Well, I am fully back at it. Back to school. Back to work. Back to sports. It always takes a few weeks (months?) to get back into the new schedule, so we try to get everything as ready as possible beforehand. A couple nights before we started back to school, I inspected my kids’ backpacks. This was my daughter’s. Ready to go. All new supplies–and then some–ready for her first day.
This was my son’s. Still in the backpack drawer with everything in it from last year. Including a bar of soap.
I know it’s a little late, but I thought I might share what works for middle and high school students. It can be hard for parents of no-longer-elementary kids to know what to buy. So here’s what works for us–and for my students.
First things first–binders. My son? All black, blue, or gray. Boring. The little girl? Anything but black, blue, or gray. 😉
Notebooks and more notebooks. Give you one guess which ones belong to which kid.
Folders. They’re important and kids can’t have enough. I always buy a little more than needed because school supplies do NOT last all year. Please know that kids will need new folders and/or binders later in the year.
Equally important are all the goodies that go into pencil pouches. If a boy had a pencil pouch when I went to school, he would have been beat up. Luckily, they’re very common and “cool” among students today. Whew!
Something else secondary students need? Art supplies! So many parents skip out on those after elementary school, but I promise they still need them. Colored pencils and some glue sticks should do the trick.
Our school provides planners for our students for a few dollars. If they aren’t provided for your kids, I highly recommend purchasing one.
I found this little one for a dollar at our grocery store. Encourage your son or daughter to use them. Really.
I’ve had some questions here and there about teaching kids to study or stay organized. I’ve been teaching for 16 years, and I did my master’s thesis on “Homework studies among adolescents”. Does that sound boring…errr…official or what? Well, I do have some things to say on the matter, so I’ll come back and talk about them.
Right now you’re thinking, “Uhhh…I’ll be skipping that post.”