into Self-led.
Turning Disengaged
For the teen who’s stuck - and the parent who knows they’re capable of more. We build confidence, study skills, and a future they can feel proud of.
When your teen pulls away,
it’s not defiance.
They’ve just lost their path.
Your teen’s disengaged. They say they don’t care, but you know they do. Deadlines slip, confidence fades, and the stress hits home. It’s hard watching someone so capable start to give up.
No doubt you’ve done everything to help your teen with school - tutors, rewards, consequences, backing off, leaning in. But nothing’s working.
At Simple Honours, we work with students who are frustrated, disconnected, or falling behind - and help them move from survival mode to steady progress. We help them maximise the opportunities their future holds.
We don’t lecture, we don’t tutor,
we coach…
…in partnership with teens.
We coach teens how to study in a way that actually works for them. No cookie-cutter hacks, shame, or overwhelm.
We help students:
✅ Build study habits they actually stick to.
✅ Improve focus and follow-through.
✅ Rebuild self-belief and reduce stress.
✅ Take ownership of their future - without the need for constant reminders.
This isn’t about getting straight As.
It’s about giving your teen the tools they need to take on any learning challenge - school, uni, apprenticeships, on the job training - with confidence and clarity.
To be the best they can be, without negative self-talk and confidence issues holding them back.
When they learn how to learn, their world opens up.
How can Simple Honours help you?
FREE STUDY SURVIVAL GUIDE
Learn about the Study Shift System and how you can best support your teen to take them from Chaos to Clarity. Details below 👇
Hey, I’m Andrew - bit of an introvert, stupid enough to run marathons and a big All Blacks fan. I’m the founder of Simple Honours.
I was fortunate to go through school and university alongside some really smart people - seriously, next-level smart. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. But what I lacked in natural intellect, I made up for with determination, curiosity, and just enough nerdiness to figure things out.
I stuck with it - and after a long journey, eventually landed myself First Class Honours in Engineering. Not because I was the smartest in the room, but because I figured out what most schools never teach:
How to actually LEARN.
What School Missed, I Mastered.
You can read more about me and why I built Simple Honours here →
Have you ever asked…
How do I get them to care? Why won’t they try harder?
Parents often look to apply their own external motivators in the form of incentives or punishments. While this may create short-term compliance, it rarely builds lasting change.
Motivation doesn’t magically appear on its own. In fact, it's often the last thing to show up - after your teen feels supported, capable, and clear on what to do.
When parents focus solely on motivation, what’s often missing from the conversation is:
🛠️ Skill-building: A lack of time management, task initiation, and organisation are often the real barriers - not laziness.
🫶 Emotional regulation: Teenagers may be overwhelmed, discouraged, or afraid of failure, which looks like apathy.
🧭 Relevance and autonomy: Teens especially need to feel that school connects to their goals and that they have some control over how they approach it.
Why do capable teens stay stuck?
When students disengage, they are often stuck in the “stuck student cycle” - a frustrating loop that keeps capable students shut down, and leaves caring parents feeling helpless.
Expand below for a breakdown of each step in the cycle…
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Teens are often never taught how to study - just told to “try harder”. So they guess, cram, or avoid it altogether.
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Without the right tools, it’s easy for study to become ineffective. When results don’t come, teens flounder - their effort feels wasted, and their confidence starts taking a hit.
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A lack of results impacts their self-belief, and they’re internalising beliefs like “I’m just not smart”, or “school’s not for me”.
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To protect themselves from more failure, they shut down. Procrastination and avoidance kicks in. It looks like laziness - but it’s really signs of someone who is under-equipped and overwhelmed.
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Out of love, parents try everything they think will work: tutors, reminders, consequences. But without real study skills and a meaningful structure in place, these efforts add pressure, not progress.
When your teen is stuck in this cycle, it’s not just their confidence and grades that are suffering… it’s also draining your energy, testing your patience, and leaving you lying awake at night wondering what else you’re supposed to do.
This isn’t about finding motivation. It’s about putting in place a true strategy.
The good news?
Once your teen discovers how to learn - in a way that finally makes sense to them - things begin to shift. Not just in school, but in how they see themselves.
Here’s where you come in…
🤷♀️ So, how do you get them to care?
A 4-part approach to helping your teen rebuild confidence, take control of school, and fall back in love with learning.
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Learning starts with students knowing themselves and developing a connection between their learning and their future.
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Students need the right tools and techniques (tailored to them) to study smart. This aids the transition from chaos to clarity.
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Having the tools is one thing, applying them is another. Students need coaching to implement and embed a learning system so that is sticks and improvements are sustainable.
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Students need support. Support helps students build the routines and structure that lifts them up, not weighs them down.
🚀 Want to know more?
FREE STUDY SURVIVAL GUIDE
Learn about the Study Shift System and how you can best support your teen to take them from Chaos to Clarity.
Here’s where we come in…
We provide one-on-one private coaching programmes.
🎯 What's Included…
🧠 Weekly 1:1 coaching. Personalised guidance to build momentum and mastery.
📘 Student workbook & learning toolkit. Designed to engage, motivate, and last beyond the programme.
📲 WhatsApp check-ins. On-demand support, Q&A, encouragement, and accountability.
🔬 Proven, research-backed methodology. Tested with real students, backed by learning science.
🌱 Inside the Programme, Your Teen Will:
💪 Develop a high-performance mindset. Cultivate belief, motivation, and long-game thinking.
🧩 Build a customised learning structure. Aligned with their strengths - not working against them.
📚 Train with science-based study techniques. Boost focus, retention, recall, and learning agility.
🛠️ Master stress recovery & pressure performance. Show up with resilience, even when the stakes are high.
🚀 Outcomes That Last Beyond the Programme:
✅ Students finish feeling capable, driven, and in control.
✅ No more firefighting - just clear progress and structure.
✅ Skills for life: learning, growing, and thriving independently.
📆 Logistics & Invitation
Structured, teen-friendly lessons.
Capped enrolment for high-touch support.
Obligation-free call to explore fit - invitation only.
“Many students can achieve painlessly and the frameworks expressed here will show you how.”
- Helen Williamson, High School Teacher
“This is an ideal study system for students entering university. I recommend it to all my students.”
- Edgar Ortiz, University Professor
“This is ideal for anyone who wants to study more effectively. Simple Honours gave me lots of great studying ideas I can't wait to try out. ”
- Lisa Bennet, Year 12
“The Simple Honours approach can definitely curb some bad habits, very applicable to university students.”
- Miles McCarter, University Student