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Keeping your Middle School Student Organized

January 29, 2019 by Motheringwithgrace Leave a Comment

Parenting a middle school student isn’t for the faint of heart. The emotions, the hormones, the smells… oh yeah, the smells. I have graduated one out of the middle school years but I have three more to go! Pray for me.

If you happen to be blessed with a pre-teen or almost teen boy, then you know that being neat and organized isn’t exactly their forte. Unless of course you consider the laundry piled neatly in the corner of their closet “organized” Or the hidden candy wrappers placed inconspicuously behind books as “neat”

And hey, if you do- that’s okay, no judgement here.  

The point is, it doesn’t always come natural to them to get organized. If you are looking for ways to guide your middle school to a more organized life, let me help.

Middle School Students need their own place

Your middle school student needs a place to keep all their school work. Ideally this would all be kept in one place. Maybe they have a desk, table, or a bookshelf.  At our house each of my children have a bin for their individual books and notebooks as well as a shelf where we keep the textbooks and videos we use.

Middle School Students need their own planner or calendar

Our students are more than capable of taking over their daily or even weekly schedule. Let them be responsible every week for putting in their assignments and adding their commitments. This will give them an idea of what they need to accomplish and a realistic goal of what they can feasibly get done within the week.  Don’t forget to schedule all church activities, sports practices  games, volunteer commitments, club meetings and chores.  After a few weeks of doing this, they will be able to determine on their own if they have time to hang out with their friends or watch that movie they wanted to see.

Need a simple weekly planner try this one

Middle School Students need a system for keeping up with their school work

This can be done with a notebook for every subject or even a file folder system, but at our house I like it all nice and tidy in one three ring binder.  Every year I purchase a not so cheap big binder for every kid and we set it up by printing out a nice front cover with their name on it, and we put in tabs for each subject. Throughout the year we hole punch our work and store it behind the folders. I love the pocket folders with tabs, this allows me to add work to their folders or it’s a place to store graded work. Their calendar is kept at the front of the notebook so that it all stays in one place.

Give Your Middle School Student a well equipped study area

Kids have procrastination down to an art. My kids can spend 30 minutes looking for just the right pencil or pen. Make sure they have enough sharpened pencils, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, paper and whatever else they may need so that they can get right to work. We keep a desk caddy in our school area with all of our supplies. I also have a zippered pencil case in their student binders with pencils, pens and a pair of scissors. I try to take the no excuse approach to getting started with school.

Teach Your Middle School Student to prepare and look ahead

This is a perfect way to use that calendar. Each night before they go to bed, have them look at what is on their calendar for the next day. Do they have somewhere to be first thing in the morning? Have them ask themselves what they can be doing tonight to set themselves up for success the following day. I do this with my family every Saturday night. Let’s figure out what we are wearing to church, what we need to take, and what lunch will be when we get home. This takes the stress out of the rush of Sunday mornings. If we can get our children in the habit of doing this every night before bed they will begin to see the value of being prepared.

Make Your Middle School student responsible for their own schedule and planning

Do they have a youth activity coming up? Did they plan ahead to make sure that they had transportation? Do they have a big school project that they need to prepare for? Did they make a list of needed supplies and plan enough time to purchase them? Don’t bail them out every time they fail to plan. Once you have given them the tools to be successful and shown them how to use them, give them the responsibility as well. If it means missing out a few times or getting a poor grade, they will quickly learn the power of planning.

Help them get organized for outside activities

Spend some time thinking through all the places that your child goes throughout the week. Do they participate in a co-op and use a backpack? Do they play sports? Help them get organized by giving them a place to store all the items they need. Stock their backpack, bags or purses with things they need to be successful. If you have student that is always forgetting something, laminate a note card with a list of what they need and put it on a ring in their bag. Have a designated place where their items always go so that there are no excuses for why they can’t find something.

 

If you have a child who is having a really hard time pulling it all together, help get them started and be sure to keep them accountable. You may need to check in on them every day, or every other day until the routine sets in and they are able to do it on their own.

Middle School

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Middle School Tagged With: Middle School, Organization

12 Homeschool Rooms to Inspire and Encourage You

September 20, 2018 by Motheringwithgrace Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to peak into other homeschooler’s rooms? I convinced 12 homeschool moms to share the space they homeschool in.  A few of them immediately got to cleaning, A few chose just to be authentic, and a few others really are just that neat and tidy! I love all the variety of the rooms and what it says about our personality and the personality of our families. Mostly I love that these spaces represent the commitment to teaching our children. So take a look around and remember- No judging here!

I love the colors and the natural light that streams into this room. Notice the desk, turned teacher command center. I like that at the end of the day, the doors can be closed and the chaos can be hidden.

This is exactly how two of my children do school too. All of their books must be strewn about on the floor. Who needs a school room when the floor works just fine!

Something about this traditional classroom makes me happy. I love the added comfort of the cushions on the seat. I don’t recall my teachers ever caring enough to make sure my bum was comfy while I did my school work. ha! Each student has their space here with their books at arms reach.

I love the calming colors and LOVE the storage space in this little room that sits right off the main dining room. It’s small and cozy.

Check out that gigantic chalkboard in the back of this room. How fun is that! You can just glance around the room and see all the learning that has taken place here.

Do you need some help getting your homeschool day off to the right start? Hop over Here

A quick glance will tell you that girls reside in this home. I love the desks where each girl has their own space and the wall containers are very handy.

This mom, kept it real for me when she also included the room in it’s current state. Can I get a witness that this is how most of our multi- purpose rooms actually look on a regular basis. Thank you for the authenticity!

If you’re looking for ideas on how to homeschool and manage your household, check out this post!

No school room? No problem.  Schooling happens everywhere in this home. Notice the containers. No homeschool mom can survive without them! And might I just throw in that I love that this teen is doing school on an old typewriter!

 

This space is amazing. The storage, the shelving, the colors and all the extra space!

Check out that storage locker and that huge map! This space reminds me of my teen daughters school work area. If I were to go snap a picture of it, it would look just like this.

My favorite part of this room are the bookshelves! The fun colors make you want to hang out and read.

When your space is tiny, you utilize it to the fullest. There is a lot of functionality packed into this tiny corner.

Homeschool RoomThis room speaks to me. It’s like Pottery Barn and Joanna Gaines got together and made a baby. You can’t tell it from the picture but the shelving goes across one whole wall from floor to ceiling.  I’m also in love with those framed maps.

 

Do you have a space that you just love, or are brave enough to share? Jump over to my Facebook page and share your picture. 

 

Homeschool Rooms

Filed Under: Homeschool Life Tagged With: Homeschool life, Homeschool rooms, Organization

How to Achieve Your Goals When You Are Organizationally Challenged

March 13, 2018 by Motheringwithgrace Leave a Comment

I am not an organized person by nature. I manage to stay just organized enough to not look like a hot mess all the time. But I feel like I’m always one step behind and trying to catch up. I look on with envy at my friend’s color coded calendars and their tabbed binders.

Have you ever just been so frustrated with the “mess” of your life that you just can’t take it anymore, but your not sure how to fix it? I’m being slightly over dramatic, but I have been at that point for a bit now. As part of my 2018 book list I have been reading the book The 12 Week Year. I know it’s geared more towards business but it is completely applicable for anyone with any goals or aspirations in their life. I have taken the main principals in the book and have set up my own 12 week year. If you want to grab the book I highly encourage it, it is filled with tons of great advice and motivation. But if your life is as full as most, maybe you just want the quick not so thorough Cliff  Angela Notes spin on it.

The 12 Week Year how to organize your life

Dream Big

Begin by listing out every dream, goal or aspiration you have for the future. Think about where you want to be in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. Think about the life that you deeply desire. Don’t be afraid to list it all.  I had about a page and a half when I was done.

Once you have done this, you may notice what I realized. The things on my list fell into natural categories, for me it was: Family Goals, Personal Goals and Professional Goals.

I took those categories and I broke them down into what I specifically wanted from each of those areas. Some examples for me where: Stronger family and friend relationships, Live a healthier lifestyle, Grow my blog.

When I further broke some of those areas down, I realized that in each of these areas, The overall struggle is with the lack of organization.  Not being organized is what prevents me from reaching some of my goals. Lack of organization leads to lack of time. I’m wasting time and focus doing things that will never get me to my goals.

Get Organized:

I spent several days (during various kids practices) really considering how I was going to work through each of my areas and set goals. In The 12 Week Year, you make goals on a 12 week cycle and for each goal, you create a list of weekly actions that will help you achieve your goal.  This set up was helpful to me. But I’m a visual person and I needed it broken down more specifically. For each action that I wanted to accomplish I wanted a why and how I was going to get it done. I pulled out a calendar and got busy filling in dates, times, and my action plan. I like things pretty so doing it in different colors was a must.

Examples of My Goals and Weekly Actions:

Goal: Live a healthier lifestyle

Two of My weekly actions were:

  • Menu plan and shop for each meal.  (I used to be great in this area, but over the years with less time and an increased income I haven’t made it a priority. Not being organized in this area was effecting my eating habits as well as our budget.)

I made a master grocery list and came up with a meal plan for the week. I will do this every week. I used to have a membership to Plan to Eat. I may consider joining again. 

  • Drink a least 8 8oz of water each day

 Purchased a water bottle that will help me keep track

 Goal: Invest more time in family and friends relationships.

Two of my weekly Actions are:

  • Have 3 date nights a  month with my husband.

I put those dates on the calendar and I settled on a plan, so that there would be no excuses for us when the time came. 

  • Spend quality time with each of our children once a week.

I know that one of my daughters just loves for us to read together, I’m going to make sure that happens every Tuesday morning at the very least. 

The greatest predictor of your future are your daily actions- Brian Morgan 

I did this with each of my goals and now I have a goal and a plan for the next 12 weeks. Each week I will assess how I’m doing and at the end of the 12 weeks I will evaluate progress and set new goals.

Get your own Goal Planning Worksheets right HERE

I am committed to these goals, because I started with my end in site, and I desire that end, (my 3 year, 5, year and 10 year goals) enough to realize that it’s my actions today that will eventually lead me there.

Do you know the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago, Do you know the Second best time? Today. ~Chinese Proverb

If you are looking for simple organizational ideas on managing your household, check out THIS POST before you go. 

Do you have goals or aspirations you are trying to keep? How do you keep yourself accountable? 

How to Achieve your goals when you are organizationally challenged

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Resources and ideas Tagged With: goal planning, Organization

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