Get organized. Do your homework. Study harder.
You better learn this stuff now, because you are going to need it for the rest of your life.
Have you ever repeated these words, or some variation of them, to your children?
Of course, we expect our children to get organized, do their homework, and study hard. There is nothing wrong with that. However, there can be problems with how we expect our children to accomplish these things. We buy them folders, binders, dividers, notebooks, paper, pencils, pens, markers, crayons, pencil sharpeners, rulers, protractors, calculators, and finally, storage containers to cram it all in.
Then we load all that stuff into backpacks and send our wide-eyed kids off to school.
Or, as homeschoolers, we buy bins, baskets, and vast shelving units to hopefully contain all the chaos.
We feel so accomplished because the kids are organized. After all, they have everything they need.
Don’t they?
Maybe.
But probably not.
Perhaps you have children whose life motto is “a place for everything and everything in its place.” My guess, though, is that at least some of your children have a little trouble with organization. If that is the case, take heart. You cannot change your children’s natural tendencies, but you can teach children how to manage their stuff and their schoolwork.
Let’s take a look at each of the above directives in greater detail: