great homework excuses

51 Best Homework Excuses (Serious, Funny, Strict Teachers)

Homework. No one wants to do it. But no one wants to get in trouble either. So, here are some of the best homework excuses that are serious, funny, and might even work for strict teachers!

As a teacher myself, I’ve heard most of these excuses. I laughed at a few and rolled my eyes at most.

At the end of the day, you’re only going to get away with not doing homework if you’ve got a solid excuse and a bunch of evidence to back it up. Good luck!

Read Also: 27 Pros and Cons of Homework

Cliché Homework Excuses

These are terrible homework excuses that, really, students should avoid. They might be fun to use, but most of them have been over-used. Your teacher won’t believe you unless you’ve brought some evidence along with you.

1. My Dog ate my Homework. Look, no one’s ever going to believe this one. Maybe avoid it unless you want to spend lunch time inside catching up.

2. My Computer Broke. This one’s more believable but it’s been over-used. Thanks to all the liars out there, this homework excuse is well and truly ruined.

3. My Mom Forgot It. Nothing like blaming your mother for your own failures. Most teachers would probably tell you to take a little personal responsibility and send you on your way.

4. The Internet was Out. As believable as any excuse, your teacher might tell you that you’d better buy yourself an old hardback encyclopedia.

5. My Grandma Died. Again. The oldest excuse in the book, I always ask for evidence of this. Some people seem to have 15 grandmas.

6. The Older Kids Took it off me and Tore it Up. Chances are, your teacher’s going to be very concerned by this. They might even escalate this to a disciplinary issue!

Related: A List of Extension Excuses for College Students

Funny Homework Excuses

These ones might get a laugh out of your teacher and your classmates. But, you’re not likely to get out of trouble in the long run.

7. My Mother wanted to Display it on the Fridge. You might get a few laughs from your friends out of this one. But, your teacher is going to tell you to go home, take it off the fridge, and bring it to class!

8. The Police Confiscated it as Evidence. This one might make your teacher pause and wonder. Why is it confiscated? Is it so poorly written that the police consider it an outrage? Maybe your joke will deflect them from punishing you, though.

9. I was Abducted by Aliens and They took It. If your teacher believes this one, let me know. I’ve got some air guitars to sell them.

10. I sent it to you in the Post. In this day and age, you might have to tell your teacher they should wait a few months to it arrive. The postal service isn’t what it used to be.

11. My Dad mistook it for a Letter and Posted it to China. Funny, but clearly not true. Your teacher is going to ask one simple question: why is your dad sending letters to China?

12. I had to burn it in the Fireplace to keep myself Warm. Like Pablo Escobar burning cash, you’ve thrown caution to the wind and thrown your homework book into the fire because, well, if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have survived the freezing cold night.

13. It flew out the Window of the Car. Just picture it. You’re frantically doing your homework on the drive to school. Your dad winds down the window and – woosh – the homework’s gone for good. And class is in just 15 minutes!

14. I thought I’d do it Tomorrow because I’ll be Older and Wiser Then. A clever joke, but you’re probably going to be known as the class clown from that moment onwa rd!

15. I did my Work. It’s all Up Here in my Head. Be prepared for your teacher to give you a snap quiz on the spot if you’re bold enough to say you’ve got it all in your head! But, if you pull it off, maybe you’ll get away without too much trouble.

16. I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to add to your Workload. Sure, it sounds nice, but your teacher will see right through this cheeky response. But hey, when you’ve got nothing to lose it’s worth a try.

17. My Hand fell Asleep and I didn’t want to Wake It. Imagine you were trying so hard to do your homework and write down those answers. But, your hand just wouldn’t obey your command!

18. My Cat ate it knowing that I’d Blame the Dog. This one’s a funny twist on “my dog ate my homework” that might just get a laugh out of your teacher (and a little bit of leniency).

Related: Excuses for Skipping Class in College

Excuses For Strict Teachers

Okay, here’s where things get serious. If you’ve got a teacher who you know is going to be mad, you need to come into this with a plan. Usually, that means providing evidence to support your excuse.

19. I was Sick. And I have a Sick Note. Being sick (genuinely!) is one of the few reasons for not doing your homework that might actually work. You’re going to want to be able to present a note from your parent and maybe even a doctor.

20. My Mother or Father went to Hospital. And here’s the Sick Note. If your mom or dad is in hospital, chances are you’re going to get a free pass. Bring evidence, even if it’s a photo of dad in the hospital bed with tubes coming out of his nose!

21. My Computer Screen Broke. And here’s a Picture. I’ve actually gotten this one from students a few times and it really took me back. I thought: “is this legit, or is this image from 3 years ago?” A receipt from the computer repair store with a date on it is usually a better piece of evidence. But then again, why didn’t you go to the library?

22. The computer broke, but here are my hand-written notes. I’m usually pretty impressed by this excuse. Your computer broke, but you still made the effort to give the homework a go anyway. Great resilience!

23. The wi-fi didn’t work, but here are my hand-written notes. This excuse is very similar to the previous one. If you turn up with nothing and say the wi-fi broke, the teacher probably won’t accept that excuse. But if you actually tried to write some notes anyway, well done!

24. I wasn’t here when the work was assigned. This is an excellent homework excuse for strict teachers. It’s really quite legitimate. How were you supposed to know you had homework!?

25. I tried, but I didn’t understand the Instructions. This puts the onus back on the teacher. Why didn’t they provide clearer instructions? It’s usually a good idea to show some evidence that you at least gave it a go, though.

26. I volunteer at the soup kitchen on Monday Nights. Everyone loves a good Samaritan. If it gets you out of homework, well, that’s just the universe giving you good karma.

27. I’m so sorry. I thought it was right here in my Bag! This one helps show that it at least is a genuine mistake.

28. I had way too much Homework for my other Class. Follow this one up with “You should talk to that teacher about how their overbearing homework requirements are impacting your students!”

29. The Library was Closed and I don’t have Internet at Home. This one might get you a little more sympathy. The fact you don’t have internet at home means you’re not as privileged as many other kids, so your teacher might let you off lightly.

Related: Fun Things to do when Bored in Class

Truthful Homework Excuses

30. I was too busy doing something more important. Your teacher is instantly going to say “what was more important than your education?” Don’t respond with “video games.”

31. My parents kept me really busy on the weekend. But I promise I’ll do it tonight. One thing I would say about this excuse is that you’re saying “Hey, take it up with my parents. I wanted to do some homework!” But, you’re also saying you’ve got a plan to get it done asap.

32. I was at football practice all night. Many teachers will still say “learning comes before sports” (which, as a teacher, I agree with). But, you’ve got a leg to stand on here. You don’t want to let your team down, which is fair.

33. I did my homework, but I left it at home. This excuse does show that you at least put the effort in. But, you failed at the finish line! Come to class tomorrow with the homework and you’ll win back some respect from your teacher.

34. I forgot I even had homework. Hey, it’s truthful. But you’re not going to get any sympathy for this one.

35. The computer didn’t break. It was the Printer this time! An excuse that’s almost as bad as “my computer broke”, the printer issues excuse at least needs some photographic evidence to back it up. And, why didn’t you email the homework to your teacher?

36. I had a Headache. Headaches are the worst. As a teacher myself, I’d probably have a little sympathy for this excuse if it’s a one-off. But, I’d expect my student to bring a note from the parent to corroborate the story.

37. The homework was far too Easy. This isn’t a good reason not to do homework. Your teacher is going to expect you to absolutely ace your next test.

38. My tutor accidentally took it home with them. Nothing like blaming your tutor for your own problems. As a teacher, I’d probably roll my eyes and tell you that you need to keep better track of your things.

39. I accidentally squished it in the bottom of my bag and now it’s got rotten apple juice all over it. This one’s funny to me because, well, as a kid this always used to happen to me. Rotten bananas were usually the culprit.

40. I spilled cereal all over it because I was doing it over breakfast. This sounds believable. I would tell my student the should at least show me the ruined homework as evidence. And, I’d also tell them that breakfast isn’t the best time to do your homework.

See a List of 11 Homework Statistics

Blame the Parents

41. My parents don’t believe in homework and won’t let me do it. There are some parents like this. If a student said this to me, I’d be on the phone to the parents. So, if you don’t want your teacher to call your parents, don’t use this excuse.

42. My mother said band practice was more important. It’s really hard for teachers to argue with parents via the student. But in my experience the teacher usually responds with: “you need to have better organization skills to get all of these things done in your own time!”

43. I help my father at work on a Tuesday afternoon. I just can’t get it done on Tuesdays. Once again, the teacher is likely going to tell you to have more organization skills. But, you might occasionally get an extension out of this. Especially if you let the teacher know in advance.

44. My father looked at it, said it was outrageous government indoctrination, and told me not to do it. While I think this is hilarious, it’s also something that happens a lot these days. Why is this world so divided? Science isn’t controversial, people!

45. My mother was looking over my homework and forgot to give it back to me. Okay, time for me to put my teacher voice on: “She didn’t forget to give it back to you. You forgot to ask for it back.”

46. My mother threw it in the trash. This must have been frustrating to you! A teacher with a quick wit will respond: “it shouldn’t have looked like trash then. You must have done a bad job!” Or, a more serious teacher might just tell you that you need to be more organized net time.

Blame the Teachers

47. You give too much Homework. There are plenty of people out there in this world who think teachers do give too much homework. They believe it’s not fair and it’s preventing children from leading a balanced and healthy life.

48. Your instructions are impossible to understand. This one really puts the pressure back on the teacher because you’re basically telling them that they’re bad at their job.

49. This was way too hard for me. You need to give me more guidance. Sometimes, it’s true, teachers do assign homework that’s way too hard. You do need to be resourceful and find ways to learn yourself. But at the same time, the teacher really should know better.

50. The homework is too easy. It’s a complete waste of my time. Assigning homework is like playing Goldilocks. It can’t be too hard, can’t be too easy.

51. Between you and all my other teachers, you’re assigning hours of homework every night. You all need to get together and resolve this. This one’s surely going to set a cat amongst the pigeons. The teachers are going to talk about this at their next staff meeting. But, they might coordinate and come back at you as a united front!

FAQ: How to Get Out of Doing Homework?

The best ways to get out of doing homework are to:

• Let the teacher know in advance that you won’t be able to do it. Teachers respond better when you give them an excuse before time, not after.
• Bring evidence of why you didn’t do it. If you want your teacher to truly believe your excuse, you need evidence. This can be notes, photos, receipts, or anything else proving your story is true.

Really, the best way to avoid any issues is to just do the homework in the first place. But if you’re reading this article, chances are the horses have left the stable. You’re at a stage where you’ve got to come up with an excuse because in 10 minutes your teacher is going to be asking you why you haven’t done anything!

Well, good luck with that! I hope you don’t get into too much trouble, but I also hope you learn that next time the best solution is to just get that homework done in advance.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
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• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
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49 Best Excuses For Not Doing Homework

• February 10, 2024

Last Updated on February 10, 2024 by Ketan

No, you can’t use ‘I’d a fever’ as the best excuse for not doing homework. 

Because someone already has the same reason. And it’s too regular. 

Also, blaming a dog for biting out your assignment book is totally unbelievable.

Then you may ask, what to say when the teacher asks ‘Where’s your homework?’ 

Well, don’t worry to help you out in such a situation, we provide you with all the fresh, believable excuses to give. 

That your teacher will accept it as a valid reason for missing your assignment.

( Note: This is just for entertainment purposes. Please don’t make a habit of relying on these excuses every day. Better if you do your homework on time.) 

Good Excuses For Not Doing Homework

You know you must do your exam on time.

But you didn’t get the right time or mood to actually sit and complete it. 

Whether you’ve played all day, overslept, or just not doing homework anyway, you need something to say to your teacher as a valid reason. 

Have these good reasons to convince your teacher why you came to school without the homework. 

1. “Someone told me that the date of submission is extended.” 

2. “I have done my homework, but I forget where I put my notebook.” 

3. “We have surprised guest visitors and they stay the whole day.” 

4. “Because I didn’t know where to start, I’m unable to complete the homework.”

5. “There’s some fixing work going on at my home, especially in my room.” 

6. “I was about to do homework, but I don’t understand a thing.”

7. “There were some other priorities. More important than homework.”

8. “I have a reason, but I can’t share it with you, please believe me.” 

9. “I’ve misplaced the notebooks, still unable to find them. So I couldn’t complete it.” 

10. “There was a rumor that you were on leave today.”   

11. “I had no time for homework because there are so many things going on at home.” 

12. “My family and I were out of the city the entire day yesterday and we returned late.”

13. “After school, I have to work at our family business. My dad already trained me for it.”  

14. “I forgot my bag here so I’m not able to complete it at home.”

15. “Thought I would do it late at night, but I slept quite earlier than usual.” 

16. “My entire day went into doing some extracurricular, and I didn’t get time for homework.”

READ NEXT:  Great Comebacks For Your Kids

Funny Reasons For Not Doing Homework

Well, some excuses are so ridiculous that they make your teacher and your fellow students laugh. 

Indeed, there is a risk of you appearing dumb in front of your class. 

But because it’s a hilarious and creative reason, it might still work in your favor. 

Or at least to come up with new excuses than anyone else can think of.

1. “It was my birthday yesterday. And, I don’t want to celebrate it by doing just homework.”

2. “My parents brought a pet for me. So I played with him the whole day.”

3. “After I completed my homework, my sibling ripped my assignment apart.” 

4. “I’ve to babysit my little brother with nobody at home to take care of us.” 

5. “I was lost in the mall while going shopping with my mum and found it in the evening.”

6. “My elder sibling has thrown my assignment book in the trash.”

7. “Our cousin used my homework to make a paper plane and they just flew it.”

8. “My family wants me to go to a boarding school, so I’m just getting ready for it.”  

9.  “I was looking for the right time to get it done, but I didn’t get it .” 

10. “My mom and dad fought and the entire day went on just to settle things down.” 

11. “My grandparents visited our home yesterday, and I’ve been busy with them.” 

12. “Because there is so much homework for different subjects, I can’t do any of them.” 

13. “My internet went off while you’ve given the assignments to us.” 

14. “I accept that I didn’t do my homework now, but I promise to complete it tomorrow.” 

15. “There’s some family issue going on at home. So, I’m unable to complete the assignment.”

16. “My dad took my bag for some reason and today I have to come with a spare bag.”

17. “This is the first time I forgot the lesson, and you have to understand that I have some reason for that.”

Believable Excuses For Not Doing Homework

Whatever reason you are about to give for not completing your assignment, your teacher will judge it logically. 

So you just can’t share any reason that’s on your mind. 

Be careful with your reasons or excuses before saying why you didn’t do your homework. 

If you want some believable reasons that your teacher can’t deny, here’s the whole list of them. 

1. “I asked my dad to help me with my homework, but he doesn’t know a thing either.” 

2. “I’ve saved my assignment, but I don’t know where it is now. The file is lost on the PC.” 

3. “I forgot to save my homework and all the work was just gone.” 

4. “There were system errors on my PC. So it was not possible to do homework.” 

5. “My computer just got hacked and I must delete everything including homework.” 

6. “I felt the pain in my writing hand, and now I’m feeling better.”

7. “After school, we had to go to some event and I lost my bag somewhere there.” 

8. “I thought today was a holiday. So I didn’t do it.”

9. “Remember I told you that my computer is in repair, the technician hasn’t returned it.” 

10. “I’ve been at an important event with my family and came back this morning.” 

11. “It was my sister’s marriage, so I was not able to complete my homework.” 

12. “I was stuck in the giant toy car the whole day and not able to do homework later.”

13. “We bought a new TV. So, me and my brother watched our cartoon the whole day.” 

14. “I was helping other kids in school to complete assignments, but I forgot mine.” 

15. “My notebook fell into our swimming pool and I couldn’t save it in time.”

16. “It’s not my dog, but my cat peed on my notebook. I couldn’t bring my notebook today, but I will tomorrow.”

READ NEXT:  Smart Responses To Every ‘Why?’ Question

We all agree that we have the entire day to do it, but the best time to do homework is ‘the last hour’ before submission. 

But sometimes you can’t even do your homework in that precious time, too. 

Because you don’t want to do it, or just give up. 

When you fail to do or submit your assignment last time, you need some good excuses for not doing homework that your teacher could believe and accept. 

We hope we’ve suggested the best reasons to share to be safe this time. 

But Hey, next time you do your homework properly, Right? 

This list covers last-minute excuses to get you another chance. 

Hope this frees you from any punishments or embarrassment at school. 

But, promise us, that you will do your homework on time from now on. We don’t want you to use these excuses anymore, too.

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Specialized in marketing, with 'communication' as a favorite subject, Ketan P. is a head writer at 'Better Responses'. He loves to share his unique perspectives and ways to make everyday conversations a bit 'lively'.

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15 Good Excuses for When You Forgot to Do Your Homework

By: Author Hiuyan Lam

Posted on Last updated: October 20, 2023

Categories Social Responses

Having to do a ton of homework after a long day at school isn’t a great feeling. But, if you don’t do it, you’ll get in trouble if you don’t have good excuses not to do homework.

Instead of settling for a zero, you need to come up with good excuses to convince your teacher to give you a pass. These excuses not to do homework must be rock solid or else you might end up in even more trouble.

Saying the dog ate it is not a good excuse not to do homework, so don’t even think about using that one. Here are 15 of the best excuses not to do homework that are guaranteed to work:

Things to pay attention to before making up excuses not to do homework

  Before you go ahead and make up your excuses not to do homework, there are some things you must pay attention to. This will let you know if the excuse will work or not.   The main things are:  

4 excuses about blaming family when you forgot to do your homework

  Sometimes family can come in the way of getting your homework done on time. This can be because of a toxic home environment, or simply because a lot is going on at the moment.   Here are 4 good excuses not to do homework that can be blamed on your family:  

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11 of the Best Excuses to not Video Call Someone

3 excuses that blame technology

  As reliable as technology is these days, certain things may happen that will make it difficult for you to complete your homework assignments.   Here are 3 excuses not to complete homework that you can blame on technology:  

15 Good Excuses to Miss Class without Being Caught Lying

3 excuses for when you have conflicts

  Unfortunately, teachers can sometimes put too much pressure on students to complete homework.   Students might end up with a ton of homework that has to go in the same day, or experience scheduling conflicts with their extracurriculars.   If this is your experience, here are 3 excuses not to do homework:  

5 excuses for when you blame yourself

  If there isn’t anyone to blame but yourself, it’s always a better idea to go with the truth than a lie. Being able to hold yourself accountable says a lot and it is obvious to seasoned teachers when students are grasping at straws.   Here are 5 excuses not to do homework when it’s all your fault:  

  Now that you have your excuses not to do homework, please don’t take advantage of them.   Sure, homework might be no fun, but it will be helpful in the long run and you’ll find that when test time comes, you’ll have an easier time recalling what you have learned!  

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14 Hilarious Homework Excuses

If you're an educator, you've undoubtedly heard your fair share of excuses from students who don't have their assigned homework with them, which can range from plausible to hilariously absurd.

We've compiled some of the best homework excuses that educators in our Facebook community have heard during their time in the wacky world of teaching.

Students' Best Excuses 

This piece was originally submitted to our community forums by a reader. Due to audience interest, we’ve preserved it. The opinions expressed here are the writer’s own.

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Mastering homework excuses: strategies for effective response and resolution.

Title: Strategies for Dealing with Homework ExcusesWe’ve all been there – the moment when you’re faced with a stack of homework assignments and a flurry of excuses as to why they haven’t been completed. Homework excuses are a universal phenomenon, but they don’t have to be a source of frustration for students, teachers, or parents.

In this article, we will explore common homework excuses and strategies for dealing with them effectively. From funny and creative excuses to respectful and truthful ones, we will equip you with the tools you need to address homework excuses in a productive and educational way.

Clich Homework Excuses

We’ll begin with the clich excuses that have been used time and time again. While these excuses may feel overused, they still warrant attention to ensure they are appropriately addressed.

Some common examples include:

– My dog ate my homework. – My computer broke.

– My mom forgot it. – The internet was out.

– My grandma died. Again.

– The older kids took it off me and tore it up.

Funny Homework Excuses

In an attempt to inject some humor into the situation, students often come up with outlandish excuses that are impossible not to chuckle at. Here are a few examples:

– My mother wanted to display it on the fridge.

– The police confiscated it as evidence. – I was abducted by aliens and they took it.

– I sent it to you in the post. – My dad mistook it for a letter and posted it to China.

– I had to burn it in the fireplace to keep myself warm. – It flew out the window of the car.

– I thought I’d do it tomorrow because I’ll be older and wiser then. – I did my work.

It’s all up here in my head. – I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to add to your workload.

– My hand fell asleep and I didn’t want to wake it. – My cat ate it, knowing that I’d blame the dog.

Excuses For Strict Teachers

Some teachers have a reputation for being particularly strict, and students may feel the need to come up with more elaborate excuses. Here are some excuses commonly used for strict teachers:

– I was sick, and I have a sick note.

– My mother or father went to the hospital, and here’s the sick note. – My computer screen broke, and here’s a picture.

– The computer broke, but here are my handwritten notes. – The Wi-Fi didn’t work, but here are my handwritten notes.

– I wasn’t here when the work was assigned. – I tried, but I didn’t understand the instructions.

– I volunteer at the soup kitchen on Monday nights. – I’m so sorry.

I thought it was right here in my bag. – I had way too much homework for my other class.

– The library was closed, and I don’t have internet at home.

Truthful Homework Excuses

While honesty is always the best policy, sometimes the truth can be a valid excuse for unfinished homework. Here are some truthful excuses students may encounter:

– I was too busy doing something more important.

– My parents kept me really busy on the weekend, but I promise I’ll do it tonight. – I was at football practice all night.

– I did my homework, but I left it at home. – I forgot I even had homework.

– The computer didn’t break. It was the printer this time.

– I had a headache. – The homework was far too easy.

– My tutor accidentally took it home with them. – I accidentally squished it in the bottom of my bag, and now it’s got rotten apple juice all over it.

– I spilled cereal all over it because I was doing it over breakfast.

Blame the Parents

Sometimes, students find themselves blaming their parents for their incomplete homework. While this may not be the most productive approach, it’s important to acknowledge these sentiments.

Here are a few examples:

– My parents don’t believe in homework and won’t let me do it. – My mother said band practice was more important.

– I help my father at work on a Tuesday afternoon. I just can’t get it done on Tuesdays.

– My father looked at it, said it was outrageous government indoctrination, and told me not to do it. – My mother was looking over my homework and forgot to give it back to me.

– My mother threw it in the trash.

Blame the Teachers

Lastly, students may feel inclined to blame their teachers for assigning excessive or confusing homework. While it’s important to approach this issue with respect, it’s essential to address any concerns.

Here are some examples:

– You give too much homework. – Your instructions are impossible to understand.

– This was way too hard for me. You need to give me more guidance.

– The homework is too easy. It’s a complete waste of my time.

– Between you and all my other teachers, you’re assigning hours of homework every night. You all need to get together and resolve this.

Let the Teacher Know in Advance

One effective strategy for dealing with homework excuses is to let the teacher know in advance if there’s a genuine reason why the work couldn’t be completed. This shows responsibility and allows the teacher to make appropriate accommodations.

Provide Evidence

When faced with an excuse, it’s crucial to encourage students to back up their claims with evidence. Whether it’s a doctor’s note, a picture, or handwritten notes, supporting evidence helps teachers understand and address the situation appropriately.

Conclusion:

Homework excuses can be frustrating, but they also present an opportunity for growth and learning. By understanding common excuses and employing effective strategies for dealing with them, students, teachers, and parents can work together to foster responsibility, accountability, and a positive learning environment.

So next time an excuse comes your way, be prepared to address it with empathy and understanding.

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7 Homework Excuses That Work

At some point in our academic journeys, we’ve all faced the challenge of not having our homework ready for submission. While it’s crucial to adhere to deadlines and maintain consistency in our academic responsibilities, there are moments when life throws a curveball that interferes with our best-laid plans. This essay explores the fine line between credible and non-credible excuses for not turning in homework. We delve into the elements that differentiate an honest explanation from an unconvincing one, shedding light on what educators generally consider acceptable reasons. Furthermore, we consider the nuanced art of communicating these reasons to our instructors—how the subtleties of tone, diction, body language, and timing can impact the reception of our message—and emphasize the significance of an approach grounded in integrity and respect.

Table of Contents

Understanding Credible Excuses

Crafting the Perfect Homework Excuse: A Credible Approach!

Oh, the dreaded forgotten homework – every parent’s twist in the tale! It happens to the best of them: kiddos who usually have their act together but somehow, someway, that math worksheet vanished into thin air. Now, as much as we want our little angels to be the epitome of responsibility, sometimes the dog really does eat the homework. But when it comes to offering up that excuse to the teacher, credibility is key.

So, what transforms a homework excuse from eye-roll inducing to totally plausible? Let’s dive in and equip those littles with legitimate-sounding reasons for a homework hiccup.

First things first, honesty is always the best policy—no matter how cliché that sounds. A simple, straightforward explanation will often do the trick. Teachers have a sixth sense for tall tales, so keeping it real is the way to go.

Time for the nitty-gritty on crafting excuses that hold water:

Lost in the Abyss of Busyness

The modern family calendar is a labyrinth of appointments, activities, and events. When the homework assignment slips through the cracks of a packed schedule, it’s understandable. The key? Mention the hectic day, apologize, and assure it’s a rarity, not the norm.

Technological Turmoil

In this digital age, gadgets and gizmos have a mind of their own. If a printer declared mutiny or the family PC caught a cold (a virus!), it’s a valid hiccup. Explaining the tech-tastrophe followed by assurance that steps are being taken to avoid future glitches will win some empathy points.

Mother Nature’s Mood Swings

Sometimes the elements unleash their fury, and power outages or natural disasters can wreak havoc on homework completion. If Mother Nature decided to throw a tantrum, it’s perfectly acceptable to explain that homework took a backseat to safety and candles.

Juggling too Many Balls

A delicate balance exists between school, sports, and spelling tests. If your child dropped the homework ball in the juggle, it’s okay to admit it. Sharing how they’re reorganizing priorities to ensure schoolwork isn’t sidelined again shows growth and maturity.

Health Hurdles

When snuffles, coughs, or fevers strike, brains can turn to mush. If illness is the culprit behind missing homework, a brief note about the germ invasion, maybe backed up by a doctor’s note if it’s serious, communicates the absence of homework wasn’t for lack of effort.

A Message from the Heart

Life is unpredictable, and sometimes, serious family matters take precedence. Without oversharing, it’s perfectly okay to let the teacher know that extenuating circumstances took the spotlight.

Remember, the trick with any excuse is a sprinkle of sincerity, a dash of humility, and the unspoken promise to make things right. Teachers aren’t monsters out to get you—well, most aren’t, anyway. They understand life’s little curveballs, and as long as these trips and stumbles aren’t forming a pattern, a credible excuse will likely earn a chance for redemption.

So, go forth, craft those credible homework explanations when needed, and always a tip for the kiddos: have a backup plan for next time. Like, homework-eating-dog-proof folders, perhaps? Stay prepared and stay believable, and that homework hiccup will just be a minor bump on the educational highway. Happy studying!

Photo by anniespratt on Unsplash

Effective Communication Skills

Communicating with your child’s teacher about a missed assignment or an inability to complete homework can feel a bit daunting, but worry not, there are straightforward ways to do this effectively. imagine you’re crafting a short story: you want the message to be clear, the context to be sufficient, and the conclusion to be natural and constructive. let’s dig in, shall we.

First off, keep it timely. Don’t wait until the eleventh hour or, heaven forbid, after the due date to get in touch. Shoot for gold-star status by notifying the teacher as soon as you realize completing the homework won’t be possible.

Now, while you’re penning that email or jotting down notes for a conversation, be sure to include the three E’s: explanation, empathy, and evidence. A good ol’ explanation tells the teacher what’s going on without making the situation an epic novel. Keep it brief; teachers appreciate conciseness as much as the next person.

Empathy is your next step. Show that you understand the importance of homework and respect the teacher’s time and effort. A simple phrase like, “I understand how this can disrupt your lesson plans…” goes a long way.

As for evidence, you don’t need a courtroom-style presentation. Still, if you’re referring to something specific like a doctor’s note for an illness or documentation of a family emergency, mention that you can provide it if necessary.

The next chapter in our excuse manual covers the manner of delivery. Pick your medium thoughtfully. Email is often ideal for a paper trail, but sometimes a phone call or face-to-face chat is more personal and effective, especially for sensitive issues.

Then there’s the follow-up plan. Outline how you or your kiddo will catch up or make amends for the missed work. Teachers love proactive problem-solvers, so let them know you’re on team “Let’s Fix This.”

To wrap it up here, folks, remember the golden rule of excuses: keep it genuine. Veer away from fantastical stories that could rival sci-fi movies. An honest, straightforward approach is like comfort food—it’s just right and leaves everyone feeling a bit better.

So, armed with these pointers, you’re ready to craft that excuse in the most effective, thoughtful way possible. Here’s to keeping those lines of communication as friendly and productive as a well-loved family kitchen – it’s where the magic, and the understanding, happens. Happy explaining!

Mastering the skill of effectively presenting a valid excuse for incomplete homework hinges on a balance of authenticity and strategic communication. By recognizing the distinctions between what is considered a justifiable reason and what may be perceived as an attempt to shirk responsibility, adults can navigate these awkward situations with grace and accountability. Equipped with the methods discussed herein for conveying our reasons respectfully and convincibly, we’re not only better prepared to face unexpected hindrances in our educational pursuits but also capable of fostering a sense of understanding and trust with our educators. Ultimately, the respect we show towards our commitments, educators, and ourselves defines the value we derive from our educational experiences.

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Excuses are a sign of creativity and resourcefulness, providing an opportunity to explore new solutions and perspectives. Tim Ferriss

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Daniel Wong

11 Excuses for Not Doing Homework (And How to Stop Making Them)

July 5, 2022 By Daniel Wong 6 Comments

If you’re like many students, you’d rather take a nap, talk to your friends online, or play video games.

As you already know, finding reasons not to do your homework will prevent you from succeeding in school .

I’m sure you want to do well in school, and homework is definitely a part of that process.

In this article, I’ll go over 11 of the most common excuses for not doing homework and offer solutions to ensure that you stay engaged in school.

But first, make sure to download your free quick action guide…

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Excuse #1: You lack the required knowledge

Let your parents and teacher know if you’re taking a class and feel as if you lack the necessary skills or knowledge to complete the homework.

Ask your teacher for extra guidance so you don’t fall too far behind. See if your parents can find the time to help you, or you can look for a tutor.

Your teachers are there to help you develop the skills you need to do well in their classes.

You’re not alone in feeling that you lack the necessary skills, so don’t be too embarrassed to ask for assistance. You might even find some great study buddies who feel the same way.

Excuse #2: You lack confidence

Many students compare themselves to their peers, which can lead to a lack of confidence. When that happens, it’s easy to make excuses for not doing the homework.

But here’s what you need to know…

Everyone lacks confidence about something.

You might be good at math but need extra help with English. Perhaps you excel at geography but find biology confusing.

Give yourself a break.

If you lack confidence in your ability to learn a particular subject, get the support you need. Your teachers, parents, and even friends will help you out and give you a needed morale boost.

Excuse #3: Your home life is too hectic

The excuses for submitting assignments late are numerous, but one that I hear often is that it’s too busy or noisy at home to focus.

Finding a quiet space and using earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones can help reduce distractions. This will make it easier for you to finish your homework.

If that doesn’t work, try finding an alternative location to do your work, like the library or a friend’s house.

You can also talk to your parents about it. They might not even be aware of all the interruptions that are preventing you from completing your schoolwork.

Excuse #4: You don’t know where to start

Feeling anxious and overwhelmed are often the main reasons that cause students to not know where to start on their homework.

If you ever feel this way, here’s what I suggest you do:

• Take a deep breath.
• Create a space where you can get organised.
• Make a list of all your assignments and deadlines.
• Work on one assignment at a time.
• Start with an easy assignment to get a quick win, or tackle the most challenging assignment to get it out of the way.

Excuse #5: You have poor study habits

Many students develop bad study habits over their years in school.

Not everyone learns the same way or at the same pace. As such, every student will have different study habits. If what you’re doing isn’t working, try a different approach.

If you’re trying to do your homework as soon as you get home from school but can’t focus, try having a snack and taking a power nap before getting to work instead.

If you’re staying up too late studying, set a rule for yourself that you’ll start doing your homework within one hour of getting home.

Establish a routine where you do your work at roughly the same time each day. Developing routines like this will improve your study habits , which will make you a more effective student.

Excuse #6: School isn’t important to you

A common misconception is that school isn’t important, that what you learn won’t be relevant once you leave school.

This isn’t completely true.

Of course, the education system can be improved. But the knowledge you acquire in school will help you to understand and appreciate the world better.

And the process of becoming a more effective student will lead you to develop traits like self-discipline and responsibility. These are the types of traits you’ll need in order to find success at any stage of life!

Excuse #7: You’re overloaded with after-school activities

I know it can be tough to balance schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

Maybe you’re on a sports team or you spend several hours each week volunteering.

Finding the right balance to ensure you have enough time for homework can be challenging.

When too many afterschool activities get in the way of completing your assignments on time, it’s time to review your schedule. Decide how you can prioritise the activities that are the most important.

You may need to put some activities on hold until you’re consistently staying on top of your schoolwork.

Speak with your coach, teachers, or parents about the ideas they have to help you manage your schedule more effectively.

Excuse #8: Studying is boring for you

If you find that doing your homework is uninteresting, it may be time for you to change your point of view.

I always encourage students to cultivate a growth mindset . This is a mindset where you focus more on the learning process instead of on getting good grades.

Rather than seeing a particular subject as boring, develop a sense of wonder. Decide that you’re going to be intellectually curious, and you’ll discover that we live in a fascinating world.

And while you’re on that journey, remember that the students who succeed in school find ways to get the work done even when they find the subject boring.

For example, if you don’t like math, consider that it isn’t just about numbers – it’s a way of thinking.

Reframing how you think about a subject will enable you to see it as more interesting. In turn, you’ll become a better student over time.

Excuse #9: Your teachers assign too much homework

Sometimes, it may seem like your teachers assign more homework than you can keep up with. You might even believe that what you’re required to do is unreasonable.

If you find yourself in this situation, take a moment to think about everything else you’re doing.

Are you managing your time well?

Are you struggling with a particular class?

Do you use memory techniques to enable you to learn faster ?

Instead of allowing homework to overwhelm you, try talking to your teacher, tutor, or parents to figure out the best way forward for you.

Excuse #10: You already have so much overdue homework

Procrastinating on your homework can lead to a significant pile-up of assignments. This will affect your confidence in being able to complete them.

What’s more, once you get a set of new assignments, you probably won’t know how to do them because you didn’t do the previous assignments.

This creates a vicious cycle where you tell yourself that there’s no point in completing your newly assigned homework because you still have the old ones to do.

When this happens, the likelihood of completing any of the work decreases.

If you’re in this situation, set a reasonable goal of keeping up with all the newly assigned homework while completing, say, one overdue assignment a day, or one overdue assignment every two days.

Excuse #11: You don’t believe you can get good grades

If you hate school, there’s a chance that it’s because you feel the pressure to be a straight-A student .

Here’s the good news: You don’t need to be perfect. After all, there’s no such thing as a perfect student.

But you do have to put in the effort and get the work done. The rest will then fall into place.

If you’re doing your best, you’re doing great! Celebrate your progress and keep moving forward.

Take it one step at a time, and don’t worry too much about what grades you’re getting at the moment.

In closing…

There are many possible reasons for you not to finish your homework.

No matter what those reasons are, it’s important to know that the people around you want to help you succeed.

From teachers to parents to coaches, you have a support network to provide solutions to almost any obstacle you face.

Identify the excuses listed in this article that are relevant to your situation, and apply the suggested solutions.

If you do that, you’ll become a better and happier student who makes far fewer excuses related to homework!

July 7, 2022 at 12:13 pm

Thank you so much for this article. These were the problems I was struggling with. Now that i know the solutions to it ,I’m sure I’ll do better than before.

July 7, 2022 at 1:05 pm

You’re very welcome.

July 7, 2022 at 6:20 pm

I pray that may Almighty God grant you long life, more knowledge, sound health, rest of mind, wealth and happiness, so that you can witness your good impact in this World 🌍. GOD has made you a useful tool for every students and parents that is actually seeking success.

July 7, 2022 at 7:42 pm

Thank you, God bless you too!

July 27, 2022 at 9:29 pm

Thank you so much for this. I have found a couple of solutions for excuses I’ve made in the past. I needed this.

July 27, 2022 at 9:42 pm

You’re welcome.

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Suggestions

12 of the Funniest Excuses for Not Doing Your Homework

Homework is something that a lot of students choose not to do, even though they know they can get into a lot of trouble for skipping it. If you’re an educator, you’ve probably heard an unlimited number of excuses from your students, and some of them might have been absolutely hilarious.

From a student’s perspective, homework can be a serious obstacle to doing things they love, such as meeting with friends, playing video games or watching their favorite TV shows. In fact, a Chinese study found that more than 70 percent of schoolchildren don’t like homework .

Who’s going to want to do that math homework or write college papers when a new Marvel comic book has just been released, right?

So, when students begin to realize that they won’t complete the homework in time, they try to come up with believable excuses, which can be extremely creative, weird or funny.

So, to celebrate the inventive excuses students use to get out of homework, we’ve gathered some of the best from across the internet in the list below, enjoy.

1. “My brother’s friend , who came to our house yesterday, said he could eat paper, and I didn’t believe him. So he decided to show how much paper he could eat and grabbed my homework right out of my desk. I didn’t see that it was my homework and realized that it was too late.”

2. “ My dad needs a paper shredder for work, and it was delivered to our house yesterday. He wanted to show us how it works and mistakenly took my homework and destroyed it.”

3. “ My mom once said that she wanted my best homework framed. When I completed all the work yesterday, I said to her that it was the best because I did everything right, even the tasks for extra credit. Today, I couldn’t find it so I went to my mom. She said she had to have it framed because it was my best homework!”

4. “ I didn’t do my homework because I figured I’d do it tomorrow, because I’ll be older, and therefore be wiser, then.”

5. “ Yesterday, I didn’t have time to complete the homework because I was at the rally all day. The rally was calling for an increase to teacher pay, so I had to be there.”

6. “ To be honest, I didn’t do my homework because I know how heavy your current workload is and I didn’t want to add to it. I thought that I could give you some more free time.”

7. “ Well, incredible story. I was going to school this morning and it was very windy. I carried the homework in my hands, but it slipped out of them and blew away. I tried to chase it for a couple of blocks, so that’s why I’m late to class.”

8. “ While I was getting ready for school this morning, I was putting some books inside my backpack. When it was time for my homework, my mom said she needed to see me in the kitchen right away. I went there, and when I came back, my homework wasn’t there. Clearly, my dad accidentally took it to work because his briefcase was next to my backpack.”

9. “ I was in the school yard when I heard some student saying bad things about you. I felt like that should let him know that he was wrong. It would be wrong to hurt him, so I thought a good way was to throw something at him. I quickly looked through my backpack, but the only thing I could find was the homework I had to submit today. After hesitating a bit, I let him have it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it afterward; someone must have taken it.”

10. “ My grandpa was on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” yesterday, so he asked me if I would be available for a call if he didn’t know an answer and had to call a friend. I absolutely had to be there for him, so I didn’t have any time to complete today’s homework.”

11. “ After completing my essay yesterday, I looked at my assignment once again and realized that it was so good that it could make other students in the class feel bad about theirs. I decided not to hurt their feelings and left it at home. What can I say, I’m a great essay writer .”

12. “ I was sunbathing near the pool yesterday and doing the homework at the same time. When I was about done, something pushed me forward and I dropped my work right into the pool. It was so wet I couldn’t put it together, so I don’t have it right now.”

Just a Drop in the Ocean

The amount of homework is steadily increasing , so more and more students are finding creative excuses to avoid it. We collected just a small amount in this article, but there are literally thousands of excuses like these, and students keep coming up with new ones.

Hope these excuses brighten your mood right for the rest of the day!

Lucy Benton is a writing coach, an editor who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger. She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. Lucy also has her own blog, Prowritingpartner.com , where you can check her last publications. If you’re interested in working with Lucy , you can find her on Twitter .

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Daniel Reed

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50 Best Excuses for Missing your Homework

We all have drained our brains thinking for the perfect lie that could save us from our teachers. While school days are said to be one of the most memorable days of our lives, homework is one thing that we all used to run away from and would do anything to be away from it. Nervousness tickles up the spine when the teacher starts calling out names, asking for homework, slowly coming up to your name.

And you did not do it!

That is a moment when your brain is thinking hard for a solution, eyes staring blankly at your friends to get help, mouth mindlessly chewing nails and legs just wishing they could let you run out of the room. Alas, none of the things usually work out and it is left up to you to save yourself. And by the time you could make up the perfect justification, your teacher asks, “What about your homework? Have you done it dear?”

“No, ma’am. I mean yes, but actually…”

Well, there is always hope. It can be a good help if you try out these excuses for not doing your homework. There are always some cards that play the perfect role to help you out.

1. “I was ill for days!”

The king of all the excuses, illness can help you out surely. Now, it is important to keep in mind that your illness should sound practical as if it really happened to you. Do not tell of an ill situation that is hard to believe. I have heard that students sometimes even say that they caught rabies, and get blasted later. Viral infection, swelling, digestion issues and fever can work well.

2. “My cat scratched the papers and tore it off!”

Well, let’s not always blame the dogs for killing away your homework. This time, let your cat save you!

3. “I was busy volunteering for a social event”

Or even a community club, pets help, orphanage etc can be used to make up a perfect excuse. Teaming up with a social cause shows you as a responsible person towards your surroundings, and your teacher may like it and give you a day to cover up your work.

4. “Did not the homework was to be submitted today”

Well, this sounds as quite a common excuse, but definitely worth a try.

5. “Parents’ anniversary yesterday”

Yes, and that’s why you were busy all day round decorating up the house, fetching orders, planning the surprises which did not leave you any time for homework.

6. “Fall sick when asked about homework”

When your teacher is coming to you for homework, just bring out the actor inside you and pretend to be really sick, all of a sudden. You can act as if you have a really bad stomach, dizziness or feeling like throwing up as they happen suddenly. Rush to the medical room and you can be saved from a scolding.

7. “Lost it while house cleaning”

Let’s say the papers just got here and there while your room was being cleaned, and you could never find it again. It will be hard to believe one for your teacher though, but surely a fun thing to say as well.

8. “Vacuum cleaner ate it up”

Let the vacuum cleaner suck up your homework! And if the teacher asks that you could have still pulled it out, cleaned the paper and presented it to her, plainly say that it had too much chunk which was immediately cleaned.

9. “Mom gave a punishment for fighting”

And then think of a punishment which will keep you away from your room. Anything which is exhausting and time taking after which you were very tired and straight went off to sleep. For example, say you were asked to mow the lawn, clean the car, check and fix all the electric sockets etc. Surely this excuse can save you well because your teacher to knows that no one can cheat mom!

10. “Slipped out of my bag while I was crossing the bridge”

And below the bridge, there is the river, where it got dumped. But beware; do not think of saying the lie if there is no river in your way. You won’t be able to slip out of your teacher’s hands later!

11. “I did all of the work, but my computer crashed”

This excuse usually works well, because you did your homework but the system crashed. Play it well and you teacher will believe you.

12. “Baby sister pooped on it”

Eww, but it can definitely help you! And no one is going to think further about the assignment once they listen to this perfect lie.

13. “Got a lift while coming and forgot assignment in it”

Now you don’t know where the sweet guy who helped you went, neither you have any number to contact him.

14. “Dog peed on it”

Yes, finally the dog comes in to save you! And a further number of excuses that you can make up that involve your dog. Just like the lie where your younger sibling pooped on your precious homework, your teacher won’t think of it further.

15. “Had an alien visiting our block last night”

Anything bizarre can be cooked up once you say the word ‘Aliens’. You can say they sucked up all the ink of the entire block for their UFO’s fuel, or even that a tornado hit up when they were taking off the land. Aliens are always fun to talk about.

16. “Ran out of toilet paper”

Homework is important of course, but hygiene comes first!

17. “Someone pulled it out of my bag”

Pretend to be really worried, because you clearly remember keeping it in your backpack right this morning. But when you opened the bag in the class, poof! It has vanished. Your teacher will find it hard to believe because it is a lame excuse, but if you play it well, it can work as it points out that someone from class might have stolen it.

18. “Dad took it to work accidentally”

And while you were having breakfast, your dad was packing his bag for the office, searching for his files and papers and by mistake took off your homework with him too. But make sure your teacher does not end up calling your father to send in the homework.

19. “I was hypnotized”

Sounds fake. Totally. But it is possible anyway. Say your cousins were at your place last night and they tried up hypnotizing each other. Initially, it wasn’t happening, but when they tried the trick on you, it happened! And they made you clean all the chores of the house, bla bla bla. Make sure to tell that you were hypnotized all the time and got into senses right before school time.

20. “Butler tossed it into the bin”

Your butler cleaned up the room while you were getting ready. He thought it was some waste papers and threw them off. Plainly say that you were so furious that you asked dad to fire him right away.

21. “Gone into paper shredder”

Your cousin got a new paper shredder and wanted to test it. Before you could act in the situation, he picked up the assignment sheets lying near him and put into the machine. And you were crying your heart out when homework got chopped off finely.

22. “I felt my room was haunted”

And bring in all the conjuring effects that can trickle down a shiver of fear down the spine. Like the aliens, anything can be cooked up if you talk about paranormal activities. Lights got dimmed, bulbs burst off later, cold wind blew in through the wind, creepy sounds etc can all be a part of your story which made you really scared. So scared that you hid under the sheets and just slept off.

23. “Grandmother posted it away”

Say that your grandmom lost her glasses and had a very urgent letter to be delivered. By mistake, she picked up your homework and put it in the envelope. And all the while this happened, you were sleeping thus could not do anything.

24. “Burnt it to make some light”

Due to the heavy rain, there was low voltage and the fuse blew off. There was no light to see the fuse and fix it, thus you had to burn all the papers you could get your hands on, including your assignment. What a sacrifice it sounds! And when the power came back finally, there was not enough paper left in the house to start again.

25. “I forgot to bring my notebook”

The most common excuse, after all. Teachers have heard it a zillion times and find it lame. But it does happen that students forget their work due to a rush. But make sure that you do not use the lie each time you skip your homework because it does not make any sense that you forgot your homework every time.

26. “I was helping mom to host the guests last night”

This trick can definitely play well to save you from a punishment. After all, playing a good and responsible kid is never a bad idea!

27. “There was a power cut at our house the entire night”

And thus you could not see anything around you. A little silly it sounds, but if you play this excuse well, it can help you out for sure.

28. “I gave it for copying but did not get it back!”

Willing to play with your teacher’s mind? Then do try out this excuse. But be prepared for the fact that you may be scolded a little for letting others copy your work. But I’m sure it will be better than being blasted for not doing it at all!

29. “My maid packed food in it for a homeless guy”

Make sure to state right in the beginning that your maid can’t read. ‘Sharing is caring’ can indeed help you out and be a good excuse for skipping homework.

30. “Pen got no ink in the middle of work”

This excuse will be more sensible if you have done your homework, but not completed it. Add on some extra lines that the nearby stationery was closed too or anything else. Though a little hard to believe, it might work out too.

31. “I got robbed on the way to school!”

Why not add some drama to your lie! Make up a good story of how happy you were when you started from home as all your answers were correct but you got robbed in the way, and the bad guys took out everything from your bag and vanished. If possible, shed off a tear too, and the teacher will surely believe you and give you another chance to work on it. But hey, this excuse may not work every time as it is easy to catch out such fictitious excuses.

32. “My little brother made a boat and sailed it!”

Little kids can be a great saviour when it comes to making excuses. Plainly tell your teacher that your baby brother made a boat out of your assignment and sailed it in the bathtub.

33. “Tore it off because all my answers were wrong”

Play out a frustrated kid while telling this excuse, and say how dedicated you were to your work all night. But when you cross-checked the answers, you got angry with yourself so much that you just blew off the paper. Quite an unbelievable excuse though, but if you play it smartly, your teacher will surely believe in it.

34. “Kept it near the window and it blew away!”

Keep it simple, practical and real. Who can stop nature anyway?

35. “I just showed it to you!”

Sounds fun and adventurous, but do not dare to try if your teacher is sheer smart.

36. “Sister scribbled on it, so I had to erase it which took the entire night”

Again, let your family be your saviour!

37. “Did not know about submitting it today”

Though it is another common lie that goes around a lot, it can give you an extra day.

38. “Shifting house, thus misplaced it”

Tell your teacher that you are shifting your house to a new place, thus everyone was busy packing up the whole stuff. And now you have no idea where your stationery is packed!

39. “Drunk friend puked on my homework!”

And you could not do anything but to help him get to the washroom. And it was a stinking gross sight by the time you returned, thus you had to throw away your homework. This excuse can work well if you play it smartly.

40. “Could not understand the concept”

This shows that you tried doing your homework, but came across problems while doing it. You can make it even better by asking some doubts from your teacher to make it clear to your teacher that you indeed tried doing the homework.

41. “I was absent on that day homework was given”

And you don’t know anything about it. In fact, this is the most common lie that every student has given quite a times in their school times. And the teachers have got bored of hearing this lie. But you can still try it out.

42. “Forgot to save my work”

You were staying up all night, working hard on your assignment and then straight away went to sleep. And you went crazy in the morning when you realized that you had turned off your computer without saving your work!

43. “Neighbors were disturbing, thus I could not focus”

Well, it won’t be wrong to blame your neighbours little for not doing homework. Say the music was too loud or they were drunk and kept disturbing us at our home or anything else.

44. “Was busy doing other subject’s homework”

Teachers go a little crazy hearing this one, and they start lecturing the kids. But it happens often that students are already burying their heads in one subject so much that they can’t complete other subjects’ work.

45. “Was busy in a police investigation in the vicinity”

Let’s say that a crime scene popped out in your neighbourhood and you were called upon for a general investigation. The tiring questions made you really exhausted and you jumped into bed after it.

46. “Work got stuck due to printing error”

You were about to print your work, but let the printer take all your pains. Say it ran out of ink, bolts were loose or anything else. After all, technical errors can ooze up anytime.

47. “Had a fight with brother and he tore off my hard work!”

Oh, poor you! You did a good job at solving all the problems, sitting up all night. But he quarrelled with you right when you woke up in the morning and tore off your homework to bits just to annoy you. And every person knows that fights between siblings are a messy thing to tackle, so such things happen often!

48. “Had a bad toothache”

A toothache is a thing which can shiver a person even in his sleep. Your teacher may have gone through the sour experience as well, so such an excuse can keep you safe easily.

49. “Was grounded to my bedroom and homework was kept in the study”

An annoying lie which the teacher may not believe, but it can explain to him clearly that you need more time to complete your work.

50. “I confess…”

Sometimes, telling the truth is the best excuse to explain why you did not do your work. If no other way seems to work out, speak out the truth, blaming yourself a little that you felt lazy and did such an irresponsible thing. Tell your teacher that you would not repeat such a mistake and require some extra time to finish your work. Sometimes, truth wins overall.

Well, keep a thing in mind that the more bring such excuses into use, the lesser teachers will believe in you. do not make a regular habit of skipping homework. Make use of the above suggested fun excuses when it is actually required.

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The 10 Most Common Homework Excuses Teacher's Receive (And How to Come up with Better Ones)

• Trent Lorcher
• Categories : Study & learning tips for parents & students
• Tags : Homework help & study guides

You might wonder why a teacher would want to help you with “I forgot my homework” excuses. It’s simple. I’m tired of hearing the same excuses every time I collect an assignment. I want you to be more creative. The top homework excuses of the past no longer give me the thrill of detective work like they used to. I’ve already figured out a way to shoot them down, to humiliate you, and make you feel silly. I feel like General Zaroff must have felt in “The Most Dangerous Game.” I need a new challenge, so here’s a list of top homework excuses, why you should never use them, and subtle changes you can make to be more effective.

10 Most Common Excuses & How to Improve Them

• I forgot my homework : That’s weak! You can do better than “I forgot my homework,” Can’t you? Even if you did forget your homework, come up with something more creative than this. Here’s a little trick: “I forgot my homework, but my mom said she’ll bring it in during lunch/after school.” This will buy you a few hours. Do the assignment during lunch and bring it in after school.
• My printer doesn’t work : Come on! Did your printer work last week? Did it work the day before yesterday? Or did it mysteriously stop working right when you were about to print out your assignment? There are millions of functioning printers in the world. There are probably several at your school, including one in your teacher’s classroom. They’re not going to buy this. Try this one instead: “My printer ran out of ink last night. Can I e-mail it to you when I get home?” This will buy you some time and your teacher isn’t going to check too closely. Just have it e-mailed before 5:00 and you’re safe.
• I didn’t know it was due today : Are you serious? It’s been on the board for a week-and-a-half. It’s been mentioned every day at the start of class. It’s on the class website. The other 36 kids in the class knew it was due today. Don’t ever try this one. Even if you didn’t know it was due, you should have.
• I lost it: Try using that one with the power company. Try “my backpack was stolen” or “I left my binder on the bus.”
• I was absent: Yea, you were sick 5 days ago when I assigned it, but you’ve been here every day since. Didn’t it occur to you that you needed to find out what you missed before it was due. Try “I was really sick last night and was unable to finish it. If you want, I can bring a note from my Mom.”
• Start crying : This is actually really effective if you’re a girl. If you’re not a girl, don’t try this, nor should you try its sister excuse: “it’s that time of the month.”
• I cleaned out my notebook and threw it away : Maybe you should clean out your head before using this classic. Nobody believes you threw anything out of your notebook because it’s exploding with papers. Use the “I got my notebook stolen” instead.
• I didn’t do it : Some teachers may give you some points for honesty, but they already know you didn’t do it.
• I had a game last night : Most teachers will give you the “so, you think ___________ (name of sport) is more important than _______ (name of class)?” response. If you’re teacher is a huge sports fan and if your team won and if you played an integral role in the victory, you may get a break.
• I never got the homework: The 38 other students in class all got the assignment and began working on it immediately, but you neither got the assignment nor bothered to ask what the rest of the class was doing?

As you can see, teachers have wised up to your antics. No longer are the traditional excuses gonna cut it. It’s time to evolve into the next generation and challenge your teacher to keep up with your creative homework dodging.

This post is part of the series: Homework Excuses

Find the best, the worst, the most popular, and the funniest homework excuses with just a few clicks of the mouse.

• The 10 Best Homework Excuses
• The 10 Most Common “I Forgot my Homework” Excuses
• Funny Homework Excuses

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15 hilarious homework excuses, homework excuses you may have heard before.

Students will tell you just about anything to get out of trouble for not having their homework. This situation can be fodder to some great teacher stories as students can come up with the most hilarious homework excuses. Have you ever had students come up with homework excuses like these?

1. It just slipped out of my hands and blew away. That’s why I am late. I ran after it. Oops, the wind was so strong that I just couldn’t help it. *Sad face*

2. I was not able to hold the pencil because my finger hurt. You realize how difficult it is to hold a pencil when your finger hurts “really,” “really” bad?

3. I let somebody take it and did not get it back. That little bugger told me he was in urgent need of my homework copy, and I fell in the trap. *Grim face*

4. My dad wasn’t well, and my mom wasn’t home. Oh so common reason. But it works every time, doesn’t it?

5. You told us to do all the questions. Were we supposed to bring them too? I did them as you said but I did them on my rough copy at home. I did not know that I was supposed to bring it too. I will bring that tomorrow, ma’am! I have already done it. *Sincere mode on*

6. I left it in my shirt, and my mother washed it. And I had a fight with my mother. I didn’t do anything wrong. Trust me, I did the homework. *Poor face*

7. My dad accidentally put it in his office bag and took it to work. My dad is always in a hurry like that.

8. My younger sibling ripped it apart. That stupid brother does not understand the difference between food and papers. He chewed my homework. *Angry face*

9. We had an electricity cut off in our house, and I had to ignite it to get enough light to see the fuse box. It was such a sad day for me. I put so much hard work doing it. *Helpless face*

10. I got soap in my eyes, and it blinded me for the rest of the night. I have a good habit of bathing every day after school, and it cost me my homework. Seems like good habits ain’t that good.

11. I got a solar powered calculator, and the weather was cloudy. Advanced math without a calculator? No way.

12. I left my homework on your desk before you came but it’s just not here. I had handwritten it, took me ages!” Somebody must have stolen it. *Clueless face*

13. I left my homework on the table and my angry dog got hold of it. Rest is history. Angry dogs are dangerous, I tell you. I couldn’t try to pacify him.

14. My father went through a nervous breakdown, and he used the pages of my assignment to make paper boats. I wonder how he behaved. Like a kid, you know! I was, in fact, not coming today but mom forced me to stay out of dad's way or else he would tear all my books!

15. I tried so hard to understand the chapter but I couldn’t. Can you please explain it to me again, ma’am? I will give it another try. I am such a sincere boy; I just can’t leave my homework undone. I will definitely do it once I understand it.

Have some more interesting excuses you have heard of?

Or perhaps you invented them!

Share with us in the comments below and let the laughter begin!

About the Author: Aditya Singhal is the co-founder of Transtutors.com a leading online tutoring assistance program for college students. Having graduated from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), he worked briefly with the American consulting firm, Kurt Salmon Associates before taking the entrepreneurial route. Outside of the work arena, Aditya has a personal interest in helping MBA students. He is also actively involved in giving back to the society by contributing a part of the revenue towards education of poor students.

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The 100 FUNNIEST Excuses For Not Doing Homework, Courtesy of My Students

Posted on Published: November 19, 2023

By: Author Jane Morris

Students throw out all kinds of excuses for not getting their homework done! From believable excuses to the tried and true classic “ my dog ate it” , teachers hear a lot of excuses every damn day.

It doesn’t help that by now, the behavioral expectations for students have become so loose that students can pretty much say whatever they want without consequence. These days, the excuses are that much more interesting. (And honest.)

Over the course of nearly two decades of teaching, I heard every homework excuse in the book. Better yet, I’ve saved my favorites! And rounded them up here for your viewing pleasure.

So let’s share in the giggles together! I’ve rounded up 100 of the BEST homework excuses I’ve ever heard. The laughs are good for the soul.

And probably your patience too! Some of these you’ve likely heard before. There might not be a lot of foolproof excuses for not doing your homework, but there sure are a lot of fools that come up with some real stinkers!

So for your enjoyment (and definitely not to be actually used in a real-life classroom), here are 100 odd, creative, nonsensical, and hilarious excuses from students for not doing their homework!

100 Funniest Excuses for Not Doing Homework: A Story of Student Shenanigans

If it’s your first day in the teaching profession , you might think homework excuses are few and far between. At the very least, you might think students bother making good excuses.

Well, you’d be wrong on both counts! You will be fed excuse after excuse from students for not having finished their homework, and very few of them will sound believable.

So new teachers, pay attention! Here is some of the ludicrousness you can expect from your class. And it WILL be on the test.

As for all my kindred season educators, sit back and enjoy the ride! Maybe grab a moist towelette…

Cause it’s about to get juicy.

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Homework Excuses That Are Pure Nonsense!

Man, kids say the silliest things to teachers . From being arrested by the FBI to simply having a gross pimple, the excuses for not having done homework often make no sense…

But they are highly entertaining!

• I got this thing where I can’t read.
• I was arrested by the FBI but it was a case of mistaken identity!
• The microwave was erasing all of my work and that’s why it was all turned in blank.
• I swear I did the work but the answers kept falling off my paper!
• My homework ate my dog!
• The elf on the shelf erased it.
• I had a crusty pimple.
• An electrostatic spark tore a hole in the space-time continuum. My paper was transported back through time and was found and published by a random person. Now I have to redo my assignment because it would be plagiarism to hand in my original.
• I care about trees too much to use paper.
• A gang broke into my house and stole the bag it was in.
• The military accidentally blew it up.
• My water bottle spilled in my backpack and it turned my homework into a brick of ice overnight.
• I did all my other homework and at that point, I needed personal time.
• I died in a car crash.
• I don’t care about homework because I don’t care about education.
• I was cooking grilled cheese and it was the last two pieces of bread and I burnt it and then I was really sad and I couldn’t do anything.
• I kept sneezing and picking the wrong answers because of that and I got frustrated so I just stopped doing it.

Excuses, Accidents, and Bathroom Mishaps

Look, we’ve all had a “little accident” . Only the worst teacher in the world would deny a student the facts of life.

But personal issues that maybe should stay personal are a go-to for slackers. Some funny homework excuses concern the crapper, and now we’re going to laugh at them. Take that, slackers!

• I was dealing with the ghost in the bathroom.
• I was taking a phat shit and it took forever.
• I had Taco Bell so I was in the bathroom the whole night.
• I took a crap and it stunk so I had to take a shower but then I had to crap again and then I showered again.
• I was really constipated.
• My mom forgot to buy toilet paper so I had to use my homework.
• I was doing it in my jacuzzi and it fell in.
• I had too many Hot Cheetos and had to ravage my toilet all night.

Mysterious Illnesses and TMI Reasons for Not Doing Homework

Your student’s poop schedule is one bit of TMI you could probably do without. Look, the uncomfortable truth of the teaching profession is that there will be poops, pees, spews, and TOO much information. The funniest homework excuses usually overspecify…

It comes with the territory. So whenever one of these incredibly questionable yet incredibly funny excuses for not doing homework rolls your way, the best thing you can do is jot it down.

So that, one day, you can put it in a blog post on the internet. Guilty!

• I was eating Takis in the car on the way here and I rubbed my eyes and had to pull over.
• My part was really itchy and I needed a shower.
• I dropped it in the toilet after I had gone to the bathroom.
• I was in intensive care having fluid drained from my lungs because I had pneumonia that I got when I was hit by a car.
• I had heart surgery last night (1st grader).

Excuses About Family Issues, Problems, and EMerghencies

We, as teachers bound to our duty, MUST be sensitive to the family issues and home lives of our students…

Unless they’re just making up excuses to get out of doing their homework! A solid fib about family issues is a classic reason students use to skip homework.

Now, will parents ever take responsibility for their kids not doing their homework? No, of course not! Parents will blame teachers. It’s their go-to M.O.

So next time you hear one of these clankers, note it down and feed it back to the parents. That’ll throw a spanner in the wheels of the little turds!

• I had to take my Nana out for cigarettes.
• I had to help my mom put the cucumbers in the fridge.
• I was practicing playing guitar so I could play a song for my mom’s birthday.
• My mom needed help putting cucumbers in the fridge.
• My sister broke my Chromebook screen because I wouldn’t give her a hug.
• My parents had diarrhea.
• My mom didn’t have time to do it.
• My dad said he doesn’t believe in homework so I don’t have to do it.
• My stepmom died again last night (for the 10th time).
• My dad made me watch TV instead.
• My dad ran it over with his truck.
• My mom drank too much beer to help me with it.
• My mom has radiation poisoning from Chernobyl and it messed up my brain.
• My grandma got lost at the mall and it took us hours to find her.
• My stepdad had a hook in his arm.
• My grandmother wouldn’t give me back my textbook which she had taken in retaliation for the theft of her wooden leg.
• My grandma accidentally took it with her to Mexico.
• I did the homework the day you gave it to us, except then my dad sold all of our notebooks.
• My grandpa said the work is stupid and you’re a moron.

Making Excuses About Special Events

“Damn, Miss, I was in Europe over the weekend.”

“Oh, you went for a weekend trip abroad as a 14-year-old? My apologies, allow me to rescind your homework requirements then.”

I honestly don’t know what some students are thinking with these reasons. But the stupidest homework excuses are my favorite. You can just let the kid talk and dig their own hole!

Perhaps, eventually, one of these definitely totally believable excuses will be the final straw for your inevitable nervous breakdown. But until then, just keep quoting them verbatim as teacher comments on their report cards .

Maybe one day someone will actually bother to read those things.

• I was getting married in the Sims and completely lost track of time.
• It was my birthday and I just wanted to get my hair done and get a cake.
• I was planning a funeral for my frog.
• I had to take down Halloween decorations.
• I had to get my nails done for prom.
• It was my bird’s birthday.
• I had to travel to Europe to stop WW3.
• I was at the beach and they didn’t have good WiFi.
• I was packing for the vacation I’ll be on for the next three weeks. Can I have the work I’ll miss?
• I had to brush my hair.

Extremely Honest Reasons to Not Do Homework

Look, sometimes all you really need to do is be honest . Did you not do your homework because you smoked a bowl and got marooned on the sofa with cartoons?

Screw it! Just tell the teacher that. Maybe they’ll give you a pass for your winning smile alone!

Much like all the ridiculous reasons to visit the school nurse , sometimes, the best reasons for not doing your homework require honesty.

What could possi-blye go wrong!

• I have no time management skills. On the bright side, I watched all of season 1 of Stranger Things today!
• I was eating Toaster Strudels.
• My 24-hour ban from Call of Duty ended today and I need to get some rounds in.
• My favorite soccer team lost.
• I was smoking weed with my friends and the next thing I knew it was morning and I had to come to school again.
• It just didn’t fit into my schedule today.
• I’m just, like, really lazy.
• I had better things to do.
• We thought it was Saturday yesterday.
• I don’t need to do homework because NCAA scouts have been coming to see me play and I’m gonna get a scholarship.
• I had to go to church but I’m pretty sure God will understand.

Animal Problems – “My Dog Ate My Homework” and Other Variants

I’m not saying your students are animals (though they certainly behave like animals ).

I AM saying that students will make excuse after excuse for not doing their homework courtesy of their pets. They’re the perfect culprit! Who’s ever going to interrogate your furry friend for cross-examination?

Only the teachers who are crazy enough. ;)

• My dog peed on my laptop and it took a few days to dry.
• My cat ran over the keyboard and deleted the whole thing.
• My dog doesn’t like going to the bathroom alone so I had to watch him and he took forever.
• We had a cow in labor, and it was stuck in the hips of the cow, and I couldn’t get it out myself.
• I was with my new guinea pig and it was really distracting.
• The dog pooped and my baby brother fell in it.
• I accidentally locked my cat with my brother’s cat, and I don’t know if my cat got pregnant, but I think she is because she tried to go under my bed, and she never does that.
• There was a roach on the floor so I couldn’t get down off the bed the whole afternoon.
• My dog had puppies on top of my book bag and it was gross so my dad threw my book bag away.
• My cat threw up on it.
• My duck pooped on it.
• My dad accidentally threw my project away and a raccoon went into the trash can and destroyed it.
• My friend’s cat is having an abortion.
• A donkey ate it.
• The squirrels on the roof were distracting me.
• My dog died three years ago.
• I was doing a photo shoot with my bunny.
• My dog looked sad.
• I was doing my homework outside and a bird grabbed it and flew away.
• I got attacked by a raccoon on the way to school and he only went for the homework and ate it in front of me.
• My pet parrot flew into the fireplace and caught on fire. It then proceeded to fly around the room, and his dad tried to hit it with a frying pan because he was afraid the curtains would go up in flames if the parrot went close to them. With all the drama, I forgot to do my homework.
• My grandmother’s potbelly pig ate my homework.
• I got distracted shopping online for furniture for my turtle.

Funny Homework Excuses and Technical Difficulties

Oh, man – I saw some whoppers of excuses in the remote learning era of COVID-19!

Technical difficulties are the perfect excuse students make to skip out on their homework. They think they’re more tech-savvy than teachers…

Little did they know that a teacher’s BS-meter is far more finely calibrated than their excuses will ever be!

• Google erased my work.
• I don’t have internet access (sent in an email).
• I just kept hitting the submit button over and over and over and it didn’t make a click sound or anything.
• My mom threw my “lab top” out the window and when I went outside to get it, it was gone.
• I accidentally lit my Chromebook on fire
• My dog peed on my Chromebook

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The Final Excuse for Not Doing Your Homework…

Reason #100:

• “But, Miss! You said to do questions 1-10. You didn’t say bring them in!”

Check and mate.

Thus concludes our list of the 100 funniest excuses for not doing their homework, all thanks to the countless students who skipped out on their work.

Stay on guard though. With the rise of AI and homework excuse generators , the excuses only get more advanced!

So stay switched on out there! If it’s not funny excuses for not doing homework, it’s straight-up silly reasons for being absent and everything else under the sun.

Jot them down, collect them, and then (if you’re feeling spicy), post them in the comments down below. Why stop at 100? Gotta catch ’em all!

Stay miserable out there, teacherinos. The excuses and excuses never stop coming! So maybe come up with your own…

“Oh, no, sorry, Lucy. I CAN’T return your confiscated phone. My dog ate it.”

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10 Top Homework Excuses: The Good the Bad and the Lazy

If it is not fair to punish someone for something they didn’t do then why students get penalized for not doing homework? This fair question apparently haunts the heads of those students who are figuring out how to get out of doing homework these days.

The team behind the Unicheck College plagiarism checker certainly remembers those times when some of us pretended to be sick as a homework excuse? Have you ever done it? And if you did, did you use your imagination power to the fullest?

Some of the students have a real knack in homework excuses.They don’t try to get away with a “sickness”, – this is too simple for them. They plot whole stories to produce a proper effect on the teacher. Sometimes it goes too far:

My cat/dog ate my homework

The animals are proudly leading the chart of “why i didn’t do my homework” excuses. Hoping to touch the emotional strings of the teachers the students are using their pets in order to shield themselves from the homework problems. The sickness of your dog already sounds plausible. Nope? Then why don’t you try the following:

“My dog ate my homework”, – The dog’s thought “This homework looks hard, do you want me to eat it?”

“I did my homework but my cat shredded it to pieces” – The cat’s thought “Just do it, the dog will get the blame.”

I forgot homework at home

Where’s your homework? It’s at home. Isn’t it frustrating when you forgot homework at home? When you forget homework, you probably didn’t do so much of it.

Anyways, too much homework and too little enthusiasm for it causes students to pray for the chance when the teacher doesn’t show up to the class. Maybe you were just testing the probability theory?

I forgot I had a homework

Another variation of forgetfulness the students are inclined to. In teacher’s eyes, to forget about homework is as bad as refusing to do it. “I forgot to do my homework” or “I forgot I had a homework” is one of the popular hw excuses and yes, it sounds hardly excusable, only if you manage to convince the teacher you have severe memory loss.

My computer/my printer has crashed down

“I didn’t do my homework because my laptop died”- one of the simplest excuses is a malfunctioning device, thus, it is also overused and overrated. Blaming the printer is either a useless idea, the teacher might ask you to send the homework by e-mail, not in hard copy. That awkward moment…

Here’s a couple of funny homework excuse variations to the theme:

“My dad is a famous developer, the information on his computer was very important so it was stolen by the Chinese hackers”!  Sure, your homework is a very important information for the hackers, especially Chinese ones.

“The computer said the file type was incompatible with a software“, – The chance that your teacher is a total noob is very low these days so better hurry up before your computer says you need to upgrade your brain to be compatible with a homework.

My homework was stolen

“The thieves have grabbed my briefcase in the morning while I was walking in school. We fought and fought, the briefcase opened, everything fell from it. The thieves have grabbed what had fallen. Among the textbooks they took was a math notebook with my written assignment”.

Let’s make some rational exponents out of this story, you either die a hero or run long enough to get your math homework back, right?

 I didn’t do my homework, because it was deadly hard

One of those homework excuses might even convince the teacher that you can pass the homework the next time, but hold your horses if you plan to convince someone of something you should be convincing. Maybe soften up the teacher with a bunch of hard to pronounce words from the subject’s unit? At least make some doodles in the textbook and abundantly cross off everything explaining you did it under another uncertainty attack.

Power cut off

“I just sat down to do my homework when out of the blue a giant hurricane appeared and bang! The light went off from the block. I sure might have done it with candles but my parents do not allow me to do it. They always say “you’ll ruin your eyes”.

Long days are gone when you could use the problem with electricity as an excuse for not doing homework. It looks like the story has been passed from generation to generation till you eventually heard it from parents. Nowadays it looks more like a funny homework excuse.

I’ve been jogging/volunteering/fishing/shopping/thanksgiving/etc

All of those “extra-curricular” activities are good but if you stop using them as excuses for not doing homework that would be even better. It sounds like you need a time for important things in your life and the school with its homeworks definitely doesn’t fit in the scheme of things.

Domestic cataclysms

Domestic cataclysm is a classy reason that students use figuring out the answer to the question on how to get out of doing homework. Some of such might have been credible if they weren’t so funny:

“Due to a small fire in the house, all of the notebooks have burned down”.

“The neighbors have flooded our house so all the notebooks have drowned”.

I had a headache

A headache is apparently the hit of the season. Everyone knows the brain is a tricky thing, – it’s grey, squishy and most importantly it hurts when the time is up for studying.

What if you really have a headache and the project is up for tomorrow? In this case, it is probably better to brace yourself, take a pill and like in any confusing situation go to sleep. Tomorrow, telling about your yesterday’s headache, don’t forget to say to the teachers that you did not dare to skip school even due to poor health and lack of homework. If they ever had headaches, they’ll understand. Probably.

Pinpointing everything

During school years, the temptations are ambushing students at every corner. Unfortunately, no time is left for such daily trivialities as homework. The efforts of future bachelors, masters and Ph.D.’s are also constantly broken up with endless “A little walk, and then finish”, “A little food and then finish” and “I’ll do everything for the next lesson” thoughts. School life can be real crazy, especially if you are a freshman.

Seriously, there’s no need to lie to your teacher about the homework you didn’t do using awkward hw excuses. If you really experienced certain emergencies, it is better to tell the truth and if you didn’t exceed the limit of excuses yet, the odds are high you will be spared, voila.

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30 Good Excuses To Get Out Of Something (That Are Believable)

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Do you need a good excuse to get out of something? You’re in the right place.

For the purpose of this article, we’ll assume that you want to reject someone close to you, like a friend asking you to go out or a loved one asking you to spend time with them.

However, if you carefully follow the steps below, you’ll be able to get out of anything. Plus, you can be honest, avoid hurting anyone, and feel guilt-free about it.

You can even use some of these excuses in your professional life and with acquaintances, not just friends and family. Keep reading to learn how to tailor them based on your specific circumstances.

But let’s start with the list of excuses you can use to get out of something you just don’t want to do.

30 Excuses To Get Out Of Going Somewhere Or Doing Something

• “Sorry, I’m not feeling so well.”
• “Sorry, I have a lot of work to do right now.”
• “I wish I could, but my family came to visit unexpectedly.”
• “I’m sorry, but I totally forgot that it’s my cousin’s birthday today.”
• “I’m sorry, but I already made plans with my family that I totally forgot about!”
• “My partner is having a crisis, and I really need to be there for them right now.”
• “Sorry, but I’m running behind on work, and I might get fired if I don’t do all this on time.”
• “To be honest, I’m exhausted these days, and I don’t think I can bring myself to go out.”
• “Sorry, my friend just asked me for help with something, could we see each other some other time?”
• “I wish I could, but I can’t find anyone to take care of my pet, so I’ll have to reschedule.”
• “Sorry, my loved one is having an emergency and I really have to be there for them right now.”
• “Oh god, I totally forgot about our plans, I’m so sorry! I hope we can reschedule.”
• “I have an early day tomorrow, so I’ve got to get to bed. Maybe we can do this next week instead.”
• “My house is a mess, and I really need to get my life in order before making any more plans. Sorry about that; I hope you understand.”
• “I hurt my ankle while hiking, so I’ll be in bed for a few days. I’ll let you know when I’m back on my feet and we’ll get together then!”
• “My car broke down, and so did I. I’m really not in the mood to go out right now, sorry.”
• “I wish I could, but I’m currently broke. Please be patient while I get my life in order.”
• “You wouldn’t believe the day I had; I can’t bring myself to see anyone right now. Let’s talk a few days from now.”
• “Last night was crazy, and I don’t have the energy to get out of bed today, hope you understand. Sorry for the late response.”
• “Something came up at work, and with the traffic, there’s no way I can make it, sorry about that, let’s reschedule.”
• “I have to be honest with you, I really don’t feel like it today, hope you can understand, I’m going through some things and will get back to you as soon as I’m on my feet again.”
• “I have a deadline, and it can’t wait. Let’s talk once I clear my schedule.”
• “I have a lot of meetings today, and by the time they’re all done, I’ll be exhausted. So let’s do this another time.”
• “I caught something, and I might be contagious, so let’s stay safe and see each other once I’m feeling well again.”
• “I lost my wallet with my ID, so going anywhere is really hard for me right now, but let’s talk again when I sort this thing out.”
• “My roommate/partner and I got into a huge fight, so give me some time to sort all this out, and we’ll talk later.”
• “To be honest, I’d rather just stay home and get cozy, life hasn’t been easy on me lately.”
• “I ran into my ex today and it floored me emotionally, so I really need some alone time right now, hope you understand.”
• “I have to go to the doctor’s to get some test results, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
• “I’m waiting for the delivery guy, ordered something really important and can’t miss the chance to get it as soon as possible, let’s rain check please.”

How To Use These Excuses

1. be ready for follow-up questions..

Whichever excuse you use, be prepared for questions.

“I’m having a personal issue that I need to urgently tend to,” would probably be enough for a boss or a coworker not to ask you more about it. But if it’s a loved one, they may want to know the details. This is why some of the examples on the list include specifics to help you navigate follow-up questions.

You need to be prepared for follow-up questions, so decide how honest you want to be. For instance, saying, “I had a one-night stand, and I’m at the hospital waiting for the results because I might have an STD,” could be rephrased into, “I have to go to the doctor’s to get some test results, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

However, if you say this, the person will probably have follow-up questions, so you could even say, “I’m down with a cold.”

When something is a health issue, you could make it general, and people likely won’t ask you more about it.

However, be careful with using health issues if they’re not real. If you’re feeling sick every Sunday night, the person is going to realize that the issue is not about your health at all.

“I’m going through something personal that I don’t want to talk about,” is a good excuse if it’s true. So consider staying in the “honest zone” when coming up with your excuses.

2. Choose a general excuse or a specific one.

Depending on how honest you want it to be, pick a general excuse or a specific one. “I don’t want to go out” can be rephrased into, “I just want to be by myself today, sorry for the late response, hope you have fun, and we’ll do it another time.”

A good excuse to not hang out might be: “I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately, and it’s getting to me, so I don’t feel like it. I’m sorry. Let me get back to you when I’m on my feet again.” The only question is, how honest do you want to be with this person?

A generic excuse, like the first one on the list above, will work a charm. However, they’re often like literally saying the words “generic excuse” to the person after they ask you to do something. So, if you frequently use generic excuses (especially if fake), the person is going to give up on asking you to do things. Therefore, consider being as honest as you can be and get specific with your loved ones, but rephrase if necessary.

3. Use details with loved ones.

“I don’t feel like getting out of bed and going out,” could be changed by saying, “To be honest, I’d rather just stay home and get cozy, life hasn’t been easy on me lately.” Or, “I just popped open a bag of chips, and there’s this show on Netflix… I know… Don’t hate me, but I just can’t, the bed is hugging me.”

So, consider using details and being honest with your loved ones. “I ran into my ex today and it tore me up emotionally, so I really need some alone time right now, hope you understand,” is a very good excuse if it’s a real one.

The problem with being specific without being honest about it is that you’d need to remember your lie and back it up later. There will also be follow-up questions, so it’s best to stay in the “honest zone.”

4. Stay in the “honest zone.”

You could be honest by being entirely vague by saying something like “You wouldn’t believe the day I had; I can’t bring myself to see anyone right now. Let’s talk a few days from now.”

Stay in the “honest zone” by making your problem general. Is it a personal issue, your professional life, your love life, family problems, or your social life that is standing in your way? “I’m not feeling well,” could be anything in the world if you’re having a health issue that you don’t want to talk about.

Similarly, “I’m busy with work,” is a valid excuse for wanting to rest after a hard day instead of going out with your friends.

However, don’t hesitate to share something about what’s going on with you with the person you’re talking to. You could rephrase what you need to say by carefully picking the words and actually saying the truth… Just put some thought into it if you have enough time. Pick an excuse that best fits your situation from the list, or come up with one that describes what you really want to say.

5. Make a long story short.

How much do you want to share with this person? If you use a general excuse too often, your family or friends are likely to give up on asking you to do things, so consider making a long story short.

Maybe you don’t want to tell them that you are practically destitute, but you could say, “I wish I could, but I’m currently broke, so please be patient until I get my life in order, and we’ll hang out later.”

Open up, but close the doors to further discussions by saying that you don’t want to talk about it. Turn a long story about how you got into gambling and now are in debt into a story about how you’re currently broke.

Why are you broke? “Bad luck.” You don’t have to share things that you don’t want to, just keep your excuse close to what it really is so that you can remember it, back it up, and stick to it if needed.

6. Rephrase what you need to say.

Think about your long story and how you can keep it short. Then think about how to rephrase it. Maybe you don’t want them to know that you’ll be spending the night with your ex, but you could tell them that your love life is still too much of a mess and you need to deal with that.

When they ask about the details, tell them that letting go is a process and that you need to be alone for a while. Even though you’ll be with your ex. Keep that last part to yourself, just don’t go too far away from the “honest zone,” even if it means sticking to something general instead.

7. Make it clear and end the discussion.

There are some things that people are just not going to talk about anymore when you bring them up. If you said, “I had a one-night stand, and I’m at the hospital waiting to see if I have an STD,” it would likely elicit very few follow-up questions.

Make it clear by being bold or by using a generic excuse from the list. Consider even just saying, “I’m sorry, I just really don’t want to do it right now. I’m overwhelmed with my own things; give me some time please.”

If you don’t want to be asked about it, end the discussion by making it clear that you don’t want to talk about it further. People can take a hint.

Just avoid being too honest in your professional life and with people other than your loved ones.

8. Simply be honest about it.

“I had a long day, and I really don’t feel like going anywhere,” is a good enough excuse already. Consider simply being honest about why you can’t hang out with them, and it might be enough to do the trick.

Hey, don’t forget that you just need to stay in the zone. You don’t have to be entirely honest about it. But if the person asking is your loved one, keep in mind that you most definitely can if you want to.

9. Consider a fake excuse.

On the other hand, you could simply choose a fake excuse from the list, and it will be effective as long as you stick to your story. However, it’s much better to come up with your own excuse based on the examples listed above. If you tailor it, you can be at least a bit honest about it, and that will help your loved one understand you better. As a result, they will continue to ask you to do things.

In other areas of your life, such as your job, using generic excuses is usually good enough as long as there’s truth to it and you don’t overdo it.

10. Make sure to express the wish to reschedule.

Whether you choose to be honest about it or not, if you do want to be asked again, make sure to reschedule. As soon as you use the excuse, emphasize that you do want to do something another time, it is just this specific date that doesn’t work for you. This will ensure that your friends and family ask you again.

How To Be Honest While Using Excuses

1. pick an excuse that best fits your situation..

Stay honest by picking an excuse from the list that best describes your real reasoning and tailoring it to your situation. Reveal something about the actual reason you don’t want to go instead of just using generic excuses.

2. Consider something general.

On the other hand, if you don’t want all the follow-ups and explaining, consider something general, like being sick. It’s okay to use these excuses as long as you don’t overdo it or downright lie about it entirely. Feeling blue is kind of like being sick, so don’t forget that you can just be in the “honest zone” when not wishing to share too much about what you’re going through.

3. Consider how honest and specific you want to be.

How honest and specific do you want to be? Is the person going to accept your response if you’re entirely honest with them? What if you rephrase it? While you can be as honest as you want to be, it’s not a guarantee that an honest excuse will be accepted as a good one.

So, consider what the person would accept as a valid excuse. Then you can phrase your excuse accordingly.

4. Reschedule only if you want to.

As already mentioned, if you don’t want them to give up on asking you to do things, make sure to point out that you want to reschedule. On the flip side, if you don’t want them asking you to do things, just use the generic excuse. This can even be considered being honest when it’s a repeated and obvious hint that you don’t want to hang out with that person anymore.

5. Stay honest while not getting into it.

You can be honest about the real reason you can’t make it, just make it a short story instead of a long one as we mentioned in one of the earlier steps. However, consider opening up to the person entirely if they are someone you trust and care for. It is not recommended to use fake or generic excuses with people close to you that should know the truth.

As for acquaintances and coworkers, generic excuses pretty much cover everything you would really need to say. Just be sure that you’re not making it up entirely in case you need to validate your story, and make sure that you can stick to it.

As already mentioned, “I’m going through something personal that I need to tend to immediately,” should be enough for most people. Just don’t overdo it.

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About The Author

Ana Vakos enjoys writing about love and all the problems that come with it. Everyone has experiences with love, and everyone needs dating advice, so giving these topics more attention and spreading the word means a lot to her.

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The 21+ Best Excuses to Use When You Want to Work from Home

Last Updated: March 22, 2024 Fact Checked

Last-Minute Excuses

Long-term work from home excuses.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Glenn Carreau . Glenn Carreau is a wikiHow Staff Writer, currently based in Los Angeles. With over four years of experience writing for several online publications, she has covered topics ranging from world history to the entertainment industry. Glenn graduated with honors from Columbia College Chicago, earning a B.A. in Interactive Arts and Media and a minor in Professional Writing. Today, Glenn continues to feed her lifelong love of learning while serving wikiHow's many readers. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 72,629 times. Learn more...

Need a break from commuting to work day in and day out? Are you wondering what qualifies as a valid excuse to work from home? We’re here to help! The concept of working from home has become increasingly popular in recent years, and while it’s not for everyone, plenty of people feel that working from home is better for their schedule and their mental health. Read on for a comprehensive list of excuses (with examples) to use, including both last-minute excuses for a single day at home and long-term excuses you can use to work from home permanently.

Things You Should Know

• If you need a last-minute excuse to work from home, choose an excuse that your boss is likely to sympathize with, like car troubles or a bad reaction to food.
• For a more permanent excuse to work from home, explain to your boss that remote work is better for your productivity or you need a more flexible schedule.
• There are many advantages to working from home. It can save you time and money from commuting and ensure you have a much comfier working environment.

• For example: “Hi Jan! I wanted to let you know that my car is being worked on, as it wouldn’t start this morning. I won’t be able to commute until I get it back, but I’ll be working from home in the meantime.”
• This excuse can still work even if you live somewhere with public transportation. You could say, “Since I’m already running late due to car troubles, I thought working from home would be the most productive option.”

• For example: “Hi, Fred. I’ll spare you the details, but my Celiac is acting up, and I can’t make it to work. However, I can still work from home today.”
• “I believe I have food poisoning from dinner last night. I’ll spare you the details, but I don’t think commuting to work is possible today. Still, I’m happy to work from home while I wait for this to run its course.”
• You don’t need to get specific about symptoms; just tell your boss that you’re having a bad reaction to food, a Celiac attack, or something similar. They can read between the lines!

• “Hi, Ben. I’m sorry for the short notice, but I just got a call from my doctor about an appointment opening. Once I’m done there, would it be possible to work from home today?”
• “Hello, Margaret. My doctor was able to give me a last-minute appointment this afternoon, so I’ll need to take a couple of hours off work. Could I work from home until then to save the commute time?”
• Before you use this excuse, find out if your workplace requires you to submit proof of medical appointments or treatment.

• “I have the flu, so I think it’d be best for me to work from home—I don’t want to get anyone else in the office sick. I’ll likely be out for a few days, but I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop and let you know when I expect to be back.”
• If you’re really sick, concentrating on work might be difficult. It’s also okay to call in sick entirely or take a couple of days off to get through the worst of the illness and then work from home while it runs its course.
• If you have COVID, be sure to follow the CDC’s current guidelines and check to see if your company has a protocol to follow in the event that an employee gets sick.
• If you decide to officially call in sick (instead of offering to work from home) be sure to check and see if your work has a sick day limit before using this excuse too many times!

• “Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be waiting in urgent care for at least a couple of hours today, as I woke up with severe back pain. I’m happy to work from my home for now.”
• “I’m having a bad sciatica flare-up today, and I know from experience that driving to work would be very painful. I’d like to work from home today and likely for another few days until the pain clears up.”

• “I’ve been dealing with a pretty bad migraine since yesterday evening, and I think I would do better work in the peace and quiet of my own home.”
• “I have a migraine today, and I’m concerned that working in the office would make my symptoms even worse. Would it be possible to work from home?”

• “It’s been a stressful time for me, and my doctor feels that I’m showing symptoms of burnout. If it’s possible, I’d like to work from home for a few days to see if that helps me get back on track.”
• “I think it’s important for my mental health to take a step back and work from home this week. I can tell I’m starting to burn out and would like to avoid that if I can.”

• For example: “Hey Kate, I just got the news that there’s been a water main break in my neighborhood. The company wants somebody home to test the faucets once repairs are complete, so I’d like to work from home today.”
• “Unfortunately, there’s a nasty leak in my ceiling and water all over my kitchen. Would it be possible to work from home today? I’m happy to stay online while I wait for my plumber to arrive.”

• “It looks like some pretty heavy rain and sleet is forecasted for later this afternoon, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable making a 30+ minute drive home in that. I’d like to work from home today if that’s all right.”
• “The roads are pretty icy after last night’s weather, and I’d prefer not to chance driving to work when working from home would save me a lot of time.”
• Remember that you can only use this excuse when bad weather is in the forecast! Your request won’t be very realistic on a dry, sunny day.

• For example, you could say, “I’m having new furniture delivered between 10 AM and 4 PM tomorrow and need to sign for it, so I’d like to work from home to be safe.”
• “I’m not sure of the exact time my delivery will arrive, and I’d rather avoid paying extra for a re-delivery. Would it be possible to work from home on Friday?”

• “Hey Alex, I’m getting a new water heater installed today and need to work from home while the electric company replaces it.”
• “I’ll be working from home today, as workers are coming to replace the rug in my living room and I need to let them inside.”

• “I’m seeing a lot of traffic on the highway I take to work. Rather than wasting hours of time navigating traffic, would it be possible for me to work from home instead?”

• “A family emergency has come up, and I’d like to take today to deal with that. However, I can still work a couple of hours from home if that’s all right.”
• If you do mention the emergency, you don’t have to include too many details. You could just say, “My grandmother needs a ride to the doctor today, and I’ll be helping her out. Is it all right if I work from home in the meantime?”

• For example: “I was just notified that my son’s daycare is closed for today, so I’ll need to stay home and watch him. You can still reach me online, and I’ll be working whenever I get downtime.”

• Try something like, “So sorry for the short notice, but I can’t make it to work today. My daughter is sick, and I need to take care of her. I plan to work from home and will still be online if you need to reach out for anything.”
• "My son started running a temperature last night, and he's feeling pretty sick. I'm happy to work from home, but I'll need to look after him today and possibly for a couple more days this week."

• “My cat isn’t acting like herself today, and I think she’s sick. I’m bringing her to the emergency vet now, and if it’s all right, I’d like to work from home after so I can keep an eye on her.”
• “Just wanted to let you know that I won’t be in today. My dog is having some stomach issues and has a vet appointment later, so I’ll be working from home until it’s time to go. Thank you for understanding!”
• You could work from home after the death of a pet. For example, “My dog passed away this weekend, and I’m still grieving. I’d like to work from home for a few days while I process.” Just remember to use that excuse very sparingly.

• “I wanted to let you know that my grandfather passed away over the weekend, and I don’t think I’m in a good frame of mind to work in the office right now. Would it be possible to work from home this week?”
• Remember, you can also take time off in the wake of a loved one’s death. Check and see if your workplace offers bereavement leave, which can be provided to employees who have lost a loved one.

• “Would you be open to the idea of me working from home a couple of days each week? I think it would really help me get a jump on my projects since I won’t be spending 45 minutes driving to and from work.”

• “I think a more flexible schedule would be really helpful for me in terms of productivity. I’d love to discuss what a more permanent work-from-home arrangement might look like.”
• “In my experience, I'm most productive when my working hours are a bit more spread out than the typical workday. Can we discuss the possibility of me working from home and taking on more flexible hours?”

• “I was wondering if we could discuss the possibility of a permanent work-from-home situation. The few times I’ve done it in the past, it’s done wonders for my concentration, and I think it would be a good change for me.”
• “I think remote work may help me focus better on my work and guarantee I get things done without interruption. Could we discuss the possibility of a permanent change to working from home?”

Ashley Moon, MA

Define spaces in your office clearly. Keep your workspace organized by finding consistent homes for office supplies and electronics. If possible, demarcate the boundaries of your home office space with furniture, shelves, or room dividers, to promote focus and keep a clear division between work and home.

• “After a lot of consideration, I think the best option for my mental health would be a part-time or permanent work-from-home arrangement. I think it’d be much less stressful for me and increase my productivity as a result.
• “I’d like to talk about creating a permanent work-from-home schedule for myself. I’ve been trying to better manage my mental health recently, and I find I can do that—and get more work done—when working remotely.”

Expert Q&A

• Try not to use too many last-minute work-from-home excuses in a close period unless your boss is okay with you working from home part-time. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Steer clear of packing every excuse with details, as that can actually make them sound fake. Explain your reasons, apologize for the late notice, and give your boss further information as soon as possible. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://hqhire.com/reasons-to-work-from-home/
• ↑ https://matchbuilt.com/blog/best-excuses-to-miss-work/
• ↑ https://www.betterup.com/blog/how-to-call-in-sick
• ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/it-okay-ask-your-employer-stay-home-bad-weather-ncna965126
• ↑ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/excuses-for-being-late
• ↑ https://hbr.org/2017/05/how-to-convince-your-boss-to-let-you-work-from-home

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40 facts about elektrostal.

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 02 Mar 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy, materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes, offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development.

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy, with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

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My Brother Won’t Tell His Kids No, and It’s Sending Me to the Poor House

When they moved in, i thought it would save us both money—not so.

Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here .

Dear Care and Feeding,

My brother moved in with me because of his pending divorce, and his habits are driving us to the poor house. His ex-wife lives off her family’s money and her rich new boyfriend, but still expects my brother to pay half of whatever she decides. My brother just rolls over and pays, leaving me hanging when our bills are due.

He is the same way with his three kids. “No” is not a word in their vocabulary. The girls don’t want to share a room (they are 10 and 7), so my brother sleeps on the couch. Then he complains about his bad back. The kids want to eat out for every meal they have here. I will literally make tacos, and they whine that they want to go to the expensive TexMex restaurant by the mall. My brother just gives in. My hours have been cut at work, and I have been pinching pennies. One of the reasons I let my brother move in with me was that I thought we both would save money. It isn’t working out that way. He feels like he needs to compete to keep his kids’ affections, and I tell him he is doing more harm than good. Be there for the kids, but that means being a parent and not their best buddy.

He has twice run out of gas on the highway because he didn’t fill up his tank enough and instead spent the money on ridiculous overpriced snacks for the kids. I have bought generic snacks and switched them into more expensive bags, and the kids do not notice. I love my nieces and nephew, but they should not be ruling the roost when I am fighting to keep the lights on. I am this close to kicking my brother out and getting a paying roommate. I do have a lease with him.

—Struggling in South

Dear Struggling,

You need to have a very serious conversation with your brother in which you describe how his largesse with his ex and his children is impacting your household. Let him know that you will no longer pick up the slack while he spoils his kids and sends money to a woman who doesn’t need it. Explain to him that you know he loves his children dearly, but that spending money that he doesn’t have on them does not make him a good father. He is setting unrealistic expectations for them. Remind him about his back pain and that he could be sleeping comfortably if he would only have enough backbone to make two girls who are close in age share a room. Put your foot down. Tell him that you will be forced to find new living arrangements if he doesn’t make a change. Ask him if he’s truly happy with the way things are now and if he thinks they are sustainable. Bring up the fact that you all moved in together with the goal of saving money, and how you have been forced to cover for him. Since you’re both on the lease, instead of kicking him out and finding a new roommate, you may have to consider leaving yourself. Stick to your guns and insist on a change and if you don’t get one, take steps to untangle yourself from your brother’s mess.

Want Advice on Parenting, Kids, or Family Life?

Submit your questions to Care and Feeding here . It’s anonymous! (Questions may be edited for publication.)

“Anna” is our only granddaughter. Our son died when she was small, and we got very involved in her life. We pay for her private school and her extracurriculars since her mother doesn’t make much. Well, Anna’s cousins from her mother’s side, “Charlotte and Claire,” have recently moved in with Anna’s family. Anna is forced to share a room with both girls, causing a lot of friction. Anna has a stepbrother who has his own room in the house but rarely occupies it. It is ridiculous to have three kids crammed into one small bedroom while the other one is unoccupied. Anna could “share” the room with her stepbrother (sleep there when he isn’t around), or one of the kids could take the couch. Anna’s mother and stepfather told us to butt out and stop favoring Anna. The stepfather has been increasingly calling her spoiled and then whines if none of the other kids get gifts from us (yet his own parents don’t even send Anna a birthday card). Anna’s mother had done a good thing taking on her nieces, but at a cost to Anna.

Anna is going to high school next year and doesn’t want to share her space with a pair of elementary students. Anna has spoken about moving in with us full-time over the summer, but is afraid of her mother’s reaction. Our relationship with our former daughter-in-law has frazzled since she remarried. She seems to resent our presence in our granddaughter’s life, especially when our pocketbook doesn’t pop out whenever she wants it to (she complained about not being able to afford dance and other activities for her nieces). We really don’t want to make things worse here, but our advice is always rejected. Anna moving in with us seems to be the best solution, but her mother will not see it that way. What should we do?

Dear Moving In,

You can offer to let Anna come stay with you, but there is no guarantee that her mother will respond favorably. Still, it’s worth talking to her about Anna’s challenges in the home, even suggesting again that she share a room with her stepbrother. Let your DIL know that you only want Anna to be happy and that you aren’t “favoring” her over the other children. Talk about how difficult it will be for her to share her space with much younger girls as a high school student, who will need a quiet space to complete hours of homework. If you live close enough, perhaps you can suggest that Anna spends the week with you and the weekend with her mother’s family.

It seems somewhat unlikely that Anna’s mother will allow her to move in with you (though it’s absolutely worth it to ask). If she doesn’t, continue offering Anna respite from the situation with her family and a listening ear for her to vent her frustrations. Let her know that she isn’t wrong for how she feels. Perhaps raise the idea of her moving in with you a second time a few months after your first conversation with her mother, reminding her of Anna’s unhappiness and your willingness to offer her a comfortable living situation. Be as respectful to her as you can, for the future of your relationship with Anna (while she lives in her mother’s home) depends on you and your DIL being able to get along.

Catch Up on Care and Feeding

·  Missed earlier columns this week?  Read them here . ·  Discuss this column in the  Slate Parenting Facebook group !

My wife and I originally planned on having two, maybe three kids. We’re both from medium sized families and close with our siblings. We have a 2-year-old daughter. We decided we were one and done before she was even born because of my wife’s difficult pregnancy, and then the complicated birth made it all worse. She says she never wants to go through that again. I agree. But she wants me to get a vasectomy and I can’t do it. She complains constantly about her birth control, and we also use condoms because pregnancy would be dangerous for her. But I don’t know why, but I just don’t want to get snipped. This is a big, consistent fight. What do I do?

—No Surgery

Dear No Surgery,

I understand how frightening the idea of going under the knife can be, but a vasectomy is a safe, simple procedure with very minimal recovery time. You’d spend a couple of days taking things easy and would be able to return to strenuous activity after a week. A procedure to prevent your wife from getting pregnant again would be much more invasive and physically taxing for her. Furthermore, a vasectomy will have a much smaller impact on you than your wife having to remain on birth control for the remainder of her fertile years. And since you’ve clearly had unprotected sex before, I don’t have to tell you how much better it is than sex with a condom. I’m sorry, but you’re being selfish as hell. You know that a pregnancy can be dangerous to your wife’s health, but you expect her to make the primary sacrifice to prevent that from happening, when a very small procedure could make things easier (and more pleasurable) for both of you. Your wife literally put her life on the line to give you a child, and you can’t take the simplest action to protect her health? Don’t be surprised if she decides that she wants to let birth control—and lovemaking—go indefinitely. If you’re struggling with the idea of never being able to have kids again, a vasectomy is usually a reversible procedure. You have no legitimate excuse not to get one. Step up for your wife and get the snip.

I just let my son down in a big way, and need to know how to help make it right. He is almost 7, and an only child/only grandchild/only great-grandchild. I’m a single mom. His 91-year-old great-grandma is an important part of his life. She lives 30 minutes away with her son, a temperamental curmudgeon who has an old mean dog. When my son was 1.5, the dog bit him, making a cut and tiny scar on his face. She hasn’t bit or attacked anyone else, but she growls and bares her teeth when there’s no threat. We’ve been trying to see GG as often as possible as she’s not going to be around forever, and has some signs of mild cognitive changes, plus she adores my son.

Today, we visited in a smaller group than usual and my uncle didn’t want to keep the dog in a bedroom as is the usual protocol. My son cried and asked him kindly to put her away, but he refused in a way that made me see his uncle’s desperation; the dog is his “baby,” and he is very lonely and alienated. I gently told him my son was scared, and he reluctantly put the dog away, but soon had her out, promising she’d be okay. I told my son we could give her a chance and that I’d ensure she went away if she growled or showed signs of aggression, but I didn’t. I just watched him like a hawk and intervened anytime he was near the dog. It growled and bared teeth, and made the visit strained. How can I show my son that I have his back and will support him when he’s scared? He’s very sensitive and empathetic and needs me to be his trusted supporter. I broke that trust, I’m afraid. Is there any way to get it back?

—Broken Trust

Dear Broken Trust,

Though your son may have been afraid of the dog, it’s unlikely that he feels that he can trust you less because that happened. Thankfully, the dog didn’t attack him this time. If you need to address the incident with him, tell him you’re sorry that the dog made him uncomfortable and that you won’t allow that to happen again. Explain that his uncle doesn’t mean him harm, but that he is very attached to his dog in the way that some people are with their children. For future visits, insist that the dog is kept away from him and leave immediately if his uncle brings her out. You should ask that when he comes over, he and his great-grandmother spend time together in a separate room from his uncle. I don’t know how well she gets around, but if possible, you may want to consider picking her up and spending time together at your home instead of hers.

For More Parenting Advice, Listen to the Care and Feeding Podcast

Pascual raises the bar for Mexican cooking in D.C.

If you chase hot new restaurants in Washington, this much is certain: You’re eating a lot of dinners around 5 p.m.

Pascual, from chefs Matt Conroy and Isabel Coss, seems impossible to book. From the moment the Mexican eatery opened in February on Capitol Hill, no amount of trying led me to a reservation.

Blame it on the dining room, a mere 30 seats including a bar, or the reputations of the chefs, who met cute while they were working in New York at the admired Empellón and subsequently relocated to Washington to open Lutèce in Georgetown. Conroy’s credits include the breezy-but-serious Oxomoco in Brooklyn. Coss, a native of Mexico City who cooked at the world-class Pujol there when she was just 17, went on to be the pastry chef at Cosme in Manhattan.

You could say a lot of food fans were champing at the bit to get an early taste of their menu.

My strategy for getting into impossible situations is to just show up — early, hopeful and with a smile on my face. Most restaurateurs don’t want to say “no” to would-be diners who have taken the initiative to wait outside their door until opening time. Or really, anyone able and present.

Dining with Tom Sietsema

• A food critic’s week: Eating highs and lows, with workouts in between
• Fall 2023 Dining Guide
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Needless to say, I am relieved to see just two people outside Pascual on my initial trip in mid-March — albeit 30 minutes before showtime. “One and two?” I ask them, and they nod. Like my partner and me, the couple doesn’t have a reservation. “We’re three and four,” I tell them, just as a third couple strolls up. “And we’re five and six!” one of the two strangers announces to the early birds, which grows to a flock within minutes.

I don’t know about the others, but my sense of accomplishment feels like finding Wonka’s golden ticket . At least until opening time, when the shades of the windows at Pascual go up and a hostess calls out to those with reservations. The lucky ones form a separate, exclusive line that looks like the boarding process at an airport: first-class travelers first. Meanwhile, the huddled masses yearning to drink mezcal margaritas (awesome) and eat lamb neck (just as marvelous) start making silent calculations about their prospects.

A long moment passes. Then in we go, to a spare, light-filled dining room. Omar Popal, whose family also owns Lapis in Adams Morgan and Lutèce, where Conroy and Coss continue to cook, created the minimalist look, which is punctuated by some botanicals. Otherwise, white brick walls and blond wood chairs and tables direct your attention to the food and drink.

If you’ve done any homework on the place, named for the patron saint of cooks and the kitchen, you know to order the guacamole, “the perfect beginning of a meal,” says Coss. The dip starts with the basics — avocados, lime, salt — but also pickled jalapeños followed by finishes of olive oil and crushed toasted avocado powder. Nice. But the chefs raise the bar for every guac around by serving it on a Lazy Susan with half a dozen salsas and other condiments, what Coss playfully calls banchan, a reference to the Korean side dishes that often launch a meal. They include pickled vegetables, spiced pineapple and papaya, and bright salsas with varying degrees of heat including the dark brown oil-based salsa macha, “the new chile crunch ,” says the chef of the dip with the twin allures of sesame and smoke. There’s no rush to clear the condiments when a fresh course arrives; servers encourage you to enjoy them throughout the rest of dinner.

Pascual employs a full-time “tortilla lady” to make the alluring rounds patted out from a variety of colors of heirloom corn. What’s seemingly simple is important to the chefs. When Coss lands somewhere new, she says, she looks for a good tortilla that “makes me miss Mexico less.”

With the first bite of anything here, you realize how special Pascual is. Yet this is a level of talent I’ve tasted before, in visits to Mexico and Los Angeles, as well as right here at home. If you haven’t noticed, distinctive Mexican cooking is easier than ever to find in and around Washington, and at all price points .

I have yet to greet shad or rhubarb anywhere. For me, spring was sprung at Pascual with a tlayuda — a giant soft tortilla turned crisp on the wood-fired grill — decorated with asparagus, mint salsa and streaks of smoked yogurt fueled with dried scallions and herbs. The green of the assembly pulls you into the season; the toppings keep you there.

A lot of people talk up the parsnip tamal, whose creamy mole — white with almonds, sesame seeds and golden raisins — and nonstaining slivered endive and finely grated cheese explain why brides want to serve it on their wedding day. I like, but do not love, the combination, which veers sweet for me. “Sent by an angel,” a server says as she placed the dish on the table and announced it as a staff favorite. For me, the more celestial vegetarian combination gathers garbanzo beans, potatoes and a custard spiced as if it were green chorizo. The suggestion of eucalyptus in the flan comes from hoja santa, the heart-shaped Mexican pepper leaf that lends its savor to many dishes in Oaxaca in particular. The crunch is dried garbanzos.

The chefs offer dishes from around Mexico. Seafood is a strong suit. Prawns are brushed with a spicy paste of pickled chipotle and grilled in their open shells so the seafood remains tender. Like the chefs, I eat the (thin) crisp shell along with the prawn. Any mess is erased by incoming hot cloths. Skate might look more at home at the French-themed Lutèce, but Conroy likes the fish for its bones, which keep skate moist during cooking and are easily separated from the flesh at the table for taco-making. Before the fish is swaddled in a banana leaf and placed over embers, it gets brushed with a sauce of tomatoes, fruity guajillo peppers, coriander and oregano that flatters the entree without masking it.

The larger dishes include a lamb neck that demonstrates the time and attention lavished on the food at Pascual. The centerpiece is brined for a day; marinated in an adobo sauce built from chiles, avocado leaves, onions and garlic; seared over the fire; bundled in agave leaves; and braised, during which the juices of the meat are captured, strained and used to cook the sublime ayocote beans that ground the imposing lamb neck in its bowl. A brief time on the grill before serving crisps the meat, which goes into some of the most extraordinary tacos you’re likely to make with the accompanying salsa crudo and tortillas. (One complaint: Those margaritas are great, but Mexico also makes some fine wines. It would be nice to see some on Pascual’s itty-bitty list.)

Dessert is another excuse to take photos. Other Mexican restaurants offer churros. Pascual uses a big rosette iron to make plate-size buñuelos, fried confections dusted in sugar and Mexican cinnamon and served with two sauces: chocolate with cajeta, caramel sauce made with goat milk. The rice pudding with poached quince hidden at the bottom is very good, too, but it’s second to the lovely ornament, supported on what looks like a little air bag in its bowl.

Coss, whose parents were both woodworkers, says the setting in the onetime Kenny’s BBQ Smokehouse “feels like home. The smell of wood is familiar.” The blank canvas on the ground floor yields to a spa vibe in the basement, where the restrooms are soothing in pink and scented with palo santo.

Pascual opens its doors Thursday through Monday. The schedule lets the team explore other restaurants with more traditional hours and makes it easier for industry types to visit Pascual. Cooking for peers on Monday night is a “fun service” that ends on a high note for all involved, says Coss.

Getting in requires patience. But Pascual is worth the wait or line. The latest in a succession of Mexican models, foremost Amparo Fondita in Dupont Circle, this mom-and-pop proves the best yet.

732 Maryland Ave. NE. 202-450-1954. pascualdc.com . Open for dinner 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Monday. Prices : appetizers $8 to $24, main dishes $34 to $50. Sound check : 73 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility : A small ramp can be used for the step at the door, but the dining room is compact and restrooms are all down a flight of narrow stairs.