While I don’t have a child going ‘back to school’ this year, unless you count preschool, I was beyond excited to participate in a recent webinar featuring Peter Walsh and his tips on preparing for back to school. This was my second webinar with Walsh hosting and Office Max sponsoring (You can read my earlier posts on that webinar here and here.) and I knew that I would be learning a load of great tips to pass on to our readers.
Let me just say that Peter Walsh has a way about him that motivates and makes the most cluttered space seem very workable. He is sincere, understanding but also very tough. It’s that tough love mixed with practical advice that gets you pulling out the garbage bags and assigning purpose to your living areas. With ‘Back to School’ in mind, Walsh’s tenets are the same, just applied to school and home with some advice on teaching children to become, and stay, organized thrown in. Today’s post will be about setting up the home for students.
I love that Peter Walsh doesn’t advocate for the purchasing of a load of new products. He recommends three items to start with. First up, expanding files are great for organizing schedules and work for the kids and bills and receipts for their parents. A desktop sorter keeps active files and projects out and ready to be worked on. Finally, he recommends that you place a pencil cup on your work surface so that your writing instruments are ready for use.
If you’re not familiar with Peter Walsh, you may not know that he always asks the homeowner one question and the answer to this question is what gives them the basis for organizing a space. What is your vision for this space? Take a look at the space your child will be using for their school work and answer this question. Will this space be for written homework or computer time? Will your child store their completed homework for the next day here? What about their permission slips and schedules. Once you’ve found a system that works for you, make sure you show your children how you value organization. Keeping your home organized helps relieve stress in your children, at school, and in the home.
In my next post, I’ll be sharing Peter Walsh’s tips on organizing your children and organizing the classroom.
Did you see those cute school supplies? Office Max graciously offered us an opportunity to check them out and we love them. The line is called Schoolio Von Hoolio and the designs include cupcakes, owls, and birds. Clipboards, notebooks, book sacks and more are all available at Office Max.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
