendar

Links for download: Option #1: Standard Calendar Layout (Week starts on a Sunday) Option #2: Standard Calendar Layout (Week starts on a Monday) Option #3: List Layout + Goals for the Month

June Calendar

Links for download: Option #1: Standard Calendar Layout (Week starts on a Sunday) Option #2: Standard Calendar Layout (Week starts on a Monday) Option #3: List Layout + Goals for the Month

Maggie Smith wraps her last scene on Downton Abbey.

Maggie Smith, photographed for the New York Times (2015)

That said, when she said the line, “Girls see more blood than boys,” my husband was all confused and like, “What, warrior women, she means?”

So I just looked at him and started listing off, “Blood from their periods every month, maybe blood from sex, blood from childbirth, blood from tending and washing the wounded and dead…That’s been true for most of womankind all through history.”