Often times your grand schemes are the things that hold you back. In an effort to be organized, you over complicate things and actually make being organized harder than it needs to be. Having one simple family calendar in a common area is often all you need to keep schedules straight. If you need more than that, it could be possible that your family is just too busy and may need to reevaluate optional activities. A simple calendar can make sure everyone knows what the plans are and when family members are unavailable so that you don’t end up over scheduling yourselves. It doesn’t need to be color coded, decorated, and pinterest worthy. It just needs to work.
Create Procedures and Stick to Them
The key to organization is consistency. Your kids need to have a clear understanding of expectations and know that those expectations will not change. They need to know that you’re keeping tabs on things and that you’re there to help them stay on track. Often times it isn’t intentional when they forget things that you think they should remember. Keep in mind that their brains aren’t fully developed and that they need the adults in their lives to provide structure and keep them accountable because they can’t do it on their own.
Your procedures can be as simple as a ritual sit down after school where your kids show you any papers they’ve brought home and recap what they have coming up. This is especially effective if your child has a planner that they use for keeping track of homework and upcoming assignments. An afternoon sit down with a snack is the perfect opportunity to review their planner and find out what they need to be working on.
Get Engaged. Stay Engaged.
Communication will be key to staying organized this year. Communicate regularly with your child’s teachers, their classmates’ parents, and others within the school community in order to make sure you aren’t missing anything. By staying in the loop you’re less likely to find yourself dealing with last minute crises.
When the school year starts, make sure you take the time to talk to the teacher about what you can expect from them. Every teacher is different, so it’s good to know how announcements, grades, and assignments are sent home regularly so that you’ll know where to look.
At St. Barnabas we make communication as simple as possible through use of our Parent Portal. With access to forms, documents, handbooks, uniforms, and teacher pages with individual class calendars, we make it easy for you to stay on top of what’s happening at school. You can even access grades and report cards through Achieve on the Parent Portal. Teachers update Acheive regularly, so this is the best way to stay on top of how your child is doing academically.
Staying organized is often as simple as staying engaged and maintaining open lines of communication. Contact us today to schedule a tour and learn more about how our school can help your family stay on track.
