It is reasonable to expect parents to first teach kids organi­zational skills at home and then to have those skills reinforced in school.

Being asked to clean one’s room or organize one’s notebook is a daunting task for some young people and mastery may not come easily. One fun way for youngsters to learn how to do various jobs can be found at the Web site wikiHow (http://www. wikihow.com), where kids can search for ways to accomplish specific tasks. This might relieve parents from telling a son or daughter exactly how to do everything. For instance, there are articles on how to set goals, clean your room, organize your notebook, organize a bookshelf, organize your life, and be on time for school.

Yolanda had a heavy academic load, plus a number of out-of-school activities. She really needed to be able to plan ahead. To help her, she mounted a large erasable calendar on the backside of her closet door. On it she marked with a vis-a-vis pen each project, paper, and test that was coming up. Then, with her father’s help, she worked backward, setting benchmark goals, reminding herself where she needed to be with her work in the coming days to be able to complete each assignment on time. It helped Yolanda a great deal to plan all of this out in advance. It also helped relieve a lot of stress for both Yolanda and her parents to see that she was on track.

There are lots of suggestions in adult books on organization that may be helpful for young people. The parents’ sense of organization, as long as it’s not compulsive, will go a long way in influencing children. Although students may appear to not care about organization, if they see the benefits for their parents of being organized day after day, year after year, eventually it tends to rub off.

It helps if organization cannot only be useful, but fun. Visit office supply stores and other stores that carry a vari­ety of products designed to help with organization, such as color-coded envelopes, files, and pocket folders. The use of a day-timer or planner to record due dates is helpful. If you can afford it and your child is responsible, a handheld electronic device may be a good tool. Other ideas to help with organiza­tion include:

- using different color pens to record homework assign­ments in the planner;

- allowing enough time during transitions to record assignments and put materials away;

- marking assignments as they are finished to give your child a sense of accomplishment;

- placing materials to go to school or to take to a practice or lesson in a specific area near the door that your child exits (if this can be done the night before, it eliminates stress in the morning); and

- having adequate office supplies. It’s difficult for a child to do homework if she can’t find paper, pencils, scissors, tape, sticky notes, and so forth.

Expect your student to learn organization skills first at home from you, the parent, before you expect them to learn the skills at school.

Related posts:

1. Gifted Child Expectations – Working to One’s Potential

2. Tips for Raising a Gifted Child – Which Real World?

3. Tips for Raising Gifted Child – Volunteering at School

4. Understanding Gifted Child – Asynchronous Development

5. The Basics of Teaching a Child about Routine

6. How to Educate a Gifted Child

7. Tips for Raising Gifted Child – Work With Schools and Districts In Constructive Ways

8. Neighborhood School for Gifted Children

9. Special School for the Gifted (Public or Private) Children

10. Gifted Children Tips – What Does It Mean When Your Child Says He’s Bored?