One of the biggest challenges students will face during their middle school years will come from an unexpected source. It isn’t making the basketball team or having to memorize a long list of mathematical formulas. According to counselors and teachers, it’s learning how to manage their time and stay organized.

For the first time, students are faced with having multiple teahcers, each with their own set of assignments and expectations. Juggling these new academic relationships (not to mention their extracurricular activities and social lives) can be overwhelming for some kids. Helping children learn to keep track of their commitments will save them a lot frustration and will put them on the road to success in school – and life!

Here are some practical ideas for parents on how to help kids learn to organize their time and their school work:

• Make sure they have an assignment notebook. Talk with your children about how to use it and why. Suggest they open it at the beginning of each class and leave it on their desk until they have written down their assignments. Encourage them to review it before leaving school to be sure they bring home the books and other materials they will need.
   
• Have them use a three-ring binder to organize their papers. Children should use one, two or as many binders as they need with individual sections for each subject. With everything stored in notebooks, students will more likely have their notes with them once they get home.
   
• Have them create a homework folder within their binders where they can put all their handouts, assignments, and school correspondence they receive during the day.
   
• Encourage them to set aside time to get organized. Teach them to empty their backpacks and homework folders after school and place items where they belong. (This will help prevent the dreaded "backpack-as-a-giant-black-hole--syndrome," where important papers get lost more quickly than ships in the Bermuda Triangle). Once papers have been sorted by subject, children can file them in the appropriate section of the binder. Papers that require a parent’s attention can be placed in your "in-basket." Parents can help their children get into the habit of making this a regular practice by sitting with them as they weed through their papers, especially in the beginning of the school year.
   
• Create a homework supply box. An inexpensive storage container with a lid is great for keeping homework supplies together. Make your kids responsible for letting you know when supplies are running low. A homework kit might include a dictionary, paper (looseleaf, unlined, graph), sticky notes, index cards, black and blue pens, pencils, erasers, highlighters, white-out, ruler, calculator, stapler, scissors, glue stick, and a three-hole punch.
   
• Help your children decide on a regular location to do homework. Some kids need a very structured and quiet space. Others do fine with a little background noise or in the company of a friend or sibling. By settling on an acceptable location in advance, you’ll minimize daily fights over who sits where and whether or not it’s okay to have the television on "just this time."
   
• Set up a daily homework schedule. Some students want to get through their assignments as soon as they get home; others need a little time to rest and unwind. Regardless, encourage them to set aside a specific block of time each day to complete homework – and then stick to it! This daily routine will teach them how to plan for homework and fit in other activities.
   
• Consider a weekly family planning meeting. With kids involved in so many activities these days, trying to synchronize every family member’s commitments is enough to give an air traffic controller a headache. A family planning meeting on a Sunday afternoon or evening might help everyone "regroup" and get organized for the coming week. Have everyone come together and take turns plotting out their plans on a master calendar. To ensure that this important planning meeting consistently takes place, wrap it around a pizza party or other special family meal.

For permission to reprint this article, please contact the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service by e-mailing dbushsuf@gw.neric.org.

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