How do you manage homework and robotics?

[arabsponsor]

Our members can't travel unless they have at least a C in all classes. They know I won't bend this rule so they make sure they get their work done before our build meetings at 5:00. A lot of our members are in honors or upper level classes and they help those that are struggling. We also have an office set up for students to work on homework if there is a break in what their team is in charge of. Example, electrical is waiting on mechanical to mount some motors they do their work during that down time)

[june_2008]

Our team does homework at the robotics building after school before our mentors arrive. It seems to be a pretty effective system.

[EvilMonkyPirate]

Well I know my team we're supposed to start right at 2:30 when the last class ends and then we have the room at the school until 9:00. Our mentors though don't get there until around 5-6 o'clock. So most kids will go into our work area and do hw before mentors show up others will go home becuase of projects and things that can't be done at the school. Our team also has a rule that we are not allowed to work on the robot unless our hw is done becuase to stay on the team we have to be passing all our classes.

But yeah it is tough to do both.

[nehalita]

Last year I had 7 AP classes and still managed Robotics.
It's not impossible at all.
What makes it hard is learning how to manage your time.
Obviously, you have 24 hours in a day and school, robotics, homework, etc. to attend to. (I was "oh so lucky" last year and had all this plus tennis team...where I was #1 and Envirothon where we were going to states).

24 hours is a lot. You may end up cutting up on a bit of sleep but you dont' have to go crazy. Just don't waste your time. Do you have time during transportation? Use that time as your unwinding time or work on something else. You can easily get in a few math problems or think about the next essay you want to write.

It's all about being on your toes and not overthinking things. Thinking about what you have to do will stress you out. Make organized lists and if anything, schedule out your time. And leave time for de-stressing yourself, it is important to take care of yourself just as much as it is to take care of anything else.

If you have any personal questions or want advise or just want to hear a good story, don't be afraid to PM me. Good luck =)

[Arkorobotics]

I personally take the idea of playing around the computer out. The only thing i use my computer for is the FIRST pdf, chief delphi, emails, and simple news. Take out gamming. School is more important.. but you will like robotics better.. depends. Just try to cut out the less important stuff, it only lasts 6 weeks and you know how fast those 6 weeks go by.

[twilightboyxx]

homework? whats that.

[tiffany34990]

like the rest of you.. I've had a busy life in high school and now in college. you just have to divide up your time. if you have a big project and needs to get done... remember yes we say FIRST is our lives but grades do count. you can skip a day and do your work. some teams will not let you travel if your grades are low. and if you have problems you can bring your work to robotics because you can ask an older student for help and the engineers and other mentors.

but all in all just don't try to handle a lot of things. keep your priorities in line. you don't want to stress yourself too thin as I've done.

and homework it just a tad important. you need to do it to understand things. but that's my opinion i know many will disagree.

good luck everyone w/ school and keep healthy. your health overall is very important!

[macurtis]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

Do any of the teams have minimum academic standards for participation? Most sports teams do, why not "sports for the mind" teams?

Our school district has a 2.0 gpa standard for sports; the team standard is stricter - you must get at least 2.0 in each class. Any fails or D's, and you are suspended until the grades improve.

We travelled to Atlanta with only 11 team members last year, because several were suspended for grades. That includes the guy who was our lead programmer and chief driver, and another who was our HP. So yes it hurt, but we kept to our standards. Grades are important. Getting below a 2.0 in HS is mostly because you are not doing the work, period. If you can't handle it, you drop the extra-curricular stuff, including robotics, no matter how valuable it may be to you in later life. You could say the same thing about being on the football team, that it's preparing you, but you need to get the grades.

The real value is in those who commented to the effect that you do just what you have to do to get through. That is a valuable life lesson - prioritize, do the important stuff best, but don't skimp on anything.

OK, down off my soapbox now.

Our team requires a C or better in all classes to go to regionals and Nationals.
I myself during building season go to meetings only if the homework load, Latin, and Orchestra schedules allow me to. I have three AP classes on top of Orchestra and third year Latin, with a job in the mix. I'm very limited in what I can do so I have to be able to draw the line.

[MrBamboo]

I just don't do homework much. I get away with high test scores without having to spend time studying. But then again its second semester of senior year for me, teachers tend to be more lenient.

[KORN_lover_2007]

This is definitely a problem for a lot of kids who are in robotics. With me and a lot of the others on the team, I just bring my homework with me to the shop and that just means I have an entire team of people who could help me if I have a question on my homework. Sometimes people will just take a night off or come in to the shop late if they have one particular night where they have a lot of homework.

[Pavan Dave]

This is a big problem for me myself. My worst class, AP W. History, has dropped from high B to a low C so thats alomst 14 points So i am thinking about taking a day off of robotics to raise my grades.

But I see I'm not alone and there are many others what face this problem.

-Junx

[paulcd2000]

Be willing to miss things that you otherwise would do at any cost

[MChapman]

I agree it's definently hard to do, but I manage to do my homework during classes or lunch. When I get home I dont end up having as much and so I can go to robotics without worrying. But there are those nights where I loose sleep because I had an enormous amount of homework, but nevertheless homework and school come before robotics!! Once you start to manage your time and organize what you need done it becomes a habit and everything starts falling into place.

[newgrl101]

whenever we meet, we spend 2 hours doing homework, and then get started on the bot. That way homework is done, and we can all work together on it. NO MORE SPENDING HOURS ON THE CALCULUS PROBLEM....our teacher is here!!!!

[RoboDriver]

This year i am a Senior so i don't have much homework to start out with then i have 4 computer classes an English class and a robotics class the only class that i have homework in is English
in past years my grades dropped some BUT NOT THIS YEAR