Organizing for a Successful School Year

By Ellen DeLap

With the new school year here, do you feel excited and enthusiastic about the school year beginning? Or do you dread this coming school year with thoughts of a flood of papers, unending scheduled activities, expensive extra purchases and general chaos in your home ? It takes more than a trip to purchase school supplies to be organized for a successful school year. 

Begin this school year with a weekly family meeting. What is a family meeting? It is simply a weekly time set aside, during a meal time such a dinner, when your family comes together to share priorities and activities. 

Choose a night that will become a ritual for your family, uninterrupted by spiritual, athletic or other activities. With food, either a homemade family favorite or a purchased entrée or dessert, take the time to share each family members’ accomplishments that week.  

Purchase a large calendar that can be displayed prominently in your home, and go over each family member’s commitments for the week, and into the next week. By all family members knowing what is ahead, you can plan and schedule your activities, instead of being “behind” from the start. You and your family are building connections and communicating, as well as adding a planning time for your family. 

The school year brings homework, report cards to sign, and many more papers! Find an easy to access location for a family communication center. This is simply a small file area that will act as a home for these types of papers. You can purchase inexpensive in/out boxes, a small hanging folder file or be creative with stacking baskets. Label each box or file with the name of one family member, and then label additional boxes or files with “To Do”, “To Return” and “To File”.  

The communication center becomes the “home” for each person’s loose papers, and the additional files add a home for those other papers with actions required. Set aside a time each evening to file the daily papers, and you will never lose another permission slip again! 

Family routines add harmony and consistency to daily living. These repetitious events, whether it is choosing your clothes the night before or establishing a bedtime reading time and lights out, are cornerstones for our lives. During a family meeting, discuss the daily routine with your children, and write out a list of daily expectations and routines. By establishing a time for even the most repetitious events as well as homework and “down” time, life runs more smoothly.

Establish family routines for responsibilities in your home as well, having family members take part in laundry, meal preparation, and clean up in the evening. Remember, you are teaching your children the lifetime tool of organizing for themselves in this manner.  

Organizing for a successful school year requires prioritizing your family and setting family goals. With just these simple tools, your year will run smoother and your family will feel a sense of accomplishment in their academics as well as balance in their lives. That is what we all strive for – empowering our families to do their best!

For additional school year organizing tips, visit www.professional-organizer.com.

Ellen Delap is a professional organizer offering her services to both business and residential clients.  For more organization tips, visit her website at http://www.professional-organizer.com.  Ms. Delap may be reached at 281.360.3928 or edelap@professional-organizer.com.