No More MIA Homework!

Yep, you’re going to see a whole lot of back to school posts around here for the next few weeks! My kids are gearing up to face their return to school in only six more days. One of our biggest struggles is keeping track of the hundreds of school papers that come and go every week. It seems that some of my kids are great at keeping track of everything, while others struggle to find the homework that was in their back pack, just five minutes earlier. The solution? Making an easy system that all kids can use and mom can manage without a huge hassle.

Here at home, we have been through a trial and error method of finding the perfect system for us. We have five kids in school, which adds up to a lot of duplicated school newsletters, book order forms and PTA announcements. In addition to the usual paperwork, each child has a homework packet to keep track of for the week. We implemented a drawer cubby system, much like they use in Kindergarten. Each child empties the contents of their backpack into the personalized drawer as soon as they walk through the front door. As they have a snack, I go through the drawers, throw out duplicate notes, pull out homework and file each packet into a slot in an accordion folder, then pin any important papers onto a large cork-board.

The kids are not allowed to mess with the accordion folder. I retrieve the packets and replace them when the kids are done with homework and I have checked their work. This way, I never neglect to check for mistakes and I know that the homework made it back into the appropriate slot. The kids are responsible for taking any papers that they wish to save and put them into their memory boxes. At the end of the week, the drawers get cleaned out. After the kids are in bed and I have a few minutes of quiet time, I pull the papers off of our cork board and tend to the business of signing field trip forms and other important parental duties. After I finish, the forms go straight back into the backpacks in which they belong. The cork board also serves to display jobs well done, lunch menus and b-day invitations. It has been a great reminder of coming events.

This system may seem overly simplistic, but it works well. The kids have some responsibility, but not an overwhelming amount. The only chance of losing a paper, happens in transit to and from school. Since this rarely happens, we have had a huge decrease in missing homework packets and the like. Now…remembering who has which lunch is an entirely different problem!