Top Back to School Organization: Tips to Simplify Your Family’s Life
Preparing for the School Year
Plan Ahead for the School Year
Start planning and organizing early in the year to ease the chaos of transitioning back to school.
Figure out your goals and priorities for the year. This may sound obvious, but taking the time to clearly articulate goals for yourself or your child, as well as subsequent priorities such as focusing on certain classes, achieving athletic victories, and/or dedicating time to extracurriculars.
Create a calendar to keep track of important school dates and events that you know of in advance.
Shop for School Supplies Early
Take advantage of early shopping to get a head start on organizing for the school year, avoid crowds, and ensure you get the supplies you need.
Stock up on essential school supplies, such as pencils, paper, and extra folders. Some extra supplies will always be needed, so having them on hand in your house allows you or your child easy access and no excuses to create a new folder, for example, when one becomes overwhelmed with papers.
Creating a Command Center
Set Up a Family Command Center
One of the biggest struggles for students, especially those with executive functioning challenges, is ensuring that critical materials and homework assignments make it to school each day. A command center is like a “drop zone”, a central spot for all family members to drop off their belongings and papers for school. Many creative and chic drop zone ideas exist online and elsewhere.
Designate a spot for each family member to keep their school supplies and personal items organized. You can use bins, cabinets, hooks, and other simple items to maintain an organized space in which it is easy to grab your belongings and get out the door on time each day.
Implementing this system will save time each day, and enable smoother transitions between school and after school activities.
Students can get organized on Sunday night by packing up their bags for the next day, and ensuring everything they need is ready to go in the family command center.
Organizing Spaces for School Work
Designate a Homework Station
Students should have a designated location to complete school work, reading, and similar tasks which require sustained focus. A homework station or area should be clean and tidy and should have good lighting and necessary school supplies like sharpened pencils so students can complete their work with ease and minimal distractions.
Declutter and Organize School Clothes
Making sure you or your kids start each school year with clothing that fits and is wearable is an important but frequently overlooked organization hack to make mornings easier. Before you organize any clothing, go through your child’s wardrobe and have them try on everything, getting rid of anything that does not fit or is too worn out for school.
Organize school clothes by type to make mornings easier.
Use a laundry system to keep clothes clean and folded.
Streamline Morning and Afternoon Routines
Create a Morning Routine
Establish a consistent morning routine to help you or your child get ready for school on time.
Include time for eating or making breakfast, getting dressed, and packing lunches.
Use a checklist to help yourself or your child remember what to do each morning.
Using Afternoon Hours Wisely
Create an after school routine for completing homework, eating dinner, doing meal prep, and getting organized before bedtime.
Pack lunches and healthy snacks in the afternoon or evening when possible, which will save time in the morning.
Home Organization Tips for a Smooth School Year
Use Labels and Signs
Use labels to identify your child’s school supplies and personal items, as needed. Some students tend to forget their belongings more than others, and these students will benefit from clearly labeling their belongings.
Label lunch boxes, water bottles, backpacks, and electronic devices to prevent loss.
Use signs or post-its around the house as remindersof important tasks, such as packing lunches or doing homework.
Implement a System for Paperwork
Students should ideally clean out their folders, binders, and backpack each week so they stay organized. It is common for useless papers such as old permission slips to get shoved into a backpack, eventually causing a chaotic mess of papers, some of which may actually be needed.
Create a system for managing school paperwork, such as a file folder or binder.
Use a designated spot for each family member to keep their school papers organized.
Teach your child to prioritize tasks and break them down into smaller, manageable steps.
Back to School Season Essentials
Establish a Bedtime Routine
Research consistently validates the importance of sleep for healthy development in children and adolescents. Establishing a solid bedtime routine will help kids get more and better quality sleep, which can only improve their memory, cognition, and overall mental health. Any
Establish a consistent bedtime routine to help your child get enough sleep.
Make sure your child has a functioning alarm clock which is not a cell phone.
Cell phones, tablets, and other electronic devices should
Include time for relaxation, reading, and winding down.
Use a bedtime chart or evening checklist to help you or your child remember what to do each night.
Plan for Extracurricular Activities
Use a calendar to keep track of practice schedules, game times, and other extracurriculars.
Ensure that afternoon routines are flexible enough to account for changing activities and club meeting times.
Pack necessary equipment, such as sports equipment or musical instruments, in a designated spot.
Use Back to School Organization for Success All Year
Back to school season can be stressful for students and parents alike, as everyone struggles to return to the routines of fall after the freedom of summer break. With some preparation and thought, it is fairly simple to get organized for yourself and/or your children, which will result in a more successful school year for everyone. Not all of these school organization tips need to be implemented at once; the idea is to do what you can and what makes sense for your family to establish routines and structure which will help everyone stay on track with their goals throughout the year. While these organizational ideas are aimed to help people navigate back to school season, they can be useful anytime throughout the school year, and it is never too late to implement organizational strategies and structure into the school or other life routines. Organization hacks are common, but there are no real shortcuts or newly invented ideas about how to stay organized and on track for school and life. The common themes in most school organization advice are being proactive, planning instead of reacting as much as possible, and being mindful about your physical spaces. With a little intention and attention to these areas, you and your family can coast more easily through the back to school season and hopefully, the rest of the year. Call or message Alex, The Savvy Tutor, if you need more help!
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