How to Survive Hard Classes in High School

Hannah Margaret is a Zooey Deschanel look-alike, college student, our guest writer, and blogger at hm. ~~ The verdict is out, and the issue that must be tackled today is (drum roll everybody) how to deal with hard classes! What do you do when passing a class seems impossible? Where do you turn when you are up a creek without a paddle (and about to go over the waterfall of Chemistry class)? What the heck do you do when you need, no must, get an A in a class for some privilege (driving anyone?) but it seems out of the question? Well, dear friends, you are in the right place.

1. First and foremost, you should approach the teacher from the start. This shows a visible and obvious effort on your part from the beginning. The teach clearly knows what it takes to pass or ace the class, and he or she is usually wanting their students to succeed. Ask them what you should to do to prepare and thrive in the class. Ask them how to achieve what you want to achieve and figure out how to overcome the bits where you are struggling.

2. Get a tutor. I always dreamed of getting some mega-attractive tutor to flirt quietly in the library until we fell in love. I think that’s Disney Channel’s fault. Regardless, you should get some one-on-one help. There’s nothing better than someone to explain the French Revolution to you from the perspective of someone who knows what they are talking about. It also forces you to set time apart to study and to study effectively. And back to what I said previously, you could meet some babe of a tutor (geek-chic?) to take you to coffee later. Who knows?

3. Stop doodling & set time for studying. This is directed to my high school self. I was such the doodler, daydreamer and note-passer, but get real, you don’t study like that. Take notes, ask questions and pay close attention to what is going on in the class. You can’t say a class is hard if you don’t show up mentally and prepare by doing the homework. You can say a class is hard if you are doing everything you can to stay on top of your work, and you’re still falling short. Make sense? Then after class, set some solid time to work on your own. Get your desk area ready to do work, make it cute and studious. I am a firm believer in a healthy workspace to be productive. When you want to sit in your study area, you’ll want to study (rocket science).

4. Group studying. My favorite of all study skills. Get a small crew together, preferably the smart-ish ones, to hunker down in the library or Starbucks to study for the tests in this hard class. I would suggest dividing up the work so that someone makes flash cards, someone makes a study guide and someone else lays out possible essay questions. Then, explain the subject to each other. Pretend to be your annoying, overly tanned Spanish teacher that spits on the front row students (jk). Really, just explain what you know and let someone explain what you don’t understand.

You’ll get through it, I promise. Hard classes, in the end, make you stronger than the "easy A" courses. I know that they stress and annoy, but they prepare you more for college and keep you on your toes. Happy studies!

Also, I would love to hear from you lovely readers! If you have further questions about hard classes or have issues you want me to address, please-oh-please email me (I can’t wait to hear from you!). Contact me here: hannahmargaret@hmallen.com

~By Hannah Margaret Allen. For a fantastically great posts and a well-traveled blog adventure, check out HannahMargaretAllen.blogspot.com

3 Surprising School Spirit Ideas

Fall is time for Homecoming, football games and school spirit! We've got 3 cute ideas for showing your pride for your school. There's an option for beauty divas, fashionistas, and DIY divas! 1. Spirit Hands

There are a gazillion nail ideas (show your jazz spirit hands!) but we were interested in one thing and one thing only: cool nail ideas in school colors. Our five faves made it in the final picture (and we tried tons!) From left to right, we have the multi-stripe, the union jack, chevron, double french, and glitter ombre (hard to see on the thumb). We used our striping tips to make perfectly straight manicure lines in a snap. The chevron was a stencil and was also very simple. Although the lighting on the double french isn't great, the tape and polish match perfectly and look amazing together and very clean. Whatever your school colors, each of these ideas is a simple way to show school spirit all week, and we'd suggest picking one main idea and repeating on all fingers, or add a glittery accent nail on your ring finger. Go Team!

2. DIY School Spirit Shirt

This is another very easy idea that you can customize with your school colors. Since we were going with a blue and white theme, we used a blue and white ribbon.

1. gather supplies: liquid stitch glue, ribbon, pocket tee 2.  cut ribbon to line up with pocket 3. place glue on ribbon 4. apply ribbon to tee and let dry

Alternatively, you can use a large piece of fabric to cover the entire pocket area. Since we already had a "school" tee, we went ahead and chose a fun fabric! Any fabric you like is fine, but all-over patterns (swirls, Lilly-esque patterns, etc) that are not linear (stripes and ginghams) are much more forgiving!  They won't show as mistakes.

1. gather supplies: liquid stitch glue, fray stop, fabric, pocket tee 2.  cut fabric to line up with pocket with a 1/2" excess around the edge; place glue at seam and fold over 3. place glue around the entire pocket and fold over the edge so that the fabric is the same size as the pocket 4. place glue on the t-shirt around the edge 5. let dry 6. enjoy!

You can always stencil your school logo on top of the fabric for an added touch, or an a border in a contrasting color. There are plenty of ideas to keep building on the school spirit theme! Let us know your favorite ideas for school spirit!

3. School Pride Accessories

Sure, you can buy tees from your school store, but did you know you could go online and buy tons of different items for school spirit, in your school colors, all from one site? You can buy laptop and cellphone skins, wall decals, even coats for Fido. If you are looking for something a little out-of-the ordinary and want a lot of choices, then you need to check out Prep Sportswear. What's so cool about this company is that you can customize your selection with your year or sport. Awesome! Our favorite shirt for fall homecoming is the Dream T-shirt because it's dreamily soft and has a superb fit! But how about these laptops skins (Go Syosset Braves!)... they rock! Just enter your school, then click the item you want!