Back to school is upon us and one of the critical issues kids will face this upcoming school year is being organized to learn in order to really succeed at school.

By Stacy DeBroff

I have found in my research with 350 teachers nationwide for my book, The Mom Book Goes to School, that being organized is essential to a child’s academic performance. Everything from missing homework assignments to disorganized study notes impacts on children’s grades. Yet in a recent survey I conducted, 60% of parents report struggling on how best to help their disorganized kids.

Here are some of my best tips for helping your kids stay organized this school year.

1) The first challenge is keeping kids and all their stuff together. Create a space at home for each child for all the papers that come home from school, as well as pick out for them a backpack that has:

• Lots of pockets that do the organizing for them and is
• Ergonomically designed to prevent back strain from all the stuff they lug to and from school.

2) Older kids now have to organize not only paper, but also all their electronic documents.

• Get your child a portable memory drive to attach to their backpack for everything from homework back-ups to group projects to work on at school.
• Plus, look for one like this with built-in virus protection to save your home computer from crashes.

3) Third, create a master binder for organizing all the class handouts and homework so they do not go missing.

• Notebinders are great because it means no more running back to the locker between classes for forgotten homework assignments.

4) Finally, kids tend to be forgetful about bringing stuff home from school.

• Attachable reminders are fabulous for little kids who forget everything in sight, and older kids can attach them to their backpacks as self-reminders.

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