As a new term begins it is important to support children to manage their time and organise their learning. The more organised a child is, the less stress/or anxiety they will experience around school attendance, learning and assessment. It is important in these early years of high school that children establish sound study practices and habits which will continue to serve them well as they move through their education. Parents/carers working in partnership with schools to establish these practises and routines at home is a powerful force in young people's lives.

Over the next few weeks, we will provide some ideas to support children to become better organised.

Develop a Folder System on the iPad

Ensure children have a Notability folder set up for each subject as per instructions from their class teachers.

It is also a good idea to have Folders set up for each subject in the Files App on their iPad and even better to have this Folder system set up on One Drive (on-line) so if their iPad is damaged, or accidents occur, no work is lost.

Knowing where to save and retrieve items is critical to reducing stress and ensuring that student work can be accessed, worked on and retrieved at all times. 

Write everything down - record homework and revision tasks in a consistent place – planner/calendar

No one has a perfect memory and trying to remember everything can be stressful.

Ensure children have a Notability document or other diary/calendar app or a paper diary/notebook solely dedicated  to writing their daily homework tasks an/or revision tasks in. Alternately this could be added to an Outlook Calendar.

When children write everything down they’ll be less anxious because they won't be relying on their brains as storage devices. It also allows adults in their life to encourage them and to track their progress more easily.

Develop a Routine – Weekly Schedule

Consistency is key to student success – developing a weekly schedule which accounts for all outside of school commitments and activities will help create a routine.

It’s not always possible to stick 100% to a routine but at least having a framework will help keep children on track and give parents/carers an opportunity to support them.

Block times in your child’s schedule for things that matter most

Blocking time in a child’s schedule is a critical time management strategy. If children don’t do this, other things, which are less important, will fill their schedule.

Including times in the schedule for children to complete homework tasks, revision or preparing assessment as well as time for exercise and relaxing with family and friends,  is important.

Help children to honour their commitments to things that matter the most.

Once a week, review the upcoming events in your planner/calendar

Once a week have children take time to see what important events and deadlines are coming up. This will help to ensure that important things don’t get missed.

Reviewing the upcoming schedule will help children stay on top of things and keep them calm and in control. This will also inform any adjustment to the weekly schedule.

Negotiate rules for learning tasks

Set some specific rules with your child – such as ‘complete all assignments at least two days before they are due’ or ‘start preparing for an exam or a prac, a week before.’

Please negotiate rules that will best support your child, their personality and learning behaviours.

If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately - don’t wait!

The two minute rule was popularised by productivity expert, David Allen. When children follow this rule, small tasks don’t pile up and become overwhelming.

Things like texting a friend, sending a friend notes/handout from class or getting a consent form signed, are all quick tasks that can be actioned straight away.

When children do these tasks immediately, they will feel a sense of accomplishment as it’s one more thing off the ‘to do’ list.

Break down big tasks into bite-size, manageable chunks

Breaking down big tasks and assignments makes them seem less overwhelming to children. At Foxwell, for many more complex assessments tasks, we identify multiple checkpoints which chunks the task into manageable parts and assign timelines to each checkpoint.

For some students , breaking these checkpoints down even further may be required in order to ease anxiety or support productivity. Students may ask their teachers for assistance with this, if needed. Alternately, parents can work with their child to deconstruct checkpoints further.

Create personalised deadlines

Once the Term 3 Assessment Calendar is released next week, create a schedule of deadlines with your child which will better allow your child to manage their time and their ability to meet all the submission dates - drafts and final copies as well as be adequately prepared for any exams or practical assessments.

Personalised deadlines will support your child to present their best work rather than a last minute, night before/morning of, effort which is often not a true reflection of their ability.

Teach children how to say, ‘No!’

If you want your child to be organised and effective with their home learning they cannot say yes to everything – there will need to be compromises and trade-offs made.

So decide on the boundaries you want to set. Negotiate with your child how many times they can see their friends each week, what time commitment is ok/too much for extra-curricular activities and sports.

Children need to practice saying no to things that are outside these boundaries. Saying no to things that do not matter most.  When children do too much, are over committed, they feel overwhelmed. It is at this age we need to support children to learn that it’s ok to not be involved in everything they are asked to be involved in. Children should never feel guilty when they say no to friends or activities which are outside their time capability. We need to build children's skills in managing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) so they feel they have control over themselves and their activities.

Remember we want our children to be busy, happy and productive but not overwhelmed.

Tune in next time for some more ideas to help organise your child to maximise learning and minimise stress.