7 Ways to Organize Your Home for Academic Success

7 Ways to Organize Your Home for Academic Success

  Posted by Jennifer Benoit on Thu, Aug 16, 2012

1. Color code folders and notebooks or use one binder for everything – There are pros and cons to both systems.  If you color code your items, you have more items.  If you have one binder or folder for everything, you could lose the entire binder with everything.  Sometimes it depends on what your school expects of you.  So, start there, and try one of these systems.  I have always used the color coding, but for some the binder system works well.

2. Backpack Stations – Just like we talked about in the Backpack organization post, you should have a place at night for your backpacks.  These are spots (usually near the most frequently used door) that house the backpacks.  Check this post by Organization Junkie for some ideas.

3. Post steps for routines by door – Does your student often forget things or routines.  Post the steps (i.e. do you have your lunch, your backpack, your keys, etc) on the door at eye level so he or she will catch it when leaving.  Don’t rely on memory.

4. Family Calendar – This is a must for busy families!  If you do better visually as a family, find a large wall calendar, laminate it and list different people by color.  That way you can easily see if the week looks busy or not.  If you are a tech savvy family, try using Google Calendar or an app, making sure that everyone is able to access it and add events.  This is especially helpful when you have multiple sporting events, school events, and everyone needs rides or needs to use the car.

5. Personal Assignment Calendar – Using the same type of calendar that works for you in the last tip, have a different calendar side by side for assignments.  This is particularly helpful for long term assignments when stages of the project need to be mapped out.  This helps in planning so a student does not wait until the last minute.  Often, parents need to work with the student in the beginning to list projects steps, but it gets easier with more practice and the student can take more responsibility for the calendar.

6. Bin and folders for permission slips and lunch bags – This can go right in the Backpack Station mentioned above.  Find a bin that is ONLY for permission slips.  That is the parent’s homework to complete.  Then the parent needs to put them in the backpack or give them directly to the student to put in a folder specifically for this purpose in the backpack.

7. Filing system for papers when done with them and graded - Many people throw away papers soon.  Best practice says to keep papers in a folder or file until the end of semester or year, depending on the class.  If a grade is misrepresented and you need to discuss it with the teacher, the student should be able to find the paper in this file.  At the end of the class (this may be a semester or an entire year class), the papers can be discarded or a few can be kept.