Summer is winding down and it’s time to start thinking about school again. School for the little ones or perhaps school for you – learning can take place at any age! It helps to be organized in advance to get your school year off to a smooth start. And it’s simple! Here are 2 things to do now so that you are prepared:

Have a School Resource Binder

Create a Drop Zone

School Resource Binder:

Using a three ring binder, dividers and a few sheet protectors, you can be prepared for the onslaught of information you will receive as the school year begins. You can organize the binder to hold the school’s yearly calendar, the classroom/teacher information, newsletters, and fundraising/PTA information. Take note of the minimum days and school holidays and be sure to transfer that information onto your personal calendar immediately. As a general rule, this binder will need to be updated and purged on a regular basis. Use the pocket inside the front of the binder to hold a copy of your child’s emergency card so that you have the information readily available for field trip forms. Keeping a pencil here is also a good idea!

Creating a Drop Zone:

Creating a drop zone is applies the mudroom concept to the area where you first come into your home each day. For some families that area is by the front door, for others it is the area by the garage door that leads into the house. Even the smallest area can be transformed into a functional drop zone with the addition of a few hooks, baskets, and shelves. The purpose of the drop zone is to be able to drop what you’ve brought in and stage it for exit for tomorrow. Kids need hooks for backpacks and jackets, parents need a shelf for car keys and sunglasses. Baskets hold shoes and other items to go.

So why wait for school to start? Get these two things in place and you’ll be ready!

Some of you may be beginning to think about shopping for school clothes and gearing up for your child’s next school year, so here’s a strategy for handling the mountain of school papers. Each day artwork, graded paper, and homework come home and seem to spill out everywhere. Soon the pile is all over the house or your child’s backpack is bursting at the seams. Below are 5 easy steps to managing that paper load and keeping the school day memories intact.

1. Label a 10 x 13 manila envelope as follows: Child’s Name
School Year
Grade

This envelope will hold a year’s worth of your child’s school work, artwork, and even report cards. How can all of it fit? By only putting in the most precious of items and enjoying the others for a short time before they are recycled.

2. Label a basket or wall pocket with your child’s name.

Place this basket or wall pocket in the same area where your child drops the backpack when entering the house after school. Train the child to remove all graded school papers and artwork from the back pack daily. Have the child put these papers in their labeled basket or wall pocket. DO NOT put homework, which needs to be turned in, here.

3. Pick a time each week when you will sit down with your child and look through the weeks’ papers. This is a good time to have quality conversation with your child. Compliment your child, ask questions, talk about the past school week and the week to come. Children need to know that you care what is going on at their school. Decide together which paper should be saved in the manila envelope. If there are many pieces of artwork or large items, consider taking a picture of them and putting the photograph in the envelope to save space.

4. As the school year progresses, the child’s manila envelope may need to be gone through and some items removed to make room for the most precious items to be kept.

The goal here is to have one manila envelope per year. The most important work is saved in an orderly fashion and can be retrieved easily.

5. At the end of the school year, store the yearly manila envelopes in a plastic storage container with a lid. This will keep the dust and moisture out. This can be stored in the garage or other storage area. Remember to label this storage container, “School Days Memorabilia”, to save you from opening every storage bin looking for this school work in the future!

© 2005 Natalie Conrad