All set for homeschooling
Before I go on about organization, I just want to say one thing… Our world is rocked like none of us have seen in our lifetimes. We all have friends who are losing jobs or some who have to lay people off. We know medical professionals on the front lines and many trying to work at home while suddenly acting as their kids’ teachers. Not to mention those with the virus. None of this is normal and too much of it is scary and/or heartbreaking. I am not here to make light of any of it. I am just here to offer support on dealing with what is in front of us. If this is helpful or comforting to you, please read on and keep checking out my tips. If this isn’t what you need right now, that’s cool too.
With that said, I want to share a few more thoughts on prepping for school at home.
What I believe will help everyone with this forced and mostly foreign situation is… you guessed it… being organized. It took a couple of days to get things set up at my house, but it is now good to go and more comfortable for all four of us, five-year-old to 51-year-old.
SET UP A WORK AREA
Your kids’ school area could be a desk, the corner of a kitchen table or even a spot on the floor, if that works for them (and you). Whatever it is, it should be a dedicated spot. It can be packed and moved for meal-times if you need the kitchen table, but it ought to be the same spot every day.
SUPPLIES
Be sure the kids have the supplies they need. This may take some scrambling, as we are all in this position on short notice.
Find a cup to hold pens, pencils or crayons. And a tray to hold paper. If they need a calculator or stapler, set those out for them in their area as well.
You can have a bin/box/tray that holds office supplies if it needs to be moved each day to make room for non-school activities.
BOOKS & PAPERS
My kids’ school sent home their workbooks, textbooks and other papers and worksheets. For the first couple of days, the papers and books were all floating around in a bin where my (naturally neat and organized) second grader was tossing them back in and it quickly became a hard-to-manage mess.
Knowing that this isn’t going to be a short-term situation, I decided to put a little time into creating a system for him. He needs a place where papers can be stored in an easily accessible fashion and where books can be reached too. The best solution for the space was to file.
As a professional organizer, I happen to have a lot of extra organizing supplies at my house. This meant that it wasn’t too challenging for me to find folders, hanging files and a box to file in.
The second grader’s stuff all neat and easy for him to access.
The preschoolers stuff all neat and looking like his big brother’s, even though he doesn’t need it, but preempting a “he has one and I don’t” meltdown from someone I’m stuck in a house with for a very long time.
If you don’t have all of these supplies on hand, you can improvise with cardboard boxes or serving trays. Some things to keep in mind for organizing school work:
Categorize papers: if your child has a pile of papers, keep them by category. This may mean files, like above. Or a three-ring binder. Or if you don’t have either of these, you can group papers by subject with paper clips.
Keep books somewhere accessible: on a shelf, table or in a file holder like above. The books should be easy to take out and put back.
Ask your child(ren) what works best for them: you probably have a pretty good sense, but it’s good to include them in the system you establish. They are the ones who have to use it.
TAKE THE TIME
This all may sound type A and overachiever-ish, but I promise it will make a big difference. You wouldn’t work in an office that was never setup (or maybe you would!), so don’t ask your kids to. Try to find an hour or two this weekend to get this done (another hour of netflix won’t kill them). It will make Monday morning that much more exciting.
HANG IN THERE
I personally am fortunate enough to have the flexibility to be with my kids all day every day but I know that a lot of people don’t. I feel for you and hope that you are able to find the support and sanity you need to get through this time.
Related Posts:
Be prepared for school at home with a fully loaded school cart. Everything you need is right here.