Some Ideas for Back-to-School Planning
It’s that time of year again. Summer is coming to a close, and for many students, that brings up a lot of excitement, and for others, it brings up a lot of anxiety. Here are some ideas for back-to-school planning.
Have your child set up their study space. This might be in their room or in a shared space in the home, or even a portable study space that moves around with them.
In their room: make sure they have a dedicated space or desk where they do their homework. Many students sit on their beds and don’t differentiate between where they sleep, where they watch shows, scroll through their Instagram or even eat. It’s important to have a dedicated space, even if it’s a tiny corner in a room with a table. It’s about the mindset, not about the amount of space. Remember...
1. Dedicated space
2. Folders/easy filing system
3. Pencils/pen/chargers are all easily accessible.
4. A good chair...see below
Chairs can be a fun way to change things up. In my office, I have several options for students to choose from. They can choose a traditional chair, they can choose one in which their knees sit forward and they rock back and forth, or they can even choose a bouncy ball. There are so many seating options on the market. Think about this. If you had been sitting in a hard and incredibly uncomfortable chair all day long, it’s very difficult to convince yourself that you want to go back and sit in that again to do your homework. Having a stool or a chair without feet or a back or anything more comfortable than the standard school chair can make a world of difference in how a student feels about getting their work done and how long they stay at their desk.
Portable study station
Sometimes students don’t have the luxury of having one dedicated space; they may share a room with a sibling, the rooms may be too small to fit in a desk, or they are moving back and forth from two homes. For these students, I suggest a portable study box. In it, students can have all they need for completing their homework; graph paper, loose leaf paper, pens, pencils, colored pencils, calculator, ruler, etc., but it’s also nice to put in some things for the studying environment such as seat cushion to sit on. Many are sold that are supportive to the back and spine.
Whatever the environment might be, what’s important to focus on is making sure that these study spaces are kept for only that, studying and doing work. In the same way that a school uniform gives a signal to students that they are not at home and it is not the weekend, having a dedicated study space indicates to the student that this is time to work.
Distractions! Obviously, having this area free of distractions is incredibly important. With phones now becoming part of homework, using a calculator, making a video for a language class, or often watching videos that were assigned in class, it’s important to have an agreement on how the phone is used. I like to challenge students and ask them to try something. I ask them to sit down for 30 minutes and do their work uninterrupted and see how much work they get completed. Many students don’t even use it all the time, and they are so surprised by how much they get done. They aren’t even aware of what a distraction the phone is, and it’s only when they don’t have it in front of them that they start to see the difference. I explain to them that if they get their work done sooner, they can get on that phone even faster to do the things they really want, such as making TikTok videos or seeing a friend.
The backpack
As parents, we feel so much better when a backpack is used, when it is organized, when it has binders in it that are labeled and fresh and clean and when there’s a shiny new planner in there just waiting for the student to fill out with all the day's assignments. It is something tangible that we can see and possibly control.
But if you’re a student, that is not how you see a backpack. So to make this more appealing or enticing to a student, give them a lot of choices. The conversation I would suggest is to let your child know that there has to be some form of a backpack with an organizational system but what that looks like is up to them. Let them choose what they want, a backpack or a school bag.
For organization, let them have some say as well. (Mind you, some schools/teachers dictate what they want in the way of folders/binders, so in these cases, there is not much choice.)
Some choices to give:
A folder for each class
A binder for each class
A binder for all the subjects
And the one I really don’t like, but most prefer, the accordion folder.
Choosing a system that works often revolves around the physical school itself. Does your child need to carry everything with them all day long? Do they have a locker nearby where they can exchange a binder for another one? Or, in the case of my son, whose first name starts with a Z and last name starts with a U, are their lockers so far away that it would take too much time to venture over to that part of the building? It is best to work with the reality of the situation. Buying that shiny new agenda every year in the hopes that your child will finally start to use it is going to frustrate you again and again.
Expectations
This is much more obtuse than the suggestions about a study space and backpack, but I think it is very important. The dread of school for students is real, and much of that revolves around homework. Having a conversation with your child that there will be study time every day sets up a different relationship with the work. In a student's mind, they’re always looking for a way out, how little homework will be given, how much can I get done during lunch or during a boring class, so I don’t have to do it at home, and how quickly can I complete it? If the vantage point is that I might not have to do much or any work today, then when they get work it’s always a disappointment. I talk to families and students about expecting homework. Let’s just put in a 30-minute or 60-minute study. And if you use less of it, then that’s great but know that that time is in your schedule every day. It’s a subtle difference, but I find it does make a significant change in how students approach their work.
Talk about when the homework will be done. As parents, we often feel better when homework is done right after school because then we can check it off as well from our to-do list. But giving some control and choice to your child is important. And letting them experiment with what works and what doesn’t work is extremely important as they grow into adulthood. Your child may choose to have a break and do some homework later in the day. Some will choose to sit down and get as much done as I can right after school. Maybe they need a snack or a quick walk with the dog before they get started. I like to put all these options down on a piece of paper for a student so they can choose from a menu. Mind you, they are not choosing whether or not to do some work they’re just choosing when and how to do it.
You should expect some failure. Forgetting to do an assignment, not doing well on a test because you didn't allow enough study time or feeling stressed because you left things to the last minute are all good teachers. Granted, it is not very enjoyable to watch, but hitting these bumps early on in school sets students up for good study habits going forward.
With an agreement that you make with your child, it needs to be fully explained that if they are not doing their work and not living up to their end of the bargain, then that is a time where the parent gets to intervene and dictate when and how work is going to be done.
Remember, all of these small habits are setting up students for independence, not just with their school work but in life, how they show up for appointments, future work assignments even in their social lives.
