Get Your Family Organized for the School Year

The start of the school year is a great time to adopt new, organized habits. Here are some ideas to help you keep tabs on your family’s whereabouts, allow you to see what arrangements need to be made, eliminate some of that morning pressure and to stay on top of school-generated paperwork.

Create a master calendar for your family.

So much of being organized is knowing what preparations you need to make in order to get organized. That’s why it’s so important to have a color-coded master calendar for your family. This calendar should include everything – family plans, after-school activities, field trips, vacation days, school assignments and Mom & Dad time. If you’re technologically savvy, you can create this in a calendar program like Outlook or iCal. If you prefer paper, choose a wall calendar large enough to accommodate all of your family’s activities – then assign each family member a different color. Display the calendar in a central location and hang colored markers from strings on the same hook. This way, family members can add new items (in their color) as they come up.

On a particularly hectic day, you should be able to look at the calendar and immediately know where everyone is and what they’re up to. Most important, you’ll be able to see what arrangements need to be made – booking a babysitter, arranging for a carpool or baking cupcakes for the PTA bake sale. Knowing these things ahead of time will allow you to take care of them when your schedule allows – rather than feeling the pressure at the last minute.

Hungry for more?  Check out the full article at TweenParent.com!

 

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A Tool for Academic Success: The Student Planner

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the approach of the school year.  As a parent, there is a lot to juggle to get your child back into his regularly scheduled program – carpool coordination, school supply shopping and the reinstatement of pre-summer routines.  As a student, it can feel just as overwhelming.  Your preteen may be feeling anxious about a whole different set of responsibilities – in some cases, it’s the first time he’ll have a locker, the first time he’ll be changing classroom between subjects and the first time he’ll have to navigate a new school building.  One way to help your child feel more in control is to encourage him to develop organizational skills through the proper use of a student planner.

Read more at TweenParent.com!