This month's focus is unique in that it does not target a room. This focus may
involve several areas of the house, including your children's rooms. However,
these tips will help you establish some vital routines which will simplify the
daunting task of keeping up with your children as they start back to school.
- Before school begins, assess each child's space in their rooms for
minimizing distractions, an area in which to complete homework and
keep their school bag and supplies. If their room, closet or desk is a
disaster area, allow enough time for you and the child to help one another
to bring order to their room. Keep it fun--play music or set a timer and
have trash bags ready!
- Designated areas are key to the peace of the home and consistency of
knowing where to find items. Select areas in advance, so they will know
where the backpacks will live when they come home from school. Decide
where school supplies will be stored and made available to your children.
Also decide where notes from teachers will be deposited for your attention.
- Routine, routine, routine. Establish an expectation for when the children
will do their homework, have a snack, play outside, do chores. When a
pattern is consistently repeated each day, the children will develop more
self-discipline. A routine can be very stabilizing to a child, especially
younger children. They like knowing "what happens next."
- Make decisions in advance about television viewing, video games,
computer time, etc. "On school nights, we only get 1 hour of television or 1
hour of gaming, after homework is complete," is an example of what
needs to be decided and discussed prior to the very first day of school.
When the expectation is clearly communicated in advance, there will less
likely be a power struggle.
- Setting up a reward system is a great motivator for all ages. The rewards
will be different for each child, as individuals have value for very different
things. While one child likes working toward a ticket to go ice skating,
another child may prefer having a friend sleep over, or an outing to get ice
cream. Make sure rewards are given for achievable goals so the kids
don't get discouraged and lose interest and valuable motivation.
- Many children are visual learners, so create a chart for their schedule,
chores and their reward system. This can even be created in a digital form
on a spreadsheet, if you're technically inclined. Seeing their progress and
seeing their schedule will help them have realistic expectations about
comes next and what they're working toward.
- Have a plan for where school papers will live when they come home.
Create a fresh file folder for each child. Each week, have them select their
best paper to go in the folder. At the end of the year, they will have a good
representation of the year's work, and can then select the "cream" of the
year to keep in a memory box. The other papers can go to Grandma, a
scrapbook or recycling.
These steps will give you a good start on the new school year and help your
children develop good study habits. They will also get a great start in developing
the self-discipline of monitoring their time and working toward goals. For more
ideas about how to manage time and space, give Sheri a call.
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