Being sick isn’t fun for anyone, especially when you have to stay home but can’t go out or do anything. It’s even worse having to do school from home. Luckily there are many ways to help stay on top of school work in order to make sure you don’t get behind and overwhelmed.

Staying on top of homework while sick is difficult to balance with making sure to give yourself enough time to rest, heal, and feel better.

When sick, even if you’re stressed about staying on top of your work, make sure to first get lots of sleep and drink plenty of water. This will make you feel less lethargic and can help give you the energy to get up and finish assignments.

We recommend, depending on your body and your sickness, to take medicine if you feel it’s needed and will be best in helping you recover. Taking into account the type of illness you have, and what the adults in your house are most comfortable with is also an important consideration.

Give yourself time to relax and eat healthy foods. Making yourself warm and relaxing tea before starting your homework can also be incredibly helpful. Set time aside to deal with your homework load, and do your best staying on track while you’re out of school so your work doesn’t pile up. Make a list for each class while going through your resources (Schoology, Infinite Campus, etc.) to check what assignments need to be completed. Prioritize missing and late work, then look at what is due in terms of in-class work from your sick days. Not only is having an organized list helpful for knowing what you need to get done and in what order, but checking off each assignment once it’s finished can be a fulfilling feeling to motivate you.

Going through Schoology folders to find a specific assignment is often a pain. We’ve found it’s easiest to go to Schoology and click on the class that you are working on, then go to the three bars with the circles in it at the right upper corner next to the “upcoming” tab. You will see a dropdown list. Click on the “assignments” tab, and you will see all of the assignments that are due for that class. Another tab named “quizzes and assessments” will bring up all of previous and upcoming assessments and quizzes for that class. Since these are weighted the heaviest and most impact your grade, schedule times with your teachers to make up any missed quizzes or tests as soon as possible.

Emailing teachers is a really important part of staying up to date. Check in with your teachers, and make sure you ask them about lessons you missed and if there are ways to make up anything done in-class that you can’t do at home like quizzes, group projects, or science labs. Ask for help if you need it throughout your at-home studying.