How to Create the Ideal Kids Homework and School Work Station at Home
Here’s how you can prepare a homework and school work station that works for your child’s at-home learning experience.
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Clear plastic bins and clearly labeled drawers are great for easily managed supplies. Try to keep only the items that are needed in the immediate present in view.
“Label everything on your supply containers [or] caddy,” Draddy suggests, adding that this includes recent tests, papers, and assignment sheets as well as bins containing supplies. “This will help teach your children how to maintain their space and hopefully put an end to the continuing cycle of them asking where to put their supplies when they are done with their homework,” she adds.
Try to keep cords like chargers and computer wires neat and organized, too.
Color-coded file folders can be vital to keeping organized. Encourage your child to stow all science papers in a green folder, English compositions in their blue folder, French worksheets in a red folder, and so on. “This helps kids keep their notes organized whether on their desk or in their book bag,” Draddy says.
With school comes tons of assignments and papers that need to stay organized. “Consider setting up an ‘in’ and ‘out’ bin where your kids can put assignments that need to be done and others that are already completed,” Draddy says. “This makes it easier to remember that everything in the ‘out’ bin needs to be packed in their backpacks and returned to school the next day.” Consider keeping papers your kids want to keep for future nostalgia in bins. By doing this, your house will stay streamlined too.
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Keep supplies close at hand.
Stowing supplies within reach of your child’s desk is one of the biggest keys to your kid’s productivity. “There needn’t be twelve trips around the house looking for the tools they need to complete each project,” Draddy says. It’s easy: Just keep pens, pencils, erasers, Post-Its, highlighters, three-ring binder paper, graph paper, rulers, and a pencil sharpener within easy reach. “If desk space is an issue, consider making your own mobile supply station that can be easily wheeled in and out of the space when it’s homework time,” she says. “A version of this caddy can also be made for the road if your children won’t always be home when it comes time for homework.”
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Manage time.
If assignments need to be timed, give your kids the tools to manage their own time by keeping a clock or timer on their workspace. “Setting time limits for each subject can help them stay on track,” Draddy says. “This is a life skill that will bode them well in life after school, too.”
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