Feeling overwhelmed.

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Here's the deal. I'm a sophomore in high school and I've currently got a buffa-load of homework to do.

One, is an entire packet of assignments (that are extremely difficult for me) that I couldn't finish in Foods and Nutrition. For some, I couldn't keep up with how fast the videos were going. For others I just got overwhelmed by the amount of things I had to do.

The most difficult part about it is, this stick figure thing where we have to label it with 12 nutrients, and explain what the nutrients do; despite the fact we only learned what about 5 or 6 of these nutrients do.

The other, is a persuasive writing essay for English II. The subject being the school board's decision to approve random locker searches, and us taking a side; giving 3 examples to support our argument, 5 paragraphs.

The essay isn't at all difficult to me, I enjoy essays; I love to write. The problem is, I can't even begin to think, to focus, on anything, because of how stressed out that Foods and Nutrition packet is making me. It's just too much for me. I try to ask people in my kitchen group for help, but I can't get the words to come out of my mouth. I just can't speak, thus I'm in it alone.

Anybody understand what I'm going through, ever have problems with this sort of thing? This Food and Nutrition packet is worth 20 percent of the marking period grade, and until it's finished, even if I'm longer able to get credit for it, I can't even touch the kitchen. Likewise, this persuasive writing assignment is worth a huge chunk of my English II grade for the marking period. My classes are 72 minutes long; being either 9 or 18 weeks each. I don't have an entire year to restore my grade like some people do, so it stresses me to no end.

Is this Food and Nutrition assignment something that could be accomplished by looking up the nutrition information on a site like Wikipedia? Just an idea . . .

Yeah I've gone crazy and not been able to accomplish anything before. When I get like that, I would rather do 10 hours of manual labor than this assignment I just can't focus on.

You keep trying, you get through it as best as you can. Whatever happens, the sun always rises.

I have two suggestions here:

1) See if you can work something out with the teacher(s). I have been having issues in English lately because we have to pick topics for our papers, but they are topics that we have to come up with on our own that pertain to the specific story or book that we read. I've had trouble because I couldn't decide on a topic without getting frustrated and worrying about whether it would work or not. So I talked to her and we worked out that she'd help me come up with a topic beforehand, so I didn't have to struggle.

In this case, I wouldn't necessarily say ask for an extension for either assignment. But see if you can ask your teacher to actually help you fill out the packets. Most teachers are willing to help struggling students if they ask for assistance.

2) Try doing a little at a time. If I'm having trouble with something, I take a break and do something else to wake myself back up (because I get sleepy when I'm frustrated with schoolwork) and then go back to he work. Either alternate between the Foods and Nutrition packet and the essay, put a third activity (such as video games), that will wake you up a tad, in the rotation, or just alternate between the packet and the activity (since you said you're having trouble focusing on the essay because of the packet) until you get the packet done.

Sometimes, I actually throw a couple of different activities in instead of just one. It really depends on the day and what sort of work I'm doing.

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Forgive me if I sound a bit preachy or teachy. I don't pretend to know everything, but I like to share what I do know.