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August 2, 2002/Av 24 5762, Vol. 54, No. 46
Get kids organized for back to school
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
It feels like yesterday that I picked my kids up on the last day of school - excited for the fun events planned for the summer. Suddenly, those events are winding to a close and we're preparing for Open House and Meet the Teacher.
While I am saddened by how quickly the summer has passed, I also look forward to the new beginning the first day of school represents. Every year this leads me to start planning for the upcoming school year - always with the goal to get more organized than the year before. Here, I've put together my top three most successful ideas from previous years.
The best investment I ever made in the name of family organization was a $10 set of cubbies from Target. I made the purchase after realizing there must be a reason why every preschool and elementary classroom I've ever walked into has cubbies.
Our four cubbies are stacked on top of each other and are assigned in order of the family member's height (so Dad isn't crawling on the floor to get his keys and our 4-year-old isn't stepping on the dog to get her backpack).
The cubbies are located in the laundry room closet, which is situated between the kitchen (the center of the universe for most families) and the garage. They hold backpacks and lunch bags for the kids and briefcases, purses and keys for the adults. The cubbies are a great gathering place - they keep everyone's "stuff" out of bedrooms and off of my kitchen table. And, best of all, we didn't have one forgotten backpack all year!
The second best investment was a set of letter trays that we use as mailboxes. Prior to the mailboxes, we were drowning in paperwork. Even if each of my two children only brought home two notes, newsletters, progress reports or permission slips a day, it still added up to 20 pieces of paper to look at and take action on. I started to think about how I deal with paperwork at work. People want me to see something, they put it in my inbox. I need to return something with comments? I then place it in their inbox. I decided to utilize this method at home.
Each family member is assigned one slot and then mail, notes and phone messages can be distributed to the correct recipient with very little hassle. When the kids get home, they put their notes, permission slips, etc., in mom or dad's box. After we check our mailboxes, we then simply fill out the necessary information and put the forms back in the children's mailboxes.
My third best investment has been time - homework time. Every parent has heard hundreds of times that children and teens need a specific time and place to do homework each day, but until you actually institute a time and place, you can't begin to understand the benefits.
We've been successful with doing homework right after school, but other times work just as well. While mom and dad are preparing dinner is another good time for many families - while the food is simmering you can look over homework pages or help on a math problem.
In addition to planning a specific time each day, it's helpful for older children to plan one or two days a week that have extra time for homework. These are great for working on projects or reports, or organizing binders and backpacks.
Spend a few minutes to plan and a few dollars to get prepared, and you can look forward to less stressed and happier kids, which we all know results in less stressed and happier parents.
If you have a minute between unpacking duffel bags from camp and heading to the mall for back-to-school clothes, please send me your ideas or techniques for getting your own family organized.
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
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