Has Your Child Lost an Assignment Yet

How has the first day of school gone for your child? Have they lost any assignments yet? Finished their homework, but forgot to turn it in? Maybe even forgot they had homework?

This is often the most frustrating challenge for parents… getting their child to keep track of homework and due dates. What most parents don’t realize is that it’s also one of the easiest to fix.

Organization is essential! Lack of organizational skills contributes to 80% of missing assignments. Occasionally, family emergencies will pop-up causing this problem, but the majority of ‘zeros’ on schoolwork can be traced back to disorganization.

Here’s how we can fix it:

Step 1: Having the essential tools for the job… a planner and a binder. Students need a planner system and binder system in place! Every student needs a planner to record the assignments they have. This will also help them keep track of when these assignments are due. Make sure the planner has a weekly view!

Students need one binder for all of their classes. It sounds crazy, but the less notebooks and binders a student has to worry about, the easier it is for them to organize their stuff, since it is all in one place. Make sure the binder is no bigger than 1.5 inches! (This may not seem very big, but students should be archiving papers and notes in a safe location at home to retrieve for final exams.)

Step 2: Setting up and properly using the tools. Taking the time to set up these systems with your child is critical. Your help can make the systems become routine. Remind your child that their planner and binder needs to be on them at all times! Even if they don’t have homework it still needs to come home!

Step 3: Follow up! For the first couple days of school, make sure you do daily check-ins at home to make sure students are using the system. When your student leaves for school, make sure they take their planner and binder. When they get home from school, make sure they brought their work home and record it in their planner.

Once you feel comfortable that your child has gotten the hang of it, cut back to a weekly check in. A ‘Sunday Meeting’ is a great way for you and your child to review how the planner and binder system is going for them. Simply sit down with your child every Sunday and talk to them about what went well and what needs improvement from the past week and what’s coming up in the next week!

Keep in mind that positive feedback is the key to your child’s success. Moving forward make sure that your kid gets positive feedback for using the planner and binder system. Remind them how stressful school was before the systems were in place, and how smooth it is going now. This will motivate them to continue using it!

Let us do it for you! Are you looking for a complete, done-for-you solution? We have one! No need to run off to the office supply store and stress about finding the right materials. SOAR can ship them directly to your door!

Get a binder, planner, folder, hanging file organizer, and how-to videos all in one package! A SOAR success kit is a great value and an easy solution to your child’s “I lost my assignment” problem. Save a step in fixing the problem by letting us supply you with the tools and show you how to set them up for guaranteed success!

Click HERE to check out our SOAR School Success Kit.

Does your child have ADHD? Check out the ADHD School Success Kit. It has the same great tools as our SOAR School Success Kit, but is more directed for a student with ADHD.