Tips for Helping Your Child Get Organized

Does your child struggle with any of the following?

• Getting out the door on time
• Leaving things behind that needed to go to school
• Bringing home all necessary materials to complete homework
• Remembering what was assigned for homework
• Turning in completed work on time
• Waiting until the last minute to work on long-term assignments
• Finding things in their messy bedroom, backpack, or locker

Some kids are just naturally less organized than others. There are tools that can help, though. Here 
are some of my favorite tips and tools for helping kids get (and stay) organized.

ESTABLISHED ROUTINES

Have a caddy of supplies like pencils, pencil sharpener, stapler, highlighter, and post its at this homework 

station, along with graph paper and lined paper. This way, your child doesn’t have to get up and 
go looking for them. The one below is from the dollar store and is described here: 
 

Have sports gear, music instrument). Kids could put backpacks on the backs of their kitchen chairs,  
 the garage door, or on a hook. Just have it be consistent, so they can always know where their 
things are for packing up and grabbing on the run.
 

Open storage locker:  

Over the door hooks:

Backpack station ideas: 

Have one spot in your home to set papers for parents to see like permission forms. This could be
in a special inbox like this one,

or even just a spot on the fridge:

 

If your child struggles to get out the door on time, you could try using a timer (play “beat the timer” 
for different tasks) or an app like the “Happy Kids Timer” 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evoprox.morningroutines

One last tip is to make a checklist for the following day before goign to bed.

ORGANIZED MATERIALS

Find a folder system that works. Some schools or teachers require a particular system. If not, figure out 
what works best for your child.

Perhaps one, thin pocket folder is all your child needs. Label one pocket for homework to be 
done and the other for finished homework to turn in.  Poly folders hold up better than cardboard.

 

If the child turns in different papers in different classrooms throughout the day, perhaps an 

accordion file would work better than the pocket folder. They can set up one tab per subject. 
All work to be done/graded goes in that subject’s pocket. This particular one (http://a.co/iTnVNjF)
zips shut. Others have bungies. These can be found online or in office stores.

                 

For students who need to keep their graded work in order to study graded work and pass notebook
checks, binders would be a good option. Some teachers require a different binder for each subject. 
If not, I recommend something like these Case-It binders (http://a.co/7rnsqnY) which have both a 
binder and accordion file built in, because, let’s face it, not all kids will take the time to hole punch
everything and clip it in to the correct spots within the 3-rings. With one binder for all subjects, 
materials won’t be left at school, since it all comes home together. Make sure your child periodically 
purges unneeded papers, so it doesn’t get too overwhelming or heavy.

If different folders or binders are needed for each class, I recommend color-coding all materials 
for that class. For example, get a blue binder, blue pocket folder, and blue text book cover for all 
math items. When it’s time for math class or to pack up math homework for the night, your child 
can pull all of the blue things out of his or her locker.

*

ORGANIZED SCHEDULE

 

Often, teachers post homework on a website, so students rely on looking it up when they get 
home. However, this can take up homework time, they may have forgotten things they need at 
school while packing up, the teacher may forget to update the website, or there could be a 
technical problem that prevents you from viewing the homework site. For this reason, I recommend 
kids use a planner. If the teacher writes the homework on the board before class, I recommend 
filling the planner out at the beginning of class, as things can get rushed at the end. A traditional 
paper planner is very effective, as long as the child remembers to write in it and bring it home. 
You could use an incentive for each day the child brings it home all filled out. You can also ask the 
teacher to sign the planner, if you need verification that what your child wrote down (“no hmework”) 
is accurate. It should be the student’s responsibility to ask the teacher for the signature. You could 
use an incentive or consequence to hold them accountable, like 5 minutes of screen time per 
subject that is filled out or 5 minutes earlier to bed for each one not filled out.

A digital planner is great if your child has a phone, iPad, or other device that goes to school daily. 
There are many planner and checklist apps. I personally like Google calendar and a program 
called Asana to make daily checklists: 

Asana is both a website and an app that syncs across all your devices. What I like about it is you 
can set up columns by days of the week. Add tasks that can be removed when they are 
finished, dragged to rearrange their order, or dragged to a different day if they are not finished 
by the end of the day. I like that you don’t have to re-write (in a paper planner) or re-enter the 
task on a new day. Once a day’s tasks are all removed or moved to a future day, you can drag 
the entire column for that now-empty day to the far right of all the daily columns. Now it’s ready 
for the following week. This way, your first column will always be the current day.

If your child uses a smartphone or other mobile device, reminders can be set for things like 
turning in a late homework assignment, buying project supplies during the weekend, or bringing 
home a field trip form. There are lots of apps to choose from. Here are some for Android: 
https://www.androidauthority.com/best-reminder-apps-for-android-654628/  
and iPhone: https://www.androidauthority.com/best-reminder-apps-for-android-654628/ 

I hope some of these resources and ideas prove helpful for your child. If your student struggles with 
executive functioning skills and you would like me to work with him or her personally, please go to 
www.peaktutoring.org to learn more and contact me. I'd be happy to help him or her get organized
and become more successful in school.