School Supply Savvy for Teens and Tweens
We all know that middle school means a lot of changes. One of the big academic changes is the new focus on organization. These tips won’t help organize your teen or tween’s room (good luck with that one!), but they will help keep your kid’s academics in order.
1. Remember This: Finding an organizational system works the same way for students as it does for adults – there are a lot of different ways to organize, and one system might work better for some and another better for others. Finding “the one” for your student takes discussion, coordination and a dash of experimentation.
2. Teacher Lists: Some teachers set expectations for their students to use specific organizational tools for their classes, so check with your student’s teacher before rushing out to the store!
3. Discuss Your Student’s Experience: Talk about your student’s experience with different organizational tools. What has your student used in the past? What aspects of these tools worked best? What didn’t work? If your student could design the perfect organizational system, what would it be?
4. Talk about the Options: Discuss different organization options with your student. If your child is a visual learner, take a look at planners with a visual display of the week or month to write in assignments. If your student prefers lists, consider an assignment notebook with lines to write in assignments or boxes to check off each task.
5. Get Organized: Now that you’ve put your heads together to think about what will work best, it’s time to get some new materials!
- Make sure that your student has a good tracking system, planner or daily organizer. (Many school request or require student to use a particular planner, so be sure to check with your student’s school or teacher.) Then, follow up to make sure your student knows how to use these new materials to keep track of short-term and long-term assignments.
- Post a calendar in a central location (like the refrigerator or next to the computer) where both you and your student will see it regularly. This makes check-ins about goals and upcoming projects easy to keep track of, and will help keep long-term assignments in mind.
- Help your student manage the paper blizzard by purchasing notebooks, binders or dividers. Also, help your student learn how to – and remember to – file papers from school. Creating a special place to keep assignments that your student is proud of will also help boost his or her motivation.
The key to organization is matching the right tool with the right student. What organizational system works best for yours?