Your brother has some Geography homework due in tomorrow and needs to research online, your mum is working late tonight and is using the laptop and your dad has an online gaming session planned! So how are you supposed to get anywhere near the laptop to do your French homework?'
It can be VERY difficult scheduling who uses the computer and when, and there are no easy solutions. Try not to stress – our homework helpline heroes have got some tips and advice from experts in the below video which should help you tackle your online tasks. Once you've watched the video, scroll down to see a recap of their tips.
Our Homework Helpline heroes are comedians Louise Young, Inel Tomlinson, and actor Lenny Rush – happy to help!
INEL: Oh, we got one.
Erin: Hi, My name is Erin, I'm in Year 11 and my question is: how am I supposed to do this online homework when I don't have any access to a device?
Inel: Mmm Erin I feel you, I feel you. When I was younger, we just had one family computer in the house, that was it, and we all had to share it. Didn't get a look in! The only thing that helped was that we sorted out a schedule.
Louise: Yeah, I mean there's lots of reasons why students may not have access to technology, but we do have some great tips from our experts on how to be able to make it work for you. You know, like Inel says, maybe if you have to share a laptop or computer between the family or your household, you have to kind of work out a plan of who gets to use it when.
Inel: Yeah exactly. I mean, if you don't have access to a laptop or computer, then you can talk to your school and maybe they could potentially loan you one, or talk to your teacher and maybe they can see about you using the school computers when you need to.
Lenny: Yeah, we've got a library school with computers people can use.
Inel: Well, our experts say try not to use your mobile phone. Because you might get sucked into the apps, or messaging your friends when they message you.
Lenny: But if there's nothing else you can use, just turn off all the notifications on your phone and then you don't get distracted.
Inel: Do not disturb.
Louise: Oh and also you could actually go to a homework club after school, and that way you would get your homework done straight away, whole even to yourself. Amazing.
Inel: I like that Louise, right? So to summarise.
Louise: Yeah try and make a schedule. If you have to share computer or laptop between a household, make sure to give everybody a decent amount of time to get their work done.
Lenny: Ask the school about lending computers. Is there a library at school with computers that you can use?
Inel: Try not to use your mobile phone to do your homework, because before you know it you forget you're doing your homework, you end up doing some quiz about what chocolate bar represents your personality.
Lenny: You can also check if there's a homework club at school. If not you could always suggest starting one up.
Inel: And don't forget you can always check out our great homework help, tips and tricks on BBC Bitesize Support.
Homework technology tips
Make a schedule
If you aren’t the only one wanting to use the devices available, try and work out some sort of schedule for when you’ll use them. But try and do this before you need to, because things can get fraught if you’re all fighting to use them at the same time!
Put your phone away
If possible, try to avoid using your phone for homework, as it’s easy to get side-tracked by other apps on there. If you’re not using it, then put it away somewhere else. And if you can’t avoid using it, then turn all notifications off. It’ll be hard to press on with a difficult maths problem if you know your friend has just sent you a message.
Ask for help from school
If you don’t have any suitable devices for homework, then do let your school know, and they might be able to help. There could be a homework club, for example, where you’ll be able to use school computers. Or they might be able to support you in other ways, such as loaning you a device to work on.
If you need support
You should always tell someone about the things you’re worried about. You can tell a friend, parent, guardian, teacher, or another trusted adult. If you're struggling with your mental health, going to your GP can be a good place to start to find help. Your GP can let you know what support is available to you, suggest different types of treatment and offer regular check-ups to see how you’re doing.
If you’re in need of in-the-moment support you can contact Childline, where you can speak to a counsellor. Their lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are more links to helpful organisations on BBC Action Line.
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