The school year has started
fast and furiously. If you feel like you’ve been hit by a whirlwind and are
already behind, there are five steps that you can take to gain control.
Develop a nighttime routine. Everyone needs a set bedtime - adults and kids. After
a few days of adhering to a set bedtime you brain will be trained to get ready
for sleep. Sleep is essential to our health and wellbeing. Don’t believe me?
Check out this article on the psychological
effects of sleep deprivation. The bottom line is a sleep-deprived brain
doesn’t work. Once you establish
your bedtime, work backwards to give yourself a few minutes to prepare for the
next day and have 15 to 30 minutes of quiet non-technical, non-screen activity.
Establishing a routine helps you tackle repetitive and important tasks without
a whole lot of energy and effort. Prepare by checking the next day’s calendar
and picking out outfits and accessories. Set bags and anything else that needs
to leave with your family by the door. To slow down before heading off to bed
try reading, writing, meditating, a warm bath, coloring, knitting, or some
other quiet activity.
Develop a morning routine. Having a set wakeup time will, over a short period
of time, make it easier to wake up on time. To encourage the habit of getting
out of bed, set up something to look forward to – like a cup of coffee that was
scheduled to be ready with the delay brew function on your coffee maker. Record
a motivating phrase and use it as the alarm sound on your cell phone. Need more
motivation? Try the Sonic
Boom alarm clock. Allow enough time in the morning to have breakfast and
review the day’s activities with your family. By breakfast, I mean something
with nutrition rather than a fast fix of sugar. Hard-boiled eggs, cheese
sticks, and peanut butter on whole grain bread are fast and portable if your
appetite doesn’t spring to life first thing in the morning. A benefit from
reviewing the day’s events with your family is that everyone starts off with
the same information and everyone is more likely to successfully remember. Waking
up 15 minutes before your children do provides some time to tend to a few
chores. Tasks like emptying the dishwasher and folding a load of clothes are
essential to running the household as smoothly as possible and tackling them
first thing in the morning starts the day on a positive note.
After school, children need some outside time and a
nutritious snack. Play is serious
business. Actually adults need outside play time too. Unstructured time outside
helps promote movement, curiosity, imagination, creativity, and a host of other
benefits. Nature has healing properties; so say a number
of studies. Plan periods of unstructured time so they happen. Nutritious
snacks are important to sustaining blood sugar and focus. Plan ahead and create
a snack drawer in the fridge so folks can help themselves when they are
peckish.
Set up a productive homework environment. What works depends on your child’s age and nature.
Generally speaking, younger children often work well at the kitchen table and
older children often prefer the solitude of their own rooms. Talk with your
child to see if she has a preference. If she doesn’t, experiment. Regardless of where your child works,
make sure that supplies are organized and handy. If your child works at the
kitchen table, try putting the needed supplies in a caddy so it’s easy to set
up and clean up the homework spot. Keep in mind that most students need a few
supplies. Stockpiling supplies creates storage and access problems plus it
makes it harder to keep things in order. Keep the work area as uncluttered as
possible. Store completed units of study in a desktop file so that the
student’s binder holds only the current topics. Storing the completed work
makes for a lighter backpack. The desktop filebox helps keep students focused on
the current subjects while keeping material available for comprehensive exams.
While we’re on the subject
of completed work, let’s cover the work that becomes memorabilia for the
parents: the art project, the A+ paper, the worksheet with the glowing
teacher’s feedback, etc. Have a special place to show off these items, but keep
the display fresh. After a short period of time either recycle the work or
store it as memorabilia. Only keep items that really show off your child’s
personality, nature and creativity. A worksheet will not do that; however, an
essay might. Take pictures of 3-D projects like sculptures because the picture
is easier to store than the object itself. Be careful how much you store.
Consider if you stored just 10 things for each grade, including kindergarten,
you will have 130 pages by high school graduation.
Two important tools every
student needs are a planner and a clock. Planners help students keep track of
homework assignments and also help them develop their time management skills.
Time management is an essential life skill, and a clock is critical to
developing it. However, one of the tools students often lack is a clock that is
easily visible from where they work. The best clock for helping students
develop an internal sense of time is the analog clock. The analog clock
displays time passing. There is a sense of the amount of time that has passed
as well as the amount of time remaining. Digital clocks display the present
moment.
While tools are important to
a student’s success, creating a comfortable, uncluttered environment for your
child is very important. Clutter is not only unsightly it’s distracting. Help
your child succeed by minimizing distractions.
Distractions can be internal
too. Despite our best efforts at optimizing our environment and health, focus
can be challenging. It may seem paradoxical, but fidgeting may help
increase focus. Sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair provides
minute movements that may engage focus and – bonus - strengthen core muscles.
Creating and listening to a playlist of music that the student likes but does
not get to engrossed in, is another useful strategy.
A strategy that will save parents a lot of last minute
changes of plans is to update the family calendar right away with the school
and sports calendars. Make time to
do this. Knowing what is happening in your child’s life gives you the ability
to be proactive and supportive. If you use an electronic calendar, you may be
able to important your school’s calendar into your calendar. Importing a
calendar saves you lots of time from entering events individually – that is one
of the strong points of an electronic calendar. If you are getting started with
an electronic calendar, Cozi
and Google calendars are easy to understand. If you prefer paper calendars but
loathe entering recurring events, the WeekDate
calendar is for you. The unique design of the WeekDate calendar means recurring
events only have to be entered once (plus they are darn cute calendars). If
possible, find out when important school projects are due and when tests are
scheduled. This knowledge can help you support your child’s academic efforts.
Inquiries about the status of your child’s homework can be supportive if the
phrasing is neutral and upbeat. Saying something like “I notice you have an
exam coming up. How do you plan on preparing for it?” is more supportive than
saying “Have you studied for that test yet?” The former is more likely to get
an honest answer than the latter, which may be met with a silent eye roll.
Keeping things together for
the school year means developing some structure, routines and acting
proactively. The strategies laid out here will help you not only survive the
school year, but thrive. You’ll be developing healthy habits for yourself and
your family. Organization is a great tool for living the life you want to live. If organization has been elusive for you, consider hiring a professional organizer to help you develop systems that will work for you and the support needed to implement them.
