Tips and ideas for back to school organization for parents
Going back to school brings so many mixed feelings. Parents try to remember all the back-to-school organization ideas they had read about while kids have the excitement of meeting and making new friends, the nervousness of having a new class teacher & wondering what she/he would be like, the boredom of covering the books, and so on ……
Kids have to be ready to handle the challenges that the new academic year in school brings. They have to prepare for increased difficulty in studies & tasks, homework, socialize with other kids & learn to share and resolve emotional conflict.
The first day at school brings a lot of responsibility. Parents are going to be responsible for the kid’s performance at school. And As a parent whatever your kid goes through you have to go through it too. There is no escape to it. A Parent has to be a step ahead of their kids to help them and guide them.
Some back-to-school organization tips for parents are mentioned below :
1. Communicate
Communication is an important part of back-to-school organization tips.
Start Talking to your child about his day at school & make sure this happens at some specific time of the day. Make Them habitual of talking about their day at school TO YOU. This should become a natural instinct for them.
Before that parents need to think about how much involvement would be appropriate, how much guidance will you give for assignments & homework, how much will you help them with solving their problems & how much you need to let them figure things out on their own.
Make sure that you are not just instructing them but would be actually having a conversation with them.
2. Give some freedom
Once your kids are comfortable communicating with you, realize the importance & start giving them the space they need. It’s a natural feeling of one wanting to handle their own life, so let the kid make their mistakes and learn from them.
Don’t need to remind them repeatedly of their tasks, it just builds denial & frustration. Let them learn to organize things on their own. Make them feel that you are just here to help them achieve their goals & not to impose anything on them.
3. Neat & tidy homework space.
Here is one of the most effective school organization ideas. Set up a proper desk for the kids so that they don’t have to waste time on finding things. Also having an arranged place to do homework will increase their focus & reduce their hatred for it. This would ultimately result in better grades.
4. Prearranged lunchbox.
It is always going to be a headache for moms to prepare lunch every day for school. Need to come up with an idea for daily school lunch? Just like arranging proper homework space moms can also set up a system for lunchboxes. The idea is to pre-arrange things. Put some fruits & veggies like oranges and apples, carrots, etc. in slots of 2-3 for every day and toss ’em in a drawer in the fridge. You might as well add some cheese sticks, yogurts, or a snack that your kid likes. Keep the juice box right next to your slots/arrangement for lunch. Do this and your kid won’t need you every day to pack a lunchbox.
5. Prearranged school clothes.
Just like the lunchbox, you can also prearrange your kid’s school uniforms. This will save a lot of time & is a good school organization idea. There won’t be a problem with fixing a shirt button or zip off the pants as you would have already gone through all those things in advance.
6. Following a routine
As mentioned in the first point developing a routine of doing certain things at a certain time is one of the most vital organization tips for school. Consistency is going to be important for the success of your kids. So make a schedule for every week and follow it with your kid.
You can decide when would be homework time, when will you talk to them about the things happening at school, time & place for their exercise & things like that. The biggest challenge would be to keep them on track & get a result while giving them the freedom to choose & decide.
7. Discipline yourself
Parents need to be role models for kids, so it becomes important to have some discipline in yourself. Set an example for your kids by following rules & regulations, doing your own work on time, and keeping your bedroom & workspace clean & tidy. Doing this would encourage your kids to perform better & be more determined to achieve desired targets at school.
8. Keeping notes :
Instead of trying to memorize start taking notes. Write down when the teacher is giving instruction during an open house or when your kid tells you he/she needs something for an assignment the next day. This will definitely reduce the stress level. This habit will save you extra work like going to the market to buy something that you forgot. It will also save you from the embarrassment that your kid did not get full marks because of your mistake. There are a lot of mobile and computer apps which help with this kind of work.
9. Better organization of books
Label your kid’s books and binders for a better back-to-school organization.
Have a designated part for textbooks, notebooks, assignment papers, study materials for tests, etc. have a separate section for report cards or calendars that require your signature. You can also put labels containing timings like when a certain assignment needs to be submitted etc. A lot of kids carry unnecessary weight to school every day just because they do not know those books are not going to be needed today. Labels can help solve this problem as you can label books according to which day they are going to be needed.
10. Archive old assignments
Never throw away old books & projects. Kids have a pile of old books and assignments which are not important for the current year & academic module of the school but these old papers might have parts that can be used for a new project. Some old quiz papers can be used as a reference for studying and understanding where he/she can improve for this year.
Saving and maintaining all assignments is a good habit & needs to be part of your back-to-school organization routine.
11. Stay Calm
The last advice would be, to handle things calmly. Whenever the conversation starts to get heated, breathe and take a break. Talk to your kid in a way that he/she should love to listen to you. Ask them to describe what bothers them back at school, and whether are they able to cope with school challenges. You have to coordinate with your child if you want to solve problems & develop a plan to manage them.
Preparation for the activities at school in advance will build your kid’s confidence, attitude, and performance, as they will be ready & well aware of the assignments & tasks coming their way.
Note that going to school can be enjoyable, but the pressure is almost inevitable regardless of the level in which your children are. To give your kids a head start in school, follow the tips outlined in this post.
Hope these organization tips for school would be helpful.
