The “S” in FOCUS stands for:

Setting goals

Imagine jumping in your car, with your family in tow, for your much-needed vacation.  Your destination? Yosemite National Park.  You put the car in reverse, back out of your driveway and roll down the street heading towards the freeway.  As you get to the on ramp to the highway you ask your passengers which direction to head – north or south.  They respond with a blank stare.  They don’t know how to get to Yosemite, they thought you knew…..

Going to any vacation destination without a map or set of directions is futile.  So is going about your day, your week, your life without goals!  Setting goals helps you set a certain direction for your life.  To be better focused, you must have goals.  To reach your goals you need to create action steps.  These action steps help your focus to stay on what is important to you.

Goals can also help you evaluate those things that come at you in life.  They help you to make better decisions; if an opportunity presents itself, you need to make sure it aligns with your goals.  If it does not and you take off in that direction anyway, you have lost focus.  Many people have goals for their personal growth, their careers, the financial well-being and other areas important to them.   What goals do you want ?  How can you take action to achieve them?

Many of my friends dread their children’s homework more than the child does! I often hear things like “I practically have to stand over him”, “She does the work but doesn’t turn it in”, “He just can’t stay still and do the homework”. Granted, some of these issues may be due to things like ADD or ADHD but setting up a proper homework environment certainly can’t help but get the homework off to a good start. Here are three things I recommend:

Location:
The location is not always the same for each child and may not even be the one that you would choose. Talk with your child, ask him if he likes to read in a quiet place or with music in the background? Also consider the personality of the child; extroverts like to be where the action is while introverts treasure their personal space and desire to be alone. Do they need a quiet corner in which to do their work? Can they go about most of the work unsupervised? Do they want you nearby to help or like to be where you are? Or is the household hub, usually the kitchen, where they want to be? If your student is a teenager, they want to be more independent and value their privacy. Many teenagers make their bedroom the first choice for homework. Regardless of the location, what is important is that you and your child make the decision together where the homework should be done.

Timing:
Again this depends on your child. Some children want to come right home and get the work done while others want to release some energy first and settle down to homework later. Neither choice is bad so long as the homework gets done. What is most important is that the homework time stays consistent every day.

The Homework Tools:
I recommend a homework box. This is a lidded box that contains pens, pencils, erasers, a hand held pencil sharpener, a ruler, extra binder paper, report covers, staples, and paper clips. For pre-teens and teenagers, a pocket thesaurus, highlighters, compass, graph paper, and calculator will be needed. Having this homework box not only keeps your child’s school supplies organized, but provides a central location for all tools that may be needed to complete the homework assignments.
Another important tool is the student planner. Many schools now require the students to use a school planner. This is an important step in teaching them to be organized and responsible. If your child’s school does not issue a planner then buy them one. Choose a planner that shows the week on two pages; this will allow your student enough space in which to record their homework. Having them record their homework daily helps with forgetfulness and will enhance their homework time because it eliminates the time wasted trying to remember and find the homework assignments. It also helps teach prioritization. Often, essays and projects are assigned well in advance of the due date and using the planner to break the work down into smaller pieces can help to avoid the last minute rush. The skill of learning how to juggle the homework load will carry over into adulthood – don’t we have to prioritize and juggle our workloads?
I also recommend a homework folder. Purchase a report folder in a bright, neon color. Label it “Homework Folder” and ask that the child place the completed homework in there and put into the backpack every night. Then when the child opens the backpack at school seeing the bright folder may help them to remember to turn in the work. You should also check this folder to be sure it is empty when your child returns from school each day. Another alternative is to have a divider pocket in the front of the school binder in which to put work that should be turned in.

Remember with homework, consistency and organization are a big help!