Balancing Schoolwork and Free Time

By Gabriella Burns

Do you sometimes feel like you’re overwhelmed with homework and never have

any free time? Or, on the other hand, do you enjoy tons of free time because you can

condense all of your homework into one hour a day? (Works great until you realize

you’re failing all of your classes.) Well, neither of those situations is ideal. What should

you do?

First, let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say on the topic. Proverbs 6:6

says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise….” It goes on to

explain the hard work of an ant. Let me ask you this: Have you ever seen an ant that is

not hard at work? Whenever I see ants in nature, they are always moving. Clearly, the

writer of this proverb saw the importance of hard work, and I believe that hard work

honors God.

Next, think about the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was hard at work trying to

make her house comfortable for Jesus while Mary listened to Jesus, sitting as His feet.

Martha was upset that she had to do all the work by herself, and she brought her

concern up to Jesus. “And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are

worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen

that good part, which will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:41, 42). Spending time

with Jesus was more important than work in this case (and always should be). It is

important to rest and not overwork yourself.

So, how do you find a balance between schoolwork and free time? There are

several strategies with which you can approach this question. Some people find it most

effective to do homework in short “sprints” with breaks in between. You may do

homework for 45 minutes and then take a 10-minute break, and then repeat the

process. Others prefer to work on homework for hours on end with little or no breaks,

and they end up with more consecutive free time afterwards. Still others may have

certain days that they do homework and leave whole days for free time. You may

consider trying each method and seeing what works best for you.

Another thing to keep in mind is your priorities. How much time do you really

want to spend on a certain assignment? You may work on one assignment all day but

end up having to rush through other assignments in order to turn them in on time. While

it is very important to do your best, sometimes, you must put a limit on how much time

you are spending on a certain subject if you’re becoming stressed because you’re being

a perfectionist. For example, last year, I had a certain subject that had very detailed

instructions for certain assignments, and I started out spending a ton of time on that

homework. However, I eventually chose to cut down on how much time I would spend

applying all of the instructions to each assignment. My teacher was very gracious and

supportive; she agreed that I should not stress over the assignments. And I was still

doing my best. Sometimes, “doing your best” is not the same as “doing as much work

as you can.”

In conclusion, try the different methods I listed and choose the one that works

best for you; everyone has different priorities and amounts of homework, so not

everyone will choose the same method. Personally, I’m still working to find a good

balance between homework and free time. I hope that this advice helps to bring you

peace as you balance work and free time!