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Organizing Your Homework Space

The advent of a new school year is the perfect time to get your homework station prepped and ready to go! A calm organized homework area will help kids stay more focused on the task at hand. Here are a few ideas to help get your very own homework area set up-and ready for action!

Selecting your location: Your homework station should be in a quiet, well lit area of the home. It should be in a place with minimal distractions; however it should be within earshot of the parent. The dining room is often a good choice, as it’s away from the busy kitchen.

Setting up the homework station: Your homework station should be equipped with pens, pencils, erasers, a sharpener, crayons, & markers. You should have scrap paper on hand for practice. A dictionary is vitally important, as well as a calculator. You may also need some rulers, protractors and other math products.

The goal is to have everything you need nearby so there isn’t a need to “go find it” while doing homework. A dry erase board and dry erase markers are also good tools to have at your work station. Be sure to check supply levels at the end of each week to make sure you are ready for the following week.

Set up some homework rules: Setting up homework rules and expectations allows your child to be accountable. These rules should be clear and concise. One idea might be to sit down with your child and develop these rules together. You can then put them in writing and have him sign his name at the bottom to show his understanding of and commitment to the rules. You may even want to post them near your homework station in case you need to remind him when he is falling off task.

I hope these tips help alleviate some of the stress that homework time can often present!

Yolanda is the mom of 3 young children in the Delaware Valley and the Founder of Team Tutor.

Pretty Neat: A Review and Giveaway

Something about the New Year, or perhaps the teasing of the occasional spring-like temperatures, or maybe just being fed-up with living with “pockets of chaos” in my house really has me thinking alot about organization lately. So, when I was offered an opportunity to review Pretty Neat: the buttoned-up way to get organized & let go of perfection, I was excited to jump in and get some expert advice on how to better organize the less orderly areas of my home. And, there are several!

The funny thing is that I can be so organizationally challenged in some areas, but uber-organized in others. Sarah routinely comments about the orderliness in my home and how my trusty label maker has marked its territory in every room… even my FREEZER SHELVES have labels on them! I have found over the years that if things have a “place” designated in the house, it is MUCH easier to be organized and put them away. It’s those pesky things that we haven’t yet found a good “place” for yet that overrun our space and leave me feeling like we have too much clutter.

For us, the office is the big black hole of chaos. It is the first room you see when you come in our front door, so it bothers me alot that it is not ever in presentable condition. But more than that, it is really starting to effect my work efficiency by having a work space that is constantly junked up and considered the “catch all” room for things that don’t go in other rooms.

This came into sharp focus recently as my husband started working from home. He likes order and calm even more than I do and he really needed the office to be organized. Enter Pretty Neat!

What I loved about the book is that they focus on broad issues concerning organization and offer tactical advice and suggestions for ways to address the issues. However, there are no step by step formulas outlined. I feel pretty strongly that what may work for me in my office may not work for you, so I wanted some advice that I was going to be able to translate easily to meet our needs. We have struggled the most with the PAPERWORK… the endless endless paperwork that enters the house, and therefore the office. We’ve started creating a workflow and physical spaces for each type of paper and really concentrating on what paperwork really matters and getting rid of all of the rest.

Alicia and Sarah cover many topics in the book in record time. It is informative, offers tips and advice, and also gives some real-life suggestions and examples from other women. I have made serious headway on how I manage my to-do lists, organize the kids toys, and I can’t wait to implement more tactics over time.

Have some areas of organizational disarray in your home?

If you’d like to WIN A COPY OF PRETTY NEAT: the buttoned-up way to get organized & let go of perfection for yourself, fill out our entry form below. This contest will run until 11:59pm on Sunday, March 20th and only one entry per person is allowed. Good luck!

~Shannon

** And, if you want to see what awesome giveaways are going on this week with other Philly Social Media Moms, take a peek at this post!

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Organizing Tips to get your home ready for BACK TO SCHOOL!

As parents of four children we are always searching for ways to organize our home especially during back to school time.

Over the last couple of years we’ve picked up some helpful tips. Here are a few suggestions to help ease the transition and promote a successful school experience for all memembers of your family.

Depending on the age of your children, these tips may or maynot work for you. If you have back to school tips, please share them in the comment section below. We can all learn from eachother.

Some Suggestions:

• Designate an area for bookbags and sneakers. Encourage your child to put the bookbag in the same place everyday.
• Buy a small plastic storage box and fill it with all the supplies your child will need throughout the school year. (colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors, markers, erasers, pencil sharpener) If you have more than one child, I would suggest getting them their own box. My children take ownership of “their box” and it cuts down on the confusion when they are doing their homework and projects at the same time.
• For younger children who want to pick out their own school clothes but just don’t understand why they can’t wear their favorite hooded sweatshirt and pj bottoms to school try this… On Sunday, organize 5 outfits. Hang each outfit on a hanger. If you don’t have a place to hang the clothes so your child can reach, purchased a laundry organizer similar to this one for less than $25.00 then take the laundry bag out of it. This will created a place to hang all 5 outfits within reach of your child. Now, your child can be a “big girl or boy” and make a choice of which outfit he/she wants to wear Monday – Friday. They can get dressed by themselves and you don’t have to worry about being a fashion police.
• Paperwork!! Get yourself an expandable folder for each child. Keep all important papers pertaining school in there. Create sections for permission slips, reminders sent home, school handbook, school directory, class list, schedules. Label one of the sections “MOM’S HOMEWORK”. This can be where your children empty their folders and put everything that came home from school that day.
• Plan your meals ahead. As a child, my mother did most of her cooking on Sundays. I love the idea but unfortunately, I’m not that good at spending Sunday in the kitchen. Meal planning can be another very good way of making the most of our busy evenings. Simply posting your meals and shopping on the weekend can save you time. There is a new paint that turns into a chalkboard, if you want to get creative in your kitchen.
• Do as much as you can the night before. Make lunches, program the coffee machine, line up schoolbags and sneakers. All these things will help make your morning a less hectic one.
• Most important…..enjoy this time! Kids grow up so fast and before you know they will be graduating from school and you will be saying, where did the time go?

If you have tips on getting organized, please share them with us. We look forward to hearing your ideas and comments!

“Teamwork Makes The Dream Work!”

Craig & Gina Wiley
Coldwell Banker Preferred
390 Waterloo Blvd.
Exton, PA 19341
Office 610-363-6006 ex 6066

craig_wiley@comcast.net

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