An Organized Homework Space Makes for More Organized Homework Time!
Parents have a lot more responsibility with their kid's homework than just checking the backpack before they are off to school. Providing your child with a great organized space to study and do homework is very important. With each passing school phase, the homework space needs an upgrade. Keeping your child's homework space updated and prepared for each school year will set them up to have a more productive school year. Here are some great suggestions on ways to create a space where your child can work on homework more effectively.
Homework Space for Elementary Grade Children
As surprising as it sounds, homework now starts in kindergarten. Words to study, mazes, and letter matches will be sent home, asked to be completed, and then sent back to school. The best and most important place to start when creating a space for a grade-schooler, is finding a chair and desk or table that fits them. At this age, something too small or too big can be very distracting. Finding a shelving system for supplies like crayons, pencils, and paper is another good idea. Bins or baskets work perfectly stacked together on the shelves to keep all the accessories in their own compartment. If your child is just starting out and hasn’t learned to read, attaching pictures to each bin can help her identify where her scissors go and where colored pencils go.
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During the first few years of kindergarten and grade school your child will be bringing in lots of drawings, arts, and crafts that she will want to proudly display. Hanging up magnet boards or corkboards will keep your child’s projects up and out for all to see. You can do a weekly clean out on the weekend by clearing the boards for next week's masterpieces and having your youngster make sure every accessory is restocked and reorganized in the right bins and ready to go.
Homework Space for Middle School Children
Moving into middle school from grade school means more classes, more homework, and more need for organization. It can be very intimidating for a middle-schooler to suddenly be responsible for several separate classes of homework. Your quickly growing child will probably need a good-sized desk with a good quality chair. A chalk or message board hung near or above the desk is a good option for her to list that day’s homework and log a daily completion schedule.
A shelving system with each level specifically set up for a particular subject will help keep things organized. Keep an extra set of school supplies needed for each subject like calculator and ruler for algebra, paper and pencils for English, and file folders for each subject to help if your young studier forgets to bring those things home. Dictionary and other reference books set up on the shelves would also be very helpful.
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Homework for High-Schoolers
In high school, we again move to more classes, more activities, and more responsibility for your teenager. If it's possible, getting a computer or laptop set up on a desk with storage drawers will aid in helping your older child keep things straight. Setting up a desktop calendar or reminder system in the computer will be useful for long-term projects and papers. A file system, that is divided by classes and then by semesters, can help your high-schooler stay on track with what assignments are due and when. Like our college courses once were, high school now assigns papers and projects at the beginning of a semester that are not due until the end. Again, it's handy to keep bookshelves and drawers stocked with supplies to ease the burden of having to remember everything for each class.
You can tweak the middle school message board system by adding more items on the wall to make the ultimate wall organization spot. Above the file folders, you can stack a few cabinets or lockers, hang a chalk or message board to track assignments, and secure hooks for school bags and jackets on the sides. A cubby system is another great option for organization stations. Stack them as wide and high as you need and include the hooks and message board above. For families with more than one school age child, make two separate stations to help them keep things from being mixed up. Before bedtime, have your children stock their backpacks with all the necessary homework and hang their bags on the hook, ready to be grabbed in the morning on the way out the door!
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