Getting Organized for School - Organizing Homework without Battles

  
I repeat this blog post every year because homework can be such a battlefield!

Having trouble getting your child to do homework? Or does homework seem to stretch out over an unusually long time? When my children were in school I came up with a solution that gave my girls control and motivation, as well as some training in time management.

While they were having their after-school snack, each girl would list out all her homework assignments on a 3 x 5 card with the estimated time needed to complete each subject. Then, depending on how much time we had that day for homework, she would plan out her homework time, interspersing homework time with play time - a video game, a game with me, a TV show, shooting hoops, playing outside, etc. I recommend 30 minutes studying and 15 minutes to play with longer study times for older kids, shorter for younger.

I found that my kids were motivated to complete their homework in the time they estimated so they could get to playing. Plus homework time didn't turn into an endless expanse of time with no end in sight.

If one of the girls would underestimate the time it took to complete an assignment, her play time was still honored. Just having a change of scenery refreshes the brain.

By giving each girl some control over how she managed her time, she was motivated to do her homework and felt a sense of accomplishment from organizing her homework. Homework was broken up into bite-sized pieces and interspersed with fun. Homework battles were greatly reduced!

A suggestion: study your child. One of my daughters, an introvert, was depleted both physically and socially when she came home from school because she had used up all her words. She needed food and time to regroup before she was ready to talk about her day. My other daughter, also an introvert, wouldn't use up her words at school and was a chatterbox because she felt more comfortable using her words at home.

A child with ADHD may need to get rid of a bunch of energy before sitting down to homework. Each child is different, and as we study our children, we'll have more insight into creating an atmosphere for their success.


More on homework:
Getting Organized for School - Start the Night Before
Getting Organized for School (and Life!!) - Getting Enough Sleep
Getting Organized for School - Discover Your Child's Learning Styles

 

Getting Ready for School: Organizing Homework Papers

   
When we were foster parents, we usually had at least one child who lost homework papers, assignments, etc. One of our foster daughters came up with a wonderful idea: a colorful plastic expandable file we got at Walmart. It's only about 2 inches thick and has several compartments. She labeled a section for each of her classes. 

In each class she placed homework assignments and other important papers in the appropriate file. When she did her homework or needed to turn in a field trip slip, it went back in the proper file. 

This kept all important papers and homework neatly filed and easily found, and kept her bookbag from having massive quantities of papers crunched everywhere. Plus, it reduced the number of items that got lost. She cleaned her file out every week or so to get rid of items no longer needed.

An inexpensive and simple way to organize your organizationally-challenged child!

More on homework:

Getting Organized for School 2010: Homework

Getting Organized for School 2010 - Online Homework Help

Helping Your Child Organize Large Homework Projects

 

The Washington Post: Organizing a Homework Space for Special Needs Children

         

The Washington Post ran two articles yesterday on creating functional and attractive spaces for special needs children. The following August 2011 article about creating homework spaces for special needs kids by Delece Smith-Barrow was referenced. The other two articles are linked below. All three are great reads on a topic rarely addressed.

"For children with special needs or mild learning disabilities, homework often becomes a responsibility shared with their parents. Mom or Dad may spend an hour or two helping them complete math problems, and all the teacher sees is the A paper turned in the next day.

'Oftentimes [these students] kind of fly under the radar screen because parents help them so much at home,' says Ann Dolin, a former Fairfax special-education teacher and founder of the local tutoring service Educational Connections. 'Lots of times kids come back to school with a beautiful paper. Everything’s done. The teacher has no idea what it took to get that child to do it.'

Dolin, with her army of 163 tutors, helps children of all learning capabilities complete class assignments in a timely manner and figures out the best way for them to focus at home.

'They don’t have to sit down at the desk the whole time,' she says. 'They could have a lap desk or sit down on the floor. Some kids may pace around the house and read their notes . . . That type of movement during homework is important to many kids.'

We spoke with Dolin by phone about creating a homework space for young children with special needs, which school supplies work best for these students and how to make a homework area fun. Here are edited excerpts.
 
Q. Where is the best place to set up a homework station?
A. It really needs to be in earshot of the parent. Many kids with learning disabilities can’t really be left on their own and be expected to get their homework done independently. For example, the kitchen might be too distracting for some children, so a good alternative would be the dining room because it’s not right in the middle of a really busy location, but the parent can walk around the corner and check up on the child.

Generally the bedroom is not a good place for elementary-schoolers to do homework unless they are really motivated. It is far too distracting.

You kind of have to identify the needs of your child. Some kids like the hum of a busy area, like the kitchen. Some kids can’t stand the noise and the other goings-on, and they really need a quiet place. But in general you don’t want a place where the TV is on and there is a lot of stimulation from other distractions.
 
Q. How should you set it up?
A. The main thing is that you want to have everything together. For example, you could have an old shoe box lying around and put everything the student needs in that shoe box: pencils, markers, ruler, calculator.

For a lot of kids with learning disabilities, an electronic spell-checker is fabulous. I usually order them from Amazon because they are a lot cheaper. It helps them be more independent. Instead of saying, 'Mom, how do you spell this or how do you spell that?' Mom can say, 'I will spell this one for you, but you can look up the next one on your Spelling Ace.' Many kids with special needs are really frustrated with using a dictionary. Kids with learning problems often spell phonetically. So for example, they might spell phone f-o-n-e, and they’re never going to find it in a dictionary. A Spelling Ace picks up phonetic variations of words.

I like to keep things in a box rather than in a place. This way the supplies are portable.

 
Q. Besides a desk, what else works well for doing homework?
A. Many kids have a hard time sitting still at a desk. One of my favorite things is a lap desk. You’ve probably seen it at Office Depot or Barnes & Noble where it’s a cushion on the underside and the top is a hard, flat surface. I like them because the child can really sit anywhere comfortably. And oftentimes, if you let children pick it out, they are more likely to use it.

There is a Web site called Room It Up that has really colorful lap desks and Pottery Barn Kids has really cool lap desks.

Q. What’s something fun parents can add to a homework space that’s not too distracting?
A. There is this really neat product called Tangle Jr. It’s a fidget toy. For kids who are hyperactive, they are always grabbing at things or flicking their hair and they’re craving sensory input. They are doing that to help sustain their attention. And so as parents, often when we see our kids doing that, fidgeting with a pencil or flicking a paper clip, it’s our first inclination to say, 'Stop doing that. Focus on your homework.' Instead of something dangerous like a paper clip, you can give them Tangle Jr.

The other thing I always suggest to parents is to have a timer. I really love timers for kids, especially those with ADHD. I call them Super Bowl kids. The Super Bowl is on for hours, but the amount of playing time is probably 40 minutes. Sometimes kids are like that when they do their homework. They might sit there for two hours, but the amount of time they actually do homework is a half-hour.

What we know is that when you say to a child, 'Okay, you have spelling, math and reading assignments, so start your homework,' and it seems like this really big task to them, they’re likely to procrastinate and drag it on. But if you say, 'I’m setting the timer for 15 minutes, and I want you to work as hard as you can for 15 minutes and then when the timer goes off you can daydream or you can take a break,' what parents will find is children are far more productive in that 15 minutes than they would be alone for that half hour. And it doesn’t have to be 15 minutes. It depends on the age of the child. For a little kid, it can be seven minutes; for an older kid, it can be 20 minutes.

Q. Are there certain school supplies you recommend for students with special needs?
A. Some kids like raised line paper so that kids with a writing disability can feel the lines on the paper, and it helps them write neater. Many kids with a disorder called dysgraphia use it. Their writing can be illegible, and the paper helps them stay on the line.

Also, the E.Z.C. Reader. They are really cool, colored reading guides. Not only does color help with attention, using the guides helps them read more fluidly because their eyes are able to track the lines better. Color has been proved with research to help with attention, and the tracking helps kids’ eyes move more fluidly from left to right.

Q. Are chalkboards or dry-erase boards helpful for certain tasks?

A. Kids are much more likely to write on a dry-erase board than a piece of paper. But you can’t turn in a dry-erase board. But if a parent is practicing math problems or helping with spelling, then a white board is the way to go.

I’m not sure what it is about a pencil, but for kids with sensory issues, the feeling of a pencil on paper is uncomfortable for them. When you write with a pencil, there’s friction between the pencil and paper. And that pulling or tugging is not as appealing as white boards because the marker just glides across the board.

Kids also like erasing, so it’s not set in stone. When it’s wrong, you can erase it so much faster with a white board. 

Q. How should parents set up the area if there are multiple kids doing homework?
A. They should purchase study carrels. Those are just inexpensive cardboard dividers that can fold up and be put away at the end of homework. And they really prohibit kids from making faces at each other or poking each other. They’re really good at allowing a child to focus on his work and not worry about what another child is doing across the table. We get our study carrels from Calloway House.

Further reading:
If you would like to read more on this topic, Dolin suggests the following books: “The Organized Student,” (Fireside, 2005) by Donna Goldberg, “Organizing the Disorganized Child,” (HarperCollins, 2009) by Martin L. Kutscher and Marcella Moran and “Homework Without Tears,” (Canter & Associates) by Lee Canter and Lee Hausner."

More on special needs:
Decorating for a Child with Special Needs 
Designing Rooms for Children with Special Needs 
Help for Parents of Disorganized, Inattentive and Forgetful Kids

myHomework iPhone App Helps Students Get Organized

          
I found the following description of the myHomework iPhone app on Calling All Geeks, and I thought it might be useful to you and/or your kids. The grammar is a bit lacking, but you get the idea:

"Here is an awesome application for students for iPhone to keep your assignments, class schedules, tests, projects, homework and lot more organized. So now students can keep all their to-do lists handy.

The interface is user-friendly and have nice notebook like design and colorful too which is going to attract students for sure. There are lots of useful feature but the good part is that it is very easy to access these features.

The application launch with very colorful design which includes sticky-notes and colorful tabs for homework in yellow, classes in green and info/preferences in blue. Late assignment will be marked in red, upcoming task in orange and upcoming task in blue which makes you classify your task properly.

You can also prioritize the tasks with different colors. You can also add the details like day, time, class title, teacher, due date, room etc. You can also share your schedules, course with your friends via emails.

 
This tool is for all the students or parents who want to keep track of their kid’s assignments, schedule and classes. The application is free to download and compatible with Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later. So no more noting down your plans on paper, get techy with MyHomeWork App."

More on homework:

Three Steps to Time Management for the College Student

Getting Organized for School 2010: Homework

100 Free and Essential Web Tools for the College Bound

Getting Organized for School - Study Shows Flashcards Help Improve Memory

 

Getting Organized for School 2010 - Online Homework Help

           
I'm reposting this very helpful information for those who have school-age children:

Mary Meehan in her article School Rules: Tips for Parents offers some homework resources for kids:

- "Infoplease is a free reference site including an encyclopedia, dictionary, almanacs and a "Homework Center" that covers English, math, history, geography, science and social studies. Plus it has a "Skills" section to help improve study, writing, speaking and research abilities. 

- Need help with homework or a school project? Discovery Education provides "Homework Help" to students in all grades with links to loads of sites. The links are conveniently organized according to subject. 

- Homework Spot offers links to Web sites grouped by grade level.

- Scholastic's "Homework Hub" offers free tools, tips and activities arranged according to grade and subject. In addition, it provides an online store offering Scholastic brand products. 

- Homeworkhelp.com offers live, online tutoring with personalized programs for fourth to 12th grade students. Users must purchase levels of membership ranging from $30 to $175.”

Source: School Rules: Tips for Parents by Mary Meehan, Dow Jones MarketWatch.

Related topics:  
Getting Organized for School - Backpack Checklist 
Getting Organized for School - Creating a Hub 
Time Management for the Stay-at-Home Mom
 

Getting Organized for School 2010: Homework

 
We made it through the first day of school without too much trauma! It's not nearly as fun to get up on the second day of school, though. :)

I've repeated this post every year as it is a critical part of your child's success at school. Hope you enjoy it!
 
Having trouble getting your child to do homework? Or does homework seem to stretch out over an unusually long time? When my children were in school I came up with a solution that gave my girls control and motivation, as well as some training in time management.

While they were having their after-school snack, each girl would list out all her homework assignments on a 3 x 5 card with the estimated time needed to complete each subject. Then, depending on how much time we had that day for homework, she would plan out her homework time, interspersing homework time with play time - a video game, a game with me, a TV show, shooting hoops, playing outside, etc. I recommend 30 minutes studying and 15 minutes to play with longer study times for older kids, shorter for younger.

I found that my kids were motivated to complete their homework in the time they estimated so they could get to playing. Plus homework time didn't turn into an endless expanse of time with no end in sight.

If one of the girls would underestimate the time it took to complete an assignment, her play time was still honored. Just having a change of scenery refreshes the brain.

By giving each girl some control over how she managed her time, she was motivated to do her homework and felt a sense of accomplishment from organizing her homework. Homework was broken up into bite-sized pieces and interspersed with fun. Homework battles were greatly reduced!

A suggestion: study your child. One of my daughters, an introvert, was depleted both physically and socially when she came home from school because she had used up all her words. She needed food and time to regroup before she was ready to talk about her day. My other daughter, also an introvert, wouldn't use up her words at school and was a chatterbox because she felt more comfortable using her words at home.

A child with ADHD may need to get rid of a bunch of energy before sitting down to homework. Each child is different, and as we study our children, we'll have more insight into creating an atmosphere for their success.

More on homework:
Helping Your Child Organize Large Homework Projects
Getting Organized for School - Online Homework Help
Organizing for School - Papers

Test Taking Mistakes

    
 We have a few days off, which we are thoroughly enjoying! Our girls return Wednesday night for dinner. 

Schools around here are not out yet - not until the first week of June or so. Our girls get out June 8.

If your kids are still in school and have tests to take, have them take a look at the three biggest test-taking mistakes, according to Julie Baird, The Grade Coach.

While there, snoop around - Julie has great advice to students who want to be successful in school. 

More on doing well in school:

Getting Organized for School - Peaceful and Organized Surroundings

Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Getting Enough Sleep

Getting Organized for School - Study Shows Flashcards Help Improve Memory

Review - AgendaWorks Planner

Clayton over at AgendaWorks sent me a planner to review and try out on my 13-year-old foster daughter. This will be her third planner for the school year - need I say more? The AgendaWorks people design planners for Sylvan Learning Centers, schools, ADD students, and for the general public. Their agendas are suitable for middle school through college.

The planner begins with a section on how to use the planner, how to prioritize tasks, and a daily action checklist comprised of reminders, focus-keepers, and work-ahead prompts. Next comes a section on study strategies and guidelines.

The next section has every kind of schedule you can imagine - yearly, monthly weekly, class schedule, grade tracking, and finally daily calendars - one page per day, except for the weekend where Saturday and Sunday share a page.

Each daily page has a column for an hourly schedule, followed by a to-do list. The other column has sections for six classes, including the assignment, its priority compared with other tasks for the day, when it is due and a box to check when the assignment is completed.

Following the daily calendar pages is a section called "Your Life Is Now," prompting the student to consider his/her purpose in life, multi-slacking(tasking), making a difference, building relationships, being aware of current events, and cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset.

Learning Resources follow: a learning styles inventory with descriptions of each type of learning style, setting goals, test taking, reading to learn, guidelines for creating an essay, project planning, and note taking. "Cheat sheets" contain pages on equivalencies; formulas and equations for circumferences, surface, volume, algebra, geometry, trig, and physics; the periodic table; and world maps.

The final section of the planner is a personal directory for friends' names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

I must say that this is the most comprehensive planner I've seen for students! I wish I had written it! It provides students with a calendar that keeps them focused, and the resources needed to understand and use the calendar, as well as to be successful in school and life.

I highly recommend the AgendaWorks planner. I've not seen any other calendar that comes close to the way that the AgendaWorks planner helps students get organized, stay focused, set priorities and goals, and adopt life and learning skills.

We've tried the agenda for one day, and my foster daughter loves it! She got her homework done in record time yesterday. I think she likes the fact that she's using something college students use. I'm having both of our foster daughters read the Learning Resources section - a couple of pages a day.

Comments?

More on homework:
Getting Organized for School - Organizing Homework
Helping Your Child Organize Large Homework Projects
Getting Organized for School - Study Shows Flashcards Help Improve Memory

Getting Organized for School - Organizing Your Child's Artwork and School Papers

Are you overwhelmed with school papers yet? Here's a blog I did last year to help corral the overload ...

Along with school, comes all those papers! And art masterpieces. What to do with them? You want to preserve memories of your child’s school years, but you don’t want to train her to be a pack rat.

I’ll have to admit – I wasn’t very proactive in this area when my children were growing up. We’d sort through papers every once in a while, frame some, and store others, but we didn’t do it very consistently.

I researched this topic when asked to contribute to an article written by Mary Beth Breckenridge at the Akron Beacon Journal (Preserve your Children's Masterpieces without Creating a Mountain from Paper Memoirs, September 5, 2005). I found some great ideas I wish I had used.

So today’s blog comes primarily from the article Mary Beth wrote from the hints that two other organizers (Deniece Schofield and Chris Perrow) and I contributed. And I’ve added a couple I’ve come up with since then.

First, choose a receptacle for such papers. It could be a file folder, a hanging file, an art portfolio (or one made by taping two pieces of poster board together), a box, a binder with protector sheets - whatever works for you and your child.

Before storing your child’s artwork, you may want to display them. You could create a gallery in your child’s room or elsewhere by hanging a colorful piece of string or yarn across a wall and clip the artwork to the string. Voila – instant gallery.

Or use a picture frame to house artwork, swapping out the front picture when a new keeper comes along, storing the other pictures behind the most recent one. And there’s always the refrigerator or a bulletin board.

Another option is to turn the artwork into placemats (by laminating them), wrapping paper or greeting cards. A glass-covered coffee table can show off artwork under the glass. Or turn your child’s artwork into a calendar. Create a collage with several pieces of artwork. There are even companies that turn your child’s artwork into a book.

Artwork that doesn’t make it into the keeper file can be sent to grandma or to our troops, if it seems too cruel to toss them.

With your child, clean out her backpack at the end of the week. Some papers will not be sentimental and will go easily into the recycling bin. Try to encourage your child to choose only one item a week to keep. Label the back of the paper with the date and a description, especially if the picture may not be readily identifiable!

Some weeks may be more prolific than others, and it may be too traumatic to narrow it down to one item. If you don’t mind, and you have enough room, make exceptions here and there. There may be items you treasure, but your child doesn’t see the value in them at her age – keep those, too.

At the end of the month, as you are evaluating that week’s papers, look back over the previously stored papers to see if some of the sentimentality has decreased for the earlier keepers. Time has a way of diminishing the attachment. Repeat every month.

For large three-dimensional projects take a picture rather than storing the entire project. Large art pieces can be taken to a copy center and reduced to a manageable size.

At the end of the school year, determine if your storage is adequate to house that year’s keepers. If not, purge until it is. Label the container with your child’s name and the year.

For family night one night, take out the keepers for the last few years and reminisce – what a fun memory!

Getting Organized for School - Charts

As permanent houseparents for our foster daughters, we are trying to create structures and routines for their success. One is pretty structured on her own, but the other is a creative, free spirit. She is so much more interested in how she looks than whether she has all her books in her book bag!

After many attempts at creating a routine, I decided to go with a chart - one part for the morning and one part for after school/evening. I've broken it down to individual tasks - getting up with the alarm, getting dressed, doing hair, eating breakfast, etc. in the morning, and homework, loading her book bag, playing, dinner, chores, shower, etc. for the afternoon and evening.

Now our free spirit doesn't have to think about what needs to be done, she just looks at her chart. We tried it out yesterday, and she did so well that she had extra time to read. She wasn't too thrilled about the chore part, though. But it's better than saving chores up until Saturday and having endless work!

I divided her chores up into bite-size pieces: dusting, vacuuming, toilet, counter, bathroom floor, washing one load of laundry one day, drying it and putting it away the next, etc.

I haven't asked her yet if she wants to put stickers on her chart - I won't be surprised either way. She is 13 after all, but she's still a little kid, too!

How do you create routines and structure for yourself and/or your family?


More on routines:
Getting Organized for School - Start the Night Before
Creating Routines and Systems
The Real Problems Behind Kids' Excuses To Get Out of Chores

Getting Organized for School - Study Shows Flashcards Help Improve Memory

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? We did some apple picking, rode on a horse-drawn boat down the Ohio-Erie Canal, took a surrey ride, attended our church picnic and saw a movie. Sounds busy, but it was actually very relaxing. Now on to flash cards ...

Our girls used flash cards all the way through college and did very well. Here's new research to prove its effectiveness. An article from WKYC.com in Cleveland:

"Many of us used flash cards to study for tests and a new study at Kent State says we were on to something.

Dr. Katherine Rawson has been conducting a study on how best to study for tests and remember what you learned.

Researchers found that flash cards help improve memory, if you use them the right way.

"We found what we are calling the '3 plus 3 method' works best," says Dr. Rawson.

For vocabulary words with complex definitions, it is best to go over each word until you get them right three times. Then, after that, repeat the study session three more times.

"We found they will do fine on the test, and then remember the material up to four months later," says Rawson.

Dr. Rawson is one of this year's recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists. She is one of 100 recipients and will travel to Washington to get the award."

Comments? (subscribers click the title to go to the original blog)

More on studying:

Getting Organized for School - Learning Styles

Getting Organized for School - Online Homework Help

Study Tips

Getting Organized for School - Creating a Backpack List

Today's blog is adapted from a blog I did last year. Backpack checklists make life go more smoothly!

The inspiration for today's blog came from The Disney Dream Team's Tracy, who created a system for remembering what needed to go to school with each child.

While Tracy's system targeted her elementary school children, a backpack checklist would work for middle school, high school, and college students. This could even work as a briefcase reminder for work, too. This is how it works:

Create a chart listing the days of the week at the top. Under each day, make a column for each person who needs a checklist. On the far left, list possible items that might need to be included in the backpack that day: a band instrument, shoes for gym, signed paperwork, a folder or notebook for a particular class, library books, etc.

You can create your chart on your computer and reproduce it each week. Or you could use a dry erase board or laminate a poster board to re-use each week. Each person on the chart could be noted in a different color. Then items can be checked off on the appropriate day as a reminder to put those things in the backpack. Make sure you leave extra rows at the bottom for items that aren't necessarily needed each week.

To make life easier, have everyone pack their backpacks the night before. What a morning stress reliever!

What do you do to take the stress out of your mornings? Subscribers click the title to comment at the end of the original blog.

More on getting ready for school:
Getting Organized for School - Start the Night Before
Creating Routines and Systems
Getting Organized for School - Family Calendar

Getting Organized for School - Organizing Homework

We sent our girls off to school this morning not to return until Saturday evening, and my husband left on a two-day trip to see his parents. So I'm home alone!! No cooking, no chauffeuring, I can do some lengthy projects - whatever I want!

But let me get back to our topic at hand: homework.

I posted this blog last year and the year before, but thought it was worth repeating. Homework can be a constant source of contention without a plan.

Having trouble getting your child to do homework? Or does homework seem to stretch out over an unusually long time? When my children were in school I came up with a solution that gave my girls control and motivation, as well as some training in time management.

While they were having their after-school snack, each girl would list out all her homework assignments on a 3 x 5 card with the estimated time needed to complete each subject. Then, depending on how much time we had that day for homework, she would plan out her homework time, interspersing homework time with play time - a video game, a game with me, a TV show, shooting hoops, playing outside, etc. I recommend 30 minutes studying and 15 minutes to play with longer study times for older kids, shorter for younger.

I found that my kids were motivated to complete their homework in the time they estimated so they could get to playing. Plus homework time didn't turn into an endless expanse of time with no end in sight.

If one of the girls would underestimate the time it took to complete an assignment, her play time was still honored. Just having a change of scenery refreshes the brain.

By giving each girl some control over how she managed her time, she was motivated to do her homework and felt a sense of accomplishment from organizing her homework. Homework was broken up into bite-sized pieces and interspersed with fun. Homework battles were greatly reduced!

A suggestion: study your child. One of my daughters, an introvert, was depleted both physically and socially when she came home from school because she had used up all her words. She needed food and time to regroup before she was ready to talk about her day. My other daughter, also an introvert, wouldn't use up her words at school and was a chatterbox because she felt more comfortable using her words at home.

A child with ADHD may need to get rid of a bunch of energy before sitting down to homework. Each child is different, and as we study our children, we'll have more insight into creating an atmosphere for their success.

What do you to solve homework battles? Subscribers click here to comment at the end of the original blog.

More on homework:
Helping Your Child Organize Large Homework Projects
Getting Organized for School - Online Homework Help
Organizing for School - Papers

100 Free and Essential Web Tools for the College Bound

Happy Monday! We are down to two girls now from five - it's so quiet! I actually got to go to the gym at my regular time! Now it's time to work. :) But first, an incredible resource for college bound students:


Amber Johnson over at Online College sent me this wonderful article she thought you might find useful if you're a college/high school student or parent of one.

100 Free and Essential Web Tools for the College Bound
By Hannah Watson

"Heading off to college can be one of the most exciting times of a young person’s life, but it can also be one of the most stressful. Fortunately, there are some tools out there on the web that can help students stay organized, keep in touch with their families, and get on the right track for success in all aspects of this new stage in life. Here are a just a few that we think are worth the time to bookmark before heading off to class this year.

Preparing

These tools will help you do everything from learning how to finance your education to getting the best deals on the books for your classes.

1. Book Finder: Use this free tool to search through several online sites to find the best prices on the books you’ll need for classes, saving you money and making sure you’re ready for school when it starts.
2. Bookmooch: If you really want to go cheap, use this online tool to find students to swap textbooks with.
3. RateMyProfessors: Find out what you can expect from the professors you’re signed up with using this tool.
4. AnswerU: Have some questions about your school? Ask them on this site and get answers from students already going there.
5. FinAid.org: Find funding for your education on this site.
6. Chegg: If you don’t want to buy your books you may be able to save money by renting them on this site.
7. BigWords: Use this site to search through the biggest book retailers online for the lowest prices on your texts.
8. BookBurro: This extension for Firefox will let you easily look up the best price of books by right clicking on any book name on a webpage.
9. Bartleby.com: You may not even need to pay for your books if you can find them for free in this public domain collection.
10. TuitionCoach: Get a basic education on how to pay for your college education through this site.

Note Taking

A big part of doing well in your college classes is taking notes. These applications and tools will let you easily take notes and organize, share, and store them.

11. NoteMesh: This site allows students who are in the same classes to share notes and collaborate easily with one another.
12. Notely: Notely can help you get all your school stuff together, with schedules, calendars, note-taking tools and even a homework planner.
13. Notesake: Organize all of your notes with this online application.
14. Evernote: With this app you can take your notes with you anywhere, even sync them up with your cell phone for notes on the go.
15. MyStickies: If you’re browsing the web you can leave little notes for yourself with this helpful sticky app.
16. NoteCentric: This social networking site lets users put up and share their notes from classes at school.
17. University Notes: Check out this social site to share and read notes from courses at your school and those around the nation.
18. UberNote: Not only can you take notes with this tool but add tasks into them as well.
19. Webnote: This online tool is a pretty basic way to take notes online.
20. ShareNotes: Use this site to find notes and share your own for study purposes.

Studying and Homework

These tools can help you study more effectively and get better grades on your homework.

21. Cramster: This site is a great place to seek out answers to homework questions you need help with, find practice exams and a whole lot more.
22. CollegeRuled: Here you can keep up with your courses, create class schedules and maintain to-do lists so you can remember your important assignments.
23. Quizlet: Use this tool to make your own quizzes to study or find those that others have made.
24. Mathway: Want to check your math skills to make sure you’re on the right track? This tool can help.
25. CollegeCram: This site is all about social learning and is a great place to find other students to study with.
26. Graphing Calculator: You don’t need to invest in an expensive graphing calculator– just use this free online version instead.

Writing and Research

If you want to make writing papers easier and get a leg up on researching, try out these tools.

27. EasyBib: Make creating a bibliography much easier with this free online tool.
28. Ottobib: Ensure that your bibliography or works cited pages are done correctly with this tool. Enter in the information about the text and the type of format you want it in and the program does the rest.
29. GoogleDocs: Want to be able to work on your paper or project no matter where you are? Even if you don’t have a laptop, GoogleDocs gives you access to all your files right from a Gmail account, making it easy to keep homework mobile.
30. Wikipedia: While you should never use Wikipedia as a source on your paper, it can often be a great starting point for research on a project and can point you in the direction of the books and resources you should be looking for.
31. Google Scholar: Ensure that the sources you’re searching for on the web are reliable by using this helpful academic-only search engine from Google.
32. BibMe: Whether you need ALA, MLA, or Chicago Manual of Style, this free bibliography tool can help you out.
33. SparkNotes: If you’re having a tough time understanding the classic lit you’re reading, give these free study questions and notes.
34. CiteULike: Use this tool to search for, sort and cite scholarly research sources.
35. Footnote: Go to the source and get access to original historical documents on this site that you can use in your research.
36. Dictionary.com: Chances are pretty good that when you’re doing your reading you’ll come across words you don’t know. Look them up on this site, find synonyms, get translations and play educational games as well.
37. YourDraft: Here you can type and store your paper so that you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection.

Presentations and Collaboration

Inevitably, you’ll have to give a presentation and work with others on a project. These tools will make it a little easier and help you get the grade you want.

38. Zoho Show: If you need to give a presentation and don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint you can easily create one using this fully-featured and free alternative.
39. bubbl.us: Check out this tool to make working in groups a little easier. You can map out your ideas and thoughts for the project and easily email it to anyone you choose.
40. Thinkature: Here you’ll be able to engage in real-time collaboration, with voice, text and visual elements.
41. MeetWithApproval: This site can help you arrange a meeting or event at a time that works for everyone in your group.
42. ProBoards: Create a board through this site so all members of your group can post and work together easily online.
43. TimetoMeet: Set up an account with this site to make it a little easier to meet up with those you’re working with, especially if there are several people in your group.
44. Goplan: This app isn’t totally free, but you can use if for 30 days for free which is more than likely more than enough time for you to work with others collaboratively on a project using it.
45. Clipmarks: This application will let you store, share and comment on the information you find on the web, making collaborative research easier.
46. Lazybase: Check out this site to make a database where you and others you’re working with can edit and add-to information.

Organization

These helpful online tools can make sure you keep track of your assignments, fun activities, and just about everything else.

47. MyNoteIT: This application comes with just about everything you’ll need to stay organized at school, from a calendar to a simply way to store and share notes for all your courses.
48. Delicious: While you can bookmark just about anything you like with this tool, it can be incredibly useful for keeping track of the websites for your courses, syllabi and other important school information. Better yet, you can access it no matter where you are or what computer you’re on.
49. Zotero: This Firefox tool makes it easy to organize, store, cite and use your research sources right from your browser.
50. Mindomo: Help yourself get your thoughts in order with this free mind mapping tool.
51. Diigo: Use this tool to organize your web world, with functions that let you highlight, create sticky notes and email information.
52. MySchoolog: Get everything in your school life organized through this online tool.
53. TracksLife: Whether you want to track what you eat, your progress in a project or your budget you can do it with this tool.
54. Backpack: While designed for business, this tool can help you organize all of your big, semester-long projects.
55. Presdo: If you have a busy social schedule, this application can help you track all of your outings in one place.
56. NetVibes: Check out this site to keep all your social networking, chat and frequently visited sites in one place so you won’t have to run all over the place to use them.
57. Shoshiku: This online tool makes it simple to keep track of all your assignments and projects so you’ll never forget something important.

Scheduling

Whether you need a great calendar or an easy way to keep track of what you need to get done, these tools will help you stay on top of everything when you’re at school.

58. TaDa List: If you’re the sort of person who can memorize all the capitals of Africa but who can’t remember all the errands you’re supposed to run, this application may come in handy. You’ll be able to keep track of homework, work, projects and more from one easy list.
59. Remember the Milk: Help yourself remember the milk or just about anything else with this to-do app.
60. Google Calendar: One of the best free calendars out there, Google Calendar can keep you on track with all your tasks and even makes it simple to send out invites to fun events as well.
61. 30 Boxes: This simply designed calendar will help you keep all your important events organized.
62. Jotlet: If you want to be able to share your schedule with family and friends, sign up for this free calendar service.
63. WhichTime: With loads of widgets available to customize it, this calendar is a totally personal way to keep track of tasks.
64. My 50: Keep track of the big picture with this tool that lets you track and organize your life goals.
65. Toodledo: Check out this tool to keep a to-do list that does it all, including analyzing your dates, priorities, and time estimates to create a customized schedule for your needs.
66. bitBomb: If you want to take your to-dos on the go, try out this application. You’ll get reminders to your cell phone of what you need to get done.
67. Nozbe: With functions that help you keep to-do lists, manage projects and tasks, get reminders, share with others, and even access from your mobile phone, this app does it all.
68. HipCal: Created by college students, this application will let you create your own calendar or one that can be shared by a group and create to-do lists as well.
69. LifeTango: Keep track of all your personal goals whether for the short or long term on this site, a great way to track your progress throughout the year.

Communication

Whether you’re homesick or just want to make sure you stay in touch, these tools offer you a lot of options for communicating with everyone important to you.

70. Meebo: No matter what IM service your friends and family use you can chat with them using Meebo. With a Meebo account you’ll be able to access your accounts on everything from Gtalk to AOL at once.
71. Gmail: This free webmail application is generally considered among the best, partly because of what a great job it does of filtering out junk mail. It is full of other features as well, and can make it easy to keep in touch with friends and relatives.
72. Facebook: There aren’t too many college students out there today without a Facebook account, so sign up to keep in touch and share what you’re doing.
73. Skype: While not all services from Skype are free, calls from computer to computer generally are, letting you talk with those you love without breaking your budget.
74. Twitter: Let your friends and family read short messages about what you’re up to on this site you can update from anywhere– even your phone.
75. ooVoo: Similar to Skype, this site offers free video conferencing and chat.
76. WordPress: What better way to let others know what you’re up to than with a blog? With WordPress you can set up a free site and post updates and pictures to your account.
77. CampusBug: Meet other students going to your school and find out about groups you might be interested in with this social networking site.
78. Campfire: This site may have been created for business use, but it can also be a great way to work with others can keep in touch and share files with family members.
79. GroupLoop: If you’re heading up a group you can keep all members in the group on the same page with this free, web-based software.

Finance

For many students, college will be the first time to manage a large part of their own finances. Since most students are on a tight budget, these tools can help make it a little easier to have fun, but live within their means.

80. Wesabe: This tool provides a great way to track your finances and get support and help from an online community as well.
81. Mint: Link up your accounts with this site and you’ll get weekly reports about your standings and a whole lot more.
82. Buxfer: Get a better picture of your financial standings by using this free tool.
83. MoneyTrackin’: Make sure you’re staying within your budget with this helpful financial site.
84. Geezeo: You can track all of your accounts on this site and tag spending with categories so you can see where your money is going.
85. Student Advantage: Through this site, you can find out what kind of discounts you qualify for as a student at your university.
86. Coupons.com: Help yourself get discounts on just about everything with the coupons found on this site.
87. iOWEYOU: Keep track of debts with friends and roommates with this helpful online tool.

Fun Stuff

Don’t be all work and no fun– these sites allow you to listen to music, read blogs, share photos and more.

88. Google Reader: Whether you read the latest news or keep up with celebrity gossip, this tool will let you do so quickly and efficiently.
89. FoxyTunes: If you like to listen to music while browsing or studying, this Firefox tool lets you control just about any media player right from your browser.
90. last.fm: Find new music and share the music you love with this site, popular with college students and adults alike.
91. College Mailer: This site can help make it easy to send out mail and memos to all the people in your clubs and organizations.
92. Flickr: Store and share your photos with both family and friends using this site.
93. MeetUp: If you’re trying to make friends in a new place, this site can help you find organizations, clubs and fun things to do no matter your interests.

Miscellaneous Tools

This assortment of tools offer students a variety of options from free courses to supplement your learning to the ability to store and access files online.

94. Schoolr: This search engine combines several of the most useful searches, Wikipedia, Google, Dictionary.com, and more, into one page.
95. Craigslist: Whether you want to sell your books or find cheap furniture for your dorm room, you can find deals on this classifieds site.
96. DivShare: Through this site you can share your videos, photos and more– up to 5 GB for free.
97. GPA Calculator: Curious about what your GPA is going to be this semester? This tool can help.
98. Adrive: This site will let you store up to 50GB of information online for a 14 day free period.
99. Box: Use Box’s online storage to back up your files or provide access to important information from anywhere.
100. MIT Open Courseware: You don’t have to be enrolled at MIT to take courses from there. Here you can find information and videos about hundreds of MIT courses, a great way to learn even more about subjects you’re interested in."

Isn't this a fabulous list? I applaud all the work Hannah did to pull this together!

Have you or your children found other helpful sites? Comment on the original blog by clicking here if you're a subscriber.

More help for the college student:

Getting Organized for School/College - Software Tools

More Resources for Present and Future College Students

Three Steps to Time Management for the College Student

Study Tips

Today's the day when our two houses of foster girls come together at our house for ten days - five girls, three bedrooms, one bathroom, four schools. :)

Speaking of school, let's talk about studying, shall we?

I came upon this article from Disney Family Parenting on studying and thought those of your with kids returning to school might enjoy it.

"Many parents automatically assume that students who are doing poorly in school simply need to study harder or longer when in fact they really need to study smarter. This means being well organized and staying focused, despite temptations like television, the Internet and other distractions of modern life. Many students will also find the following 7 tips useful for retaining more of what they read and study in both homework and class work assignments.

Preview textbook lessons.

Many students find it helpful to preview textbook lessons before reading through them. Introductions will generally outline the scope of the information and give advance notice of some of the most important points. Chapter headings and subheadings will often define key principles or ideas. And summaries will often provide a concise overview of the information students are expected to retain. By reading the introductions, headings and summaries, the student can construct a mental map of the content complete with guideposts to some of the most important points.

Pause to think about the material during the reading and studying process.

As students read through material, it can be helpful to pause on occasion and summarize what they've read. After reading a few paragraphs, for example, restating the main idea and key points in their own words can help students retain and organize the information.

Take notes effectively.

Students can also make more strategic use of their study time by learning how to focus on the most important information in a lecture or textbook lesson. Taking notes on the main points that are outlined in textbook chapter headings and subheadings (which are often in capital letters, bold face type or italic) is an effective strategy for maximizing the value of homework. Listening carefully for distinct or subtle verbal cues from an instructor (i.e. "One of the key points to remember from today's lesson" or "Now I'd like each of you to think about the passage we just read") can help students retain the most important information from classroom lessons.

Pay special attention to textbook graphics.

Students should also remember that diagrams and tables in textbooks are often used to clarify main ideas - and are also good indicators of information that the author (and a teacher) may consider important.

Engage in self-testing.

Many students find tests a nerve-wracking experience. Self-testing, on the other hand, can be a low-stress way for students to ascertain how well they understand the material and pinpoint areas that need additional time and effort. The process is generally simple. By taking a look at the points of a lecture or the headings of a textbook chapter, the student can often determine what types of questions might be asked on a test. Going the the process can therefore help the student define the most important information to remember, and prepare effectively for the real tests to come.

Establish a consistent study schedule.

Physical fitness experts often encourage those embarking on exercise programs to "establish a routine and stick to it." This is equally good advice for the mental exercise of studying. Setting aside a time and place for studying every day of the week is important for "getting into the study habit" and the right frame of mind. And the usual advice about the time and place always bears repeating: Students should avoid the distractions of television, telephones and recreational Web surfing, and they should work in a well-lit, organized environment.

Take on the most difficult assignments first.

Most students have one or more subjects that they find especially difficult. Because homework in these subjects tends to demand sharper concentration skills, students should try and take them on when they're most alert. Getting the harder work out of the way before going on to easier assignments alleviates anxiety and helps students avoid being caught in a late-night trap in which the work becomes more difficult because of fatigue and frustration.

While it's always important to establish good study habits from the earliest grades, it becomes even more important as students reach middle and secondary school, where assignments tend to require more critical thinking and independent work by the students. And while it's only natural to occasionally feel a bit overwhelmed, these strategies can make that work much more manageable and academically rewarding as the year goes on."

We'll talk more about homework next week.

In the meantime, do you have some homework tips that work well with your child? Subscribers, click here to comment on the original blog.

More on studying:
Homework battles
Your Child's School Disorganization May Be Caused by Something Else
Getting Organized for School - Learning Styles

Getting Organized for School - Learning Styles

I was really looking forward to having this week off to work on some high-priority goals for my business. However, some things came up that changed our time off, and we're having to be flexible. Isn't that so part of parenting - putting the needs of our kids first? I'll work on my goals, but in bits and pieces rather than in a concentrated time.

Speaking of meeting the needs of our children, knowing your child's learning style is so important! As you may know, I'm passionate about being a student of my children so I can create an atmosphere for them to succeed. I posted the following blog last year, but feel it's worth repeating ...

Getting Organized for School - Learning Styles

One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is understanding her learning style. This greatly increased my ability to help my children learn - knowing whether she was an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learner. I didn't force my learning style on her.

Cynthia Tobias has written several books on learning styles and learning in general. I'll recommend two that I found very enlightening: The Way They Learn and Every Child Can Succeed: Making the Most of Your Child's Learning Style. She gives numerous ideas for implementing each type of learning style.

As you talk these concepts over with your child, knowing his learning style gives your child confidence, the ability to adapt his learning accordingly, and the freedom from comparison. You may find it helpful to discuss this information with your child's teacher, especially if he is a kinesthetic learner and must be moving in order to learn.

What have you done to help your child learn? What books do you recommend? Subscribers click here to comment on the original blog.


Related Posts:
Getting Organized for School - Determining the Legacy You Want to Leave
Getting Organized for School - Family Calendar
Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Getting Enough Sleep

More Resources for Present and Future College Students

My friend Maria Pascucci, founder of Campus Calm suggests another website to help college students and future students: College Jolt. Blogs are posted by college students from various schools.

If you are in need of graduation gifts for high school seniors, consider a membership to Maria's Campus Calm University or her new book Campus Calm University: The College Student's 10-Step Blueprint to Stop Stressing and Create a Happy, Purposeful Life (see it in my sidebar).

Throw in my Three Steps to Time Management for the College Student, and your college student will be well-prepared!

If you'd like to comment and receive this by email, use this link

More blogs about college:
Tools to Help Make the College Search/Prep Easier
Packing for College
Organizing College Applications

Your Child's School Disorganization May Be Caused by Something Else

Good Morning! It's been an interesting morning already. We discovered that our second car had been sitting with a couple of windows partially open during several inches of snow. We have one of those key remotes that opens the windows automatically if you press the unlock button three times. I remember us using the wrong remote on our other car yesterday, but didn't think anything more about it.

After warming up the car for a long time (it was 5 degrees) and wiggling/jiggling the windows, they finally got warmed up and loosened up enough to close!! Since I had extra time this morning, it is somewhat amusing. If I had not, I think it would have been a different story! Or a very cold ride. :)


Your Child's School Disorganization Might Be Caused by Something Else

If your child begins forgetting things and becoming more disorganized, it might be caused by something other than being disorganized.

When one of our daughters was in third grade, she started forgetting to bring books home, forgetting what her assignments were, etc. It took a while, but we finally discovered that her teacher was going through a divorce and her anger was directed at the kids in her class.

Our daughter is a very gentle person and is of the personality type that if there is disharmony, it is very difficult for her to function. Or if she felt that one of her teachers didn't like her, it was hard for her to learn. (Yes, this is a valid personality type and should be valued. It's easy for those of us who have stronger personality types to tell these gentle souls to just suck it up and get on with life.)

After hearing similar experiences from other moms of children in the class, I eventually started putting two and two together and it started making sense. I met with the teacher, which is when I found out she was getting a divorce. I did point out to her that she was the adult in the situation, and she needed to manage her anger.

The situation got better, but we threw out our family rule of not returning to school for forgotten items. We did set up a new system for helping our daughter write down and remember books and assignments. I was prepared to have my daugter switched to another class, but she didn't want to!?! Figure that one out!

If you have a gentle child who has become more disorganized, there may be another issue: bullying, ridicule, angry teachers, etc. It may take a while for you to figure it out, but it's worth the journey!

What have you done in similar situations? (If you receive this blog by email and want to comment, this link will take you back to my blog.)


Blogs on similar topics:
Getting Organized for School - Learning Style
Organizing for School - Papers
Getting Organized for School - Backpack Checklist