Help DS set up system to be organised for starting secondary

aargh! How did I not see that?!

I demand the OP @sydenhamhiller comes back to report on how her DS is managing!!

Girls resurrected it first then Wine just posted after that.

I didn't notice the date until I came across my own posts on here under a different name

The information still stands, all good ideas to get new starters organised.

Wonderwine,

Have you been on the wonder wine?

This thread is three years ols.

We did the shelves divided by day, like someone above posted, and then DS2 had a different ring binder (usually provided by school) for each subject. Once he came home and did homework etc the binder went into the day slot when it was next required at school, so when packing bags for the next morning on e.g. Tues he could just grab everything in the Weds slot.
Top tips for keeping things together - buy some of those clear plastic wallet things for ring binders then worksheets, booklets etc can be kept there until hole punched.
Get him into the habit of organising files every week/month/term etc, or when it comes to revision time he will just have a pile of paper worksheets and no idea where they beling
In terms of organisation, can I suggest you also get him into good habits with regard to school email organisation (assuming his school uses an email system). Most of the students I know have never been taught the basics of keeping up with your inbox, saving stuff in folders, deleting old things etc and since so much homework and important information comes in by email, it can get a bit unwieldly. They also all look at their emails on their phones, and seem to miss important attachments etc and then forget to go back to them.
5 mins a day checking school emails on a computer/laptop would help I think.
Also think about where the family printer is (if there is one). Ours was in a loft office, but once the kids were at Secondary the printed homework requirement was so great that we bought an extra little one for downstairs.
Good luck!

Talking of a full pencil case, Ds1 has two, one with pens, pencil, ruler, calculator, pritt stick. One with coloured pencils and maths equipment like his compass, protractor etc.

Pencil crayons wise he has crayola as they give a very deep colour when you press on hard. He also has a highlighter which they were told was part of their day to day equipment and yes to a book to read.

The pencils are for colouring maps, charts, graphs, perhaps also underlining key words and, from time to time, creating display work. 6 is a good number. Most students have none and then a few have one of those huge boxes, which then means everyone has to move around the classroom borrowing things and end up in an argument about what has gone missing.

The glue stick is essential! When students don´t have glue, they end up with loose sheets floating around in the back of their books or the bottom of their bags (and claim that they never received one in the first place). Or 5 minutes of lesson time wasted while everyone borrows from the person who remembered to bring one.

I would presume the reading book is for morning tutor time. Some schools have set times of day for reading, also some teachers let students read if they finish changing after P.E. faster than their peers or at the start of the class while waiting for everyone else to arrive, also some schools have reading as a detention activity.

Obviously great minds think alike - DS proposes taking various shades of grey and a green.

Not quite the same, but I have a job that requires me to be in different places, with different stuff on different days. I set up alarms on my phone to remind me what to take each day and for deadlines too (I often do a 48 hrs notice of deadline too). No two weeks are the same!

I was also greatly puzzled by "a reading book" in the list. But have now been enlightened. DH is puzzled by "glue stick".

Everything is so prescriptive and everything is rubbing me up the wrong way. Luckily it's not me going to school. >

Primary colours + secondary colours = 6

I suppose that makes sense ... No wacky colours then?

I'll get DS to pick some pencils. I'm not buying new ones ...

This would be excessive...

The colouring pencils are used for colouring maps in KS3. DS1 hasn't needed them since Y9, but that might be because he gave up Geography.

school says 6 colour pencils (that's it) and part of me want to pack 6 shades of green

I think it's because the pencil case is already getting quite full, what with the calculator and geometry set (although they only use the compasses and protractor anyway).

They are probably trying to discourage naïve 11 year olds from bringing in their set of 40 rainbow-ordered caran d'ache.

Primary colours + secondary colours = 6
Perhaps they are expected to make the other colours by blending those.

Silly question about colour pencils - school says 6 colour pencils (that's it) and part of me want to pack 6 shades of green. Obviously that's not what is meant. I didn't go to school in this country and it puzzles me greatly why you need colour pencils and what colours you need. Can anyone enlighten me? We have millions of colour pencils at home ...

Sorry - that was not about filing as such, but slightly related to organisation still

Just gone to activate my daughter's debit card with her as Plan B for when she loses her zip card in the first 2 days and cannot get on a tube/bus as they don't take cash anymore. She was most excited about the cornish pasty purchase. So much for educating her on healthy eating when on the go in between school and getting herself to swim squad/ballet etc in various locations around London. Led to a discussion on how she cannot live on Greggs/West Country Pasty Co. alone.

I am scared to say the very least. Suddenly September seems so near...

We were only told to cover 1 book which was German and had to have a flag on it - provided by school.

The rest were left uncovered. The easiest way to cover them is to buy the "slip on covers" which I will be doing this year. That way if school say anything I can just take the cover off. It isn't stuck down.

The other system we introduced was to keep his pencil cases (2 of them one for day to day stuff and one with colouring pencils in etc in) in his school bag. We have pens/pencils/rulers at home. It meant he wouldn't forget to put the pencil case back in his bag.

We also went down the mechanical pencil route because lots of kids just sharpen their pencil straight into their pencil case.

decorate your books with images relevant to [insert subject]" is often the first homework in y7

Yes, the teachers seem to love this one. DS1 had to do this homework for German in the first week of Y7. He searched for "Germany" in Google images and half the results were pictures of beer, half-naked women and Nazi memorabilia.

On the back of our front door is a weekly what you need poster
Monday - sports kit
Tuesday- violin
Etc

You're doing the right thing by getting organised now. It is something we really didn't focus on enough with DS1 who's about to go into yr10. He is not an organised sort and also not one who likes us 'interfering'. He is also constantly forgetting homework, books, ingredients etc etc. We went to a parents evening in yr9 for the German teacher to tell us he had lost 3 books already (by February) and was on his 4th. Later that evening DH found all three old books, actually in his school bag . It had got so full that he'd lost stuff in it, but also had been carrying loads of extra weight around for the 2mile walk each way every day for months!

DS2 is going into yr7 in September and we have vowed to be more organised from the start. He is a different child and fairly organised himself, as am I, and he won't mind handholding into a decent system. I have said to DS1 that we need to try to start again to get him organised as he's going into yr10 and it is getting more important now. Hopefully he'll let me this time but he is very much a 'God, that's effort' type so who knows?! I do wish we'd insisted from the start though.

Sorry that turned into a long essay but just want to reiterate the importance of getting them into good habits from the beginning, and well done OP for getting on with it now . Good luck!

Yes - first week was all about the book covering.

Definitely sticky back plastic the books.

Wait a week though because "decorate your books with images relevant to [insert subject]" is often the first homework in y7. Much easier to decorate then cover rather than other way round!

Haha! Absolutely not! Luckily the stationery shops and even supermarkets do it for you here in September, cheap as chips and no worrying about those blasted bumps.

School exercise books are made very cheaply. Without the plastic, they look really tatty after just a couple of weeks.