| Although kids may appear organized at home, a | | | | sense for her is okay, as long as she understands |
| peek into their desks or lockers may surprise you! | | | | and maintains the system. |
| Even an organized kid can create chaos in those | | | | MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL AGE |
| small, often neglected spaces. | | | | This age can be more challenging for parents to |
| ELEMENTARY AGE | | | | help, because you'll likely not be invited into the |
| If you're concerned about the state of your child's | | | | school by your student. But you can assist by |
| desk, contact the teacher. Perhaps she could hold | | | | providing helpful locker accessories like an extra |
| an "organize your desk" time once a week or | | | | shelf and a magnetic pencil cup and memo board |
| month that would benefit all of her students. If | | | | to make staying organized as easy as possible. |
| your child needs extra attention, ask the teacher | | | | Discuss ways to organize your student's things |
| if you could stop by before or after school some | | | | (see prior paragraph) in a logical order. Encourage |
| day for a brief desk tidy-up. Teach your child to | | | | frequent clean-outs. If it really gets out of control, |
| take home food containers daily, toss garbage, | | | | give her a large garbage bag and have her bring |
| purge papers that are no longer needed, and keep | | | | everything home over the weekend. Spend time |
| important take-home papers in a certain folder. | | | | helping her to sort, purge, and rearrange. She can |
| See what type of order makes sense for your | | | | return the organized items to her locker on |
| child. Perhaps she associates colors with certain | | | | Monday. |
| subjects, so notebooks and folders could | | | | ALL AGES |
| correspond to those. Maybe she likes all the | | | | Inventory students' school supplies at least twice |
| notebooks on one side of the desk and the | | | | a year and restock anything broken or used up. |
| folders on the other. Or perhaps she prefers the | | | | Check in frequently to see if their desks or |
| items she uses in the morning on one side and | | | | lockers need tune-ups and help as necessary. |
| afternoon items on the other. Whatever makes | | | | |