Help DS set up system to be organised for starting secondary

[sydenhamhiller]

Hi O wise M-netters.

I would be so grateful for some experienced advice on this. I think we are going to have to set up a system for organising all the paper/ books/ homework etc for secondary - I have 2 younger children, and I want DS to be/ feel organised from the beginning, and have a 'system'. Which does not appear to come naturally to either of us. His younger sister on the other hand, could start secondary school tomorrow.

I digress. I remember someone posting on a thread about having a different magazine file for each day, and just slotting each day's work/ subjects into that. School suggest that they have different coloured plastic folder for each subject, and they just slot exercise books/ textbook (!) and handouts into that. But then that will be a slithery pile at home?

Any tips gratefully received! Thanks.

Sent my dc on a workshop specifically to get him organised. It was called 'Study Skills for Secondary School' or something like that but covered having a workspace, folders etc. Really helpful so PM if you want details - they're held in London (SW).

This is our system, all Ikea wooden folders just painted with the colours of his room and labelled.

Every night takes everything out of his bag and puts his books into the correct day, then re stocks his bags. They sit on an Ikea shelf above an Ikea Gallant desk. Under the shelf are LED strip lights to light up the desk area. Under the shelf on the wall are those plastic pots that you hang from a rail from Ikea's kitchen section. They hold pens/pencils/post it notes/stapler etc

He also has this noticeboard from Ikea, any homework he has is written on a precut piece of paper and put up there on the day it is due in with the topic ie English, book report and the date it is due in as some things are 1 week some are longer. That way he can see at a glance how much homework he has. It has his timetable on it and then anything to do with his homework is pinned to the bottom.

I made him a daily schedule so it reminds him to take his games kit or his book for his music tuition etc.

Key to the house is on a long piece of elastic sewn into his bag so he can't lose it.

5 mentions of the same store in one post. Do you have shares in them?

Nice colours!

I'm looking to do the magazine file method for September, but in the kitchen rather than bedroom. Coupled with timetables and calendar.

notin I wish I had shares in Ikea. We just live very close to one and the OP said she wanted to be organised like an Ikea family

Amazons there are loads of "family command centre" ideas on Pinterest or google where you can have a magazine file thing on the wall, a notice board and calendar etc.

I print my own calendar every year but there are loads online that have been done for you, lots of free stuff but also some very beautiful ones on Etsy. Again Pinterest have loads under planners or organisers.

Can I recommend covering all of the books with sticky backed plastic at the start of term? It really does make them more hard wearing.

'Sticky backed plastic'

Are you really Valerie Singleton, Happy?

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.

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!

Yes - first week was all about the book covering.

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!

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

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.

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.

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...

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

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 ...

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.

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.

This would be excessive...

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 ...

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. >

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!

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

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.