ShareThisHomework, class trips, extracurricular activities, parent-teacher conferences and important projects - staying on top of all the things your children participate in or bring home from school is a big job. What you need to stay on top of it all is a control center. Think of it as the nerve center for all things in your home that are school-related. It's an inbox/outbox for important documents, a master schedule and a spot for other school-related items, like backpacks and school supplies. If the thought of setting up a control center seems daunting, rest assured, it doesn't need to be complicated at all. Here are the two key components to organizing one that will keep you and your little scholars on track.
Set Up A Master Calendar
With agendas overflowing the way they are today in most families, it's essential that you keep track of everybody's schedule in one location. There are two rules (although we hate rules, in this case they seem to work) to follow that will make a family calendar and schedule work:
A family calendar and schedule must be easily shared. That means it is most likely paper-based, not electronic, and needs to be out where everyone can see it and add to it.
Each person in the family over the age of 10 should be responsible each week for filling in his or her own information. If you think it will be hard to get your child to do this, follow the rule, "if it isn't written down, it doesn't get done." The first time they forget to put something important on the calendar and then subsequently miss the event will probably be all they need to learn the lesson.
We find that it's most effective to post both a weekly routine and a monthly calendar to mark variances from the weekly routine. One easy way to keep track of both is to post two dry erase boards next to each other in the kitchen, on the back of the pantry door or in a common area. One dry erase board should be a large (24 inches by 36 inches), pre-formatted monthly calendar, and the other should be a similarly sized dry erase board that also has a bulletin surface. Use the plain board to keep track of everybody's regular weekly schedule. Assuming weekly schedules don't vary, if you write down each person's regularly scheduled activities once on the "Master Schedule" board, you save yourself the time of having to rewrite the same thing week after week in a planner. Give each person in the family a row and mark each day of the week across the top of each of seven columns. Then write down each person's regular weekly schedule, or if everyone is over the age of 10, they should fill in their schedule. Keep paper schedules from classes and extra-curricular activities posted on the bulletin portion of the board so you can see when the schedule will change. Use the monthly calendar to mark special events or deviations from the master schedule. This is where you put all of the information that varies from the weekly routine, from birthday parties and dinners to other events. Again, this should be listed by person, and if you're color-coding, be sure to use the same ink color per person that is used in the schedule.
Create An Inbox & Outbox
There are so many papers to keep track of that, if you don't stay on top of them, they can get the better of you. The simplest and most effective tool for wrangling all those papers is an accordion file system, like School.files, available at www.franklinplanner.com. But you can also make one yourself. For each child, you will need a durable file folder with at least six inside folders. Label the five compartments: inbox to do, to return, for fun, calendars and miscellaneous. As soon as your children walk into the house, ask them to put any papers for you in the "inbox" section of their folder. Each evening, go through and file appropriately. Be sure to hand back to your children any papers or forms that they need to return to school before they go to bed. It significantly reduces the stress load for everybody on chaotic mornings.
(The writers are co-founders of Buttoned Up, a company dedicated to helping stressed women get organized. Send ideas and questions to yourlife(at)getbuttonedup.com. For more columns, go to scrippsnews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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