The season is upon us and the kids are back in school! Excitement is in the air for parents and kids alike as children look forward to learning and time with friends and parents look forward to time to themselves.
It is a time of learning and growing and organizing!
School Papers
A great tip for parents is to organize their children’s school papers. We all know that papers can become an overwhelming problem in no time.
Buying a sweater box for each of your children to keep all of their schoolwork is a great way to keep organized. The box can be clear, which is even more helpful, and allows your child to see how full their box is getting.
Label the box with your child’s name and grade, and leave it somewhere with the lid off where it is accessible but otherwise undisturbed.
Only the most treasured and important papers should be kept. If the box is getting full, then the papers need to be sorted through to eliminate some of the less important ones. Like I say in my Golden Rules, you need to respect your boundaries!
This also helps kids to make decisions about what is important to them. At the end of the school year, a lid is put on the sweater box to keep these papers protected. One box per grade is the perfect amount of space.
Start a Routine
Having a routine for your children helps them to accomplish things as well as keep track of things that are important.
Backpacks should be placed on hooks by the front door, along with jackets, so that your kids’ belongings aren’t spread all over the house. Important papers can be gotten out first thing so that there won’t be any emergencies in the morning.
Homework time is good to have before dinner, so that children have a set ending time. If anything is left undone, it can be finished later, but at least they are getting an early start and not doing homework late into the evening.
Prepping the Night Before
There is great wisdom in being prepared. A household of kids getting ready for school in the morning can be a hectic and rushed event. To avoid this scenario, consider getting ready the night before.
Doing this will help you to save time as well as give you more peace of mind in your mornings. It will also help your kids to feel more secure and confident as they go out the door to school. And, it allows more time for anything that may come up unexpectedly in your morning routine.
Things to get ready in the evening:
- Lunches can be packed, and older kids can pack their own lunches.
- Outfits can be picked out for the morning, to keep from any indecisiveness or panic in the morning.
- Any papers that need to go back to school can be put in your child’s backpack, such as homework assignments or permission slips
- Anything else that your kids will need for school- supplies, lunch money and items for show and tell for younger ones
Staying organized for school will help you and your children to have a much more enjoyable experience.
And, while the kids are away, parents can have some time to organize for themselves. Every house has at least one junk drawer where the most random objects find their home, and usually everyone in the household contributes to its contents. Check out this video I made about organizing a junk drawer!