9 Organization Tips for the New School Year
Back to school is exciting but, if we’re being honest, also pretty hectic. Here’s how we’re getting organized and reclaiming some of our sanity.
Keep It or Toss It
Before figuring out what you need in terms of new school supplies, clothes, and more, go through everything with each kid and play a game of keep it or toss it.
Meal Prep Sundays
Bang out a batch of lunches (or, if weeknights get hectic, some dinners too) on Sunday, label everything, and stick ’em in the fridge and/or freezer. Get your kids involved—teach them some cooking, math, and organization skills all at once.
Colour-Coded Reusable Food Storage Bags
Reusable food storage bags are a green choice. They cut down on the expense of disposable bags and make lunch planning easier.
Family Calendar Command Centre
Post a big calendar somewhere prominent, such as your kitchen or entryway. Each kid gets their own colour-coded marker and every activity gets posted on the calendar. Add an in/out bin for parental paperwork. And if your family command centre can have a designated place for school lunch stuff (lunch bags, thermoses, containers), a place for book bags, and a place for extracurricular activity stuff, even better.
Use Academic Planners
Older kids (say, grade six and up) can be given academic planners to keep track of homework, projects, after-school activities, and more. Planning is a skill like any other—if your kid practices it, they’ll become good at it.
Organize Your Back Seat
Get a back seat car organizer and put things like tissues, non-perishable healthy snacks, spare USB cables, and other miscellany that kids might need. Obviously, the age of the kids in question and the activities they’re up to will dictate what you include.
Use a Designated Homework Spot
Make sure there’s consistency and structure to homework quality and time by designating a homework spot and outfitting it with everything necessary for day-to-day homework. There should be a spot for stationary, books, outlets, good light, and a sense of peace and organization.
Create a School Supply Stash
Day-to-day necessities should be in your supply stash—think pens, pencils, paper, etc. But you should also keep some of the less used but still useful things like poster board or clay. After all, it’s basically a rule that a fifth-grader will only remember they need to make a poster for science class at eight o’clock on Sunday night, and you won’t want to drive around desperately looking for stationary.
Colour-Code Consistency
We’ve suggested colour-coding a lot of stuff. Well, designating one colour for each kid and keeping it coordinated will help you a) stay better organized and b) cut down on the mental load of remembering which bag or phone belongs to which kid. If everything red is Stacy’s and everything green is Winston’s, that’s a lot less remembering you need to do.
