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School and Success and Organizing

My son Daniel can be downright brilliant but from the time he started getting homework in elementary school, we have had an issue with organization. Like me, he is one of those “creative types” who don’t necessarily have the easiest time dealing with the structure and organizational expectations of the academic world.

agenda as if just possessing one would solve all of his organization woes. They did not realize that as an organizationally challenged adult, I did not even use an agenda!  Yipes?  Was my child destined to be an underachiever in school just because I was disorganized at home?

Daniel is now a rising eighth grader,  and while he will probably never be the most organized kid on the block, his skills are much better and it shows in his grades. So here are my tips on school, success, and organization:

• First off if you are an organized person, recognize that what is obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to your child. Help them to set up a simple system and then practice with them.  Check to see if they are writing down their assignments and make sure they they read the agenda each day!  Enlist the help of a teacher to check their agenda at school.  For Daniel, we have one binder with a folder for each subject.  Assigned work and work in progress goes on the left and assignments that are

• The most important and hardest part of helping your child to get more organized is to turn organization into a habit.  Habits are extremely powerful and even the least organized person can look organized as long as it is a habit.  That means you must go through the system each and every day and check. If you are not a wiz at consistency, try setting an alarm on your computer or watch.  The earlier the better. If I had gone through his agenda and backpack, page by page  and folder by folder when Daniel was in the third grade, I probably would not have to do it now. 

Our daily backpack ritual has been good in other ways too. Now I get most announcements sent home from the school and I find that I get more information about what is going on in his life too.  Not because of the increased organization but because while we are rearranging his folders each day, we talk....