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Problems With Homework

AnthonydyerAnthonydyer Posts: 1,197 Member
edited October 2022 in The Sims 2
Homework has always been the center of problems for me in the Sims series. Especially in TS2. I have found myself focused on supporting my sim's necessities such as hunger and energy, and homework is always put on the back burner. Of course, if you don't have your fun meter up high, your sim will refuse to complete his homework. As a result of this, at one point in time I had 2 children and 1 teen in a household, and I would have to sacrifice my teen by making him complete the 2 children's homework just to prevent child services from taking the kids. I think I even made the teen skip school. On top of that, if their mood bar was red, they would not autonomously go to school, making the situation even worse. If you don't finish the homework, you will do bad in school... seriously? It's like a perpetuating cycle. It takes like 2 hours to complete the homework. Is that right? It supposedly is beneficial to ask for homework help from an adult, but it is a nightmare to track down an adult; they almost always get sidetracked.

Well, in the meantime I am playing an adults only house and it is nice to not have to deal with homework. Could there be something I am doing wrong with homework? Does anyone else struggle with the homework assignments?
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  • SataiDelennnSataiDelennn Posts: 1,265 Member
    Homework has always been the center of problems for me in the Sims series. Especially in TS2. I have found myself focused on supporting my sim's necessities such as hunger and energy, and homework is always put on the back burner. Of course, if you don't have your fun meter up high, your sim will refuse to complete his homework. As a result of this, at one point in time I had 2 children and 1 teen in a household, and I would have to sacrifice my teen by making him complete the 2 children's homework just to prevent child services from taking the kids. I think I even made the teen skip school. On top of that, if their mood bar was red, they would not autonomously go to school, making the situation even worse. If you don't finish the homework, you will do bad in school... seriously? It's like a perpetuating cycle. It takes like 2 hours to complete the homework. Is that right? It supposedly is beneficial to ask for homework help from an adult, but it is a nightmare to track down an adult; they almost always get sidetracked.

    Well, in the meantime I am playing an adults only house and it is nice to not have to deal with homework. Could there be something I am doing wrong with homework? Does anyone else struggle with the homework assignments?

    I think it depends on the kid, but yeah, homework is a chore. I try to make them do their homework immediately after school, and if they bring a friend home, I usually make them send the friend home. The exception to this is if it's a Friday. And yes, having a parent help is usually key. What I usually do is pause the game after the child or teen has brought their homework home and dumped the books wherever they dumped them, and if it's not on their desk in their room, I move the books there. Then I figure out where the parents are, and choose one and have them offer to help the child with their homework. I then unpause the game and let the parent head upstairs and repause the game, find the kid who hopefully is still in their room and then have them ask the same parent for assistance with their homework and unpause the game. Between the two of them searching for each other in the room where the homework is, that usually cuts down on wasted time and the kid sits down to do the homework and the parent stands over them assisting. If the kid then gets too frustrated and needs some fun, I have them stop the homework and have the kid watch T.V. for awhile while the parent makes dinner, then after they eat, I have the kid go back upstairs to finish their homework, and then if there's time, I let the kid do what they want until I send them to bed. They're usually able to keep As doing it this way. If it's a Friday, I'm usually more lax with them and if they brought a friend home, I let them play until it's time for the friend to go home (which is usually around 8 anyway), and then I have the kid go do their homework and go to bed, and then they have the rest of the weekend for fun or building their body skills, or work on other skills, or just have fun.

    I hope that helps.
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Or you could use a mod to make it much easier. http://modthesims.info/d/244132 :)
  • AnthonydyerAnthonydyer Posts: 1,197 Member
    Homework has always been the center of problems for me in the Sims series. Especially in TS2. I have found myself focused on supporting my sim's necessities such as hunger and energy, and homework is always put on the back burner. Of course, if you don't have your fun meter up high, your sim will refuse to complete his homework. As a result of this, at one point in time I had 2 children and 1 teen in a household, and I would have to sacrifice my teen by making him complete the 2 children's homework just to prevent child services from taking the kids. I think I even made the teen skip school. On top of that, if their mood bar was red, they would not autonomously go to school, making the situation even worse. If you don't finish the homework, you will do bad in school... seriously? It's like a perpetuating cycle. It takes like 2 hours to complete the homework. Is that right? It supposedly is beneficial to ask for homework help from an adult, but it is a nightmare to track down an adult; they almost always get sidetracked.

    Well, in the meantime I am playing an adults only house and it is nice to not have to deal with homework. Could there be something I am doing wrong with homework? Does anyone else struggle with the homework assignments?

    I think it depends on the kid, but yeah, homework is a chore. I try to make them do their homework immediately after school, and if they bring a friend home, I usually make them send the friend home. The exception to this is if it's a Friday. And yes, having a parent help is usually key. What I usually do is pause the game after the child or teen has brought their homework home and dumped the books wherever they dumped them, and if it's not on their desk in their room, I move the books there. Then I figure out where the parents are, and choose one and have them offer to help the child with their homework. I then unpause the game and let the parent head upstairs and repause the game, find the kid who hopefully is still in their room and then have them ask the same parent for assistance with their homework and unpause the game. Between the two of them searching for each other in the room where the homework is, that usually cuts down on wasted time and the kid sits down to do the homework and the parent stands over them assisting. If the kid then gets too frustrated and needs some fun, I have them stop the homework and have the kid watch T.V. for awhile while the parent makes dinner, then after they eat, I have the kid go back upstairs to finish their homework, and then if there's time, I let the kid do what they want until I send them to bed. They're usually able to keep As doing it this way. If it's a Friday, I'm usually more lax with them and if they brought a friend home, I let them play until it's time for the friend to go home (which is usually around 8 anyway), and then I have the kid go do their homework and go to bed, and then they have the rest of the weekend for fun or building their body skills, or work on other skills, or just have fun.

    I hope that helps.

    @SataiDelennn Sounds like you are in the same boat. Homework is more of a chore for us than it is for the sims. It is too bad you have to keep sending friends home. I usually ignore them and they will find something to do on their own :) . I try to tackle the hw right away, but it is a given that they will be in a bad mood. I may tell them to watch tv or some other fun thing to try to get the mood up. But several times the fun will go up and other needs will decay. Usually the hw will accumulate and I have to worry about it on the weekends. Grrrrr.

    I have tried to get the needs up by making an office that is decorated real well with comfy desks to make them work at. I believe a technique we can use is try sending sims to different lots. You can't take the hw with you, but you can try to get the needs up. What is nice is time will freeze, so you can buy yourself time.
  • Sally1502Sally1502 Posts: 258 Member
    edited May 2017
    I can recommend this mod as well:
    http://modthesims.info/d/448557
    You can choose wether you want school to not take away any fun or even give your sims extra fun.
    I have used it together with the mod @JULES1111 recommended and it works perfectly fine. And finally my teen sim could actually do stuff apart from being at school, doing homework and fullfilling their vital needs lol. :smiley:
  • Scribal_GoddessScribal_Goddess Posts: 748 Member
    If your sim kids are in high aspiration with a lot of their needs taken care of before school, it's a lot easier. (And you may want a faster meals hack so they can actually eat their darn cereal in the morning instead of spending 2+ hours chatting.) Once a sim kid has learned to study, homework isn't so hard, except for the fun boost, which I usually do by having them observe paintings or help out in the garden, though bringing friends home helps, aspiration wise.

    It's also always best to have the only desk with a free space on the ground floor and close to the front door, just like you should never have multiple unoccupied end tables or your sims will loose their bills. Lastly, the game is a little dim on what is the "front" door, so if you set a door that the game thinks is an interior door, or a CC door cloned off an interior door in front, your sims' routing will be messed up, and they'll go places that you didn't intend.

    (If you have Ultimate Collection I recommend using the Free Time Perks, and prioritizing the needs reduction ones.)
    Patron Goddess of Newbs and Ninnyhammers.
    TS2 Graphics Fix Tutorial]
  • MidnightAuraMidnightAura Posts: 5,809 Member
    I find it easy to get the kids to do the homework. My bug bear with it is the fact they come home and just dump it anywhere. I have a sim who leaves it on the furthest corner of the lot for reasons known only to him.
  • NindlNindl Posts: 510 Member
    @MidnightAura
    I agree!
    There is a mod that fixes this, I think, I have never used it though so not sure how it works.
    http://modthesims.info/d/312004 Here is the link in case you are interested. :)
  • MidnightAuraMidnightAura Posts: 5,809 Member
    Thanks @Nindl! I will look into it.
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Nindl wrote: »
    @MidnightAura
    I agree!
    There is a mod that fixes this, I think, I have never used it though so not sure how it works.
    http://modthesims.info/d/312004 Here is the link in case you are interested. :)

    This is one of the best mods ever! I have been using it for a while now. Just buy the picture frame, put it on a desk, or table. Then just click on it with a sim and choose to take ownership of it. Their homework will always be placed there and not left around. You need one for each kid though, no sharing. I usually just put desks in their bedrooms.
  • SataiDelennnSataiDelennn Posts: 1,265 Member
    Which is great if you have the UC and use mods and cc, but I don't. Ergo, I just use what works for me which is what I described above. So, no specific juice, just juice as a snack, or chips, or cookies. No snapdragons or things like that. I put a desk in each kid's bedroom so they have their own space to work, etc.
  • LumussLumuss Posts: 1 New Member
    Homework is indeed rather a chore for me. But I try to make sim kids do hw anyway, even when there's a more alluring option for them.
    Never used the mods for that.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited February 2019
    I don't use a mod for homework. Fun and energy is the first things to go down when doing homework. I try to make sure their fun is full, I might get them up in the middle of the night, my Sims have never stuck to a schedule. The juicer offers apple juice for faster homework. And if someone has taught them to study then it goes a lot faster. If one is running behind I make the others in household like a teen or brother or sister help out with the other Sim's homework. I disliked automatic homework like in TS3 since I might get a kid up at 3:00 A.M. to finish homework then take a nap before the school bus.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • violaineTviolaineT Posts: 48 Member
    edited February 2019
    Until they get more relaxed A+ level, I almost always bring parental help to do them.
    And high speed fun maker around . The invited child can have good use for that. Or a violin or that soundbox or...
    If you care and reach to balance the needs, you find the night finally not that short and with still some space for other activities.

    Another good investment is that book which gives more easily access to the peace of mind state (the platinum one) it's a valuable combo with accomplishing wishes, it become easy to be platinum all time. Youth wants look more quickly rewarding as later. If you care on them.

    Just still try to keep sending them in the morning to school with full green bars.
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