School's Out! Six Tips for a Smooth Transition to Summer

Swing productively into summer with these tips from the National Association of Professional Organizers in Michigan:

1.  Empty (and wipe) your child's lunchbox and backpack right away.  Can they be used next year, or will they need replacement?

2.  Assess your child's homework space and habits.  What's successful about the current setup?  What could use improvement?  For an amazing wealth of ideas, we recommend the book The Organized Student, written by NAPO member Donna Goldberg.

3.  Set aside time to review accumulated school papers and projects from the year. Select the best "keepers," and recycle the rest.  Photograph anything over sized or 3D. Then discard as they don’t keep well.  How much paper to hang on to?  Aim for a one inch stack or 100 sheets per academic year; that’s 13 inches or 1300 sheets of paper over the course of a K-12 academic career!  Mindy Fairbanks, of Fairbanks Solutions and Chapter member, points out that a 13 pocket accordion file is an excellent storage solution for each child’s K-12 “keepers.”   If your child wants to keep everything, try purging papers from September through January at the beginning of summer.  Handle the rest in late August, when excitement over the upcoming school year makes it easier to let go of last year's stuff.

4.  Evaluate school supplies & make a back-to-school shopping list now.  Tackle the shopping--with your child--a little at a time over the summer!

5.  Set some goals for summer bridge learning; have your child sign up for the public library's summer reading program.

6.  Establish a schedule and routine for the summer.  “With kids home and around the house for more hours of each day, the beginning of the summer is a great time for the whole family to revisit the rules of the house, and to integrate organizing principles such as ‘take it out, put it away’ into the daily routine,” said Nia Spongberg of Spruced Up Spaces LLC and Chapter member.

Helping your child manage the end of the school year is a great chance to teach organizing skills that they'll use their whole lives!

For more organizing tips, visit   www.NAPOMichigan.com.

Article submitted by Chapter member Melanie Sobocinski, owner of Prof Organizer LLC, proforganizer.com.