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9
Ways to Assist your Child in Organizing
their School Life
If you could get your
child to remember where they put things life
would be easier. There would be less tears
and frustration. So let's begin our
organizing quest.
1. Have a spot near your front door or in
your child's room where their school
backpack needs to be. Once homework is done,
it's to go directly inside their backpack
unless you need to check it first. If you
have a forgetful child or a highly
distracted one, have them double check their
backpack to make sure their homework is
indeed there. Make sure all books that need
to go back to school are there as well. In
general, double checking is good thing for
all children to do. Sometimes children take
out a piece of homework or a book and forget
to put it back.
2. If mornings are a rush for you: You or
your child can fix their lunch the night
before. (Remember to refrigerate the lunch
if it contains perishable foods.) Your child
can also lay out the clothes they plan to
wear the next day the night before.
3. Use a monthly calendar which its only
purpose is, is to show when things are due.
You can X off any day when an assignment is
turned in. You can have one calendar for
home and a small one for school.
4. The school desk. Keep track of books by
putting together books with similar themes.
Such as, all library books go together, all
math books go together, the history text
book and work book go together, etc. If your
child uses book covers use the same color
for the text book and its corresponding work
book to identify them. Have an organizer bag
for pens and pencils. Another bag for
markers. Get a separate box for the ruler,
erasers, liquid eraser, etc. Because if
everything goes in one bag or box things
won't be as easy to find. Plus, things tend
to get messy being in only one container.
5. School note taking. Notes for each
subject should be written down on its own
piece of paper. If notes for six subjects
are squeezed together on two sheets of paper
it's not easy to locate what you're looking
for. Plus, if each class subject has its own
paper it can be easily organized in its own
subject folder. Write the name of the
subject on the subject folder so it can
easily be found in a binder. Each subject
folder can have its own color. All folders
should go in a binder so they don't get
lost. The homework folder should be in
front, so your child remembers to turn in
assignments. The daily homework assignments
can be written on one paper so your child
remembers to do all their homework. Do not
let your child scribble their homework
assignment on a small scrap of paper. If the
scrap of paper is mislaid, well, they’re up
a creek without a paddle unless they can get
a hold of a friend to tell them about the
homework. But they might forget, since the
scrap of paper is gone.
6. When the teacher is giving information to
be taken down your child should underline,
star, or highlight key words for better
reference. When writing down homework it is
beneficial to underline or highlight
important due dates, projects, or
assignments. The following is helpful for
young children who frequently lose weekly or
bi-weekly homework assignment sheets. If you
have a photocopier at home, or a FAX with a
photocopier, make a copy of the assignment
sheet the day you get it. And know the day
it should come home! For children who
habitually forget to turn in assignments:
Have them write down on two stick-its the
homework that needs to be turned in the next
day. Place one stick-it on the related text
book or work book and the other on the front
of their binder.
7. Some children are so disorganized that
the use of colored tabs can really help. I
remember using my own lazy girl tabs. I used
random wrappers as page markers for many
things, such as, quotes I wanted to use for
book reports. The problem was I had no idea
if it was the granola wrapper or lunch bag
scrap that was meant for a certain quote.
That's where stick-it tabs that you can
write on come in handy. Tabs can be used for
quick references. You place the back of the
tab where it's sticky on book pages. They
can easily mark where certain homework
answers are, mark passages to refer back to,
separate homework section due dates, etc.
Also, a stick-it (as well as bookmarker) is
a great way to quickly find where you left
off reading or doing homework.
8. Does your child forget where they put
their sweater or lunch box at school?
Children should always try to put their
lunch bag and sweater in the same spot at
school so they can remember where it is. On
the same peg in the closet and on the same
spot on the lunch bench. But they shouldn't
get upset if they can't get the same spot.
If they can recall that they normally put an
item to the left side or right side of an
area that will help. To lessen the loss of
sweaters and jackets put your child's name
inside all labels. If a sweater gets lost
and someone finds it, it will be identified
as your child's. As for bringing home the
wrong backpack and/or lunch box because it
looks similar to another student's do these
two things: #1, To identify the item as
theirs: Get a piece of colored string and
wrap it around the handle of the lunch box.
For the backpack, get a nifty key chain and
clip it to a zipper. #2, With a marker write
your child's name inside the lunch bag and
backpack so there can be no mistaking it is
your child's. If you prefer not to do this,
get some masking tape and write your child's
name on a piece of tape and place it inside
the lunch bag and backpack.
9. If your child keeps losing their lunch
box you can start using paper lunch bags
with their name on them. For parents in
morning rushes: At another time quickly
write your child's name on twenty lunch
bags. By doing this you will have one less
thing to remember to do. Tired of lost
school books? Then write your child's name
in them. But only if you're allowed. If you
can’t do this, make or buy a book cover for
each book. (To cheaply make book covers use
paper grocery bags. Remember to use the
inside of the bag as the outside of the book
cover.) Put your child's name on the book
cover. This will identify the book as your
child's. Plus, it will keep the book clean.
The following is a great idea for school
library books which seem to mysteriously get
mislaid. Buy or make bookmarkers, then write
your child's name on them. Your child should
use one as they read. At least then if the
book gets lost someone might see the
bookmarker and return the book to your
child.
If you have a child who is
argumentative, rude, out of control,
defiant, difficult... or has ODD try the
Total
Transformation
parenting program. You can read reviews for it on my site at
Harmony-in-the-Home.
For
articles, tips, arts and crafts, children's
book and movie reviews follow my
Parenting Blog at
parentingtipsandmore.blogspot.com |
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