As the school year gets into gear, long days at the beach are turning into late nights at a desk. You can help your child battle these nerves and start the new year with confidence by using the homework strategies detailed below.

1. Use an assignment book. Many students think they can remember all of their assignments without writing them down. Yet as they move through school and the quantity of assignments increase, accurately remembering their requirements becomes increasingly hard to do. Inevitably, books are left at school, homework is incomplete, and assignments are forgotten.‎ To avoid these hiccups, encourage your child to write down and organize his assignments using this homework management strategy:

Purchase an assignment book for your child with ample space for each day.  Have him divide each day into five columns: The first should be labeled “Assignments” and should be given the most amount of space. The next four columns should be labeled “ET” (for Estimated Time), “AT” (for Actual Time”), “O” (for Order), and “D” (for Done). At school, your child should only write down assignments in the first column (“Assignments”). When he comes home and begins his work, he should first decide how much time he thinks each assignment will take, and write the ET. Based on those times, he should decide on the order in which he wants to complete the assignments, and number them in the O column. After completing each one, he should fill in the AT, and when the assignment is done and put away in the right place to be turned in, he should place a check mark in the D column.

2. Pick a regular homework time. Some students prefer completing their homework right after school, when they are still in “work mode” and can carry over the momentum from school. ‎Others prefer a short snack break, while some thrive on the post-dinner energy surge. Any of those options work, but consistency is key. Your child should pick a time of day for doing homework and stick with it regularly.  If she has after school classes or activities on certain days, sit down with her and come up with specific time slots for completing homework. Have her write those slots into her planner so they are built into her day.

3. Have a designated homework space. Along with a consistent time of day for doing school work, it is important for students to have a designated homework spot. Ideally, this should be a desk in your child’s bedroom, but a table in the kitchen or another room can work as well. If he plans to use a desk, make sure all of the supplies he may need for completing his work are on his desk–pencils, pens, tape, scissors, a ruler, protractor, etc. If he plans to work on a table in another room, create a “homework supplies box” with all of the necessary supplies that he can keep in his room but bring to his homework spot when he is ready to start his work. Just make sure the supplies are always well stocked to avoid any distractions.

4. Implement a filing system. We all know students who continuously overload their binders with papers from school until the sheets literally start to spew out in all directions. ‎Help your child avoid this organizational fiasco with a three-tier organizational system, structured as follows: Tier 1 is a working notebook, or the notebook your child takes with her to school on a regular basis. Tier 2 is an accordion file that she leaves at home for filing, divided into three sections per class – homework, notes, and tests/quizzes (ex. math homework, math notes, math tests/quizzes, etc). She should designate one day per week to be her “clean out my working notebook” day, where she removes any papers she doesn’t absolutely need to be carrying with her to school, and files them into the appropriate section of her acoordion file. Tier 3 is a long-term filing cabinet, where she files away any tests, essays, or projects that she wants to keep for the long-run.

5. Take “fun breaks.” The idea of completing several homework assignments and studying for multiple exams in one night can be daunting for many students. Help your child feel less overwhelmed and more empowered by building in “fun breaks” after every 30-45 minutes of work (or whatever time increment works for your child). During these breaks, your child can eat a quick snack, go for a walk, check her email, or the like. It should be short (about 5-10 minutes) but refreshing.

The post Homework Strategies For Kick-Starting The School Year appeared first on EBL Coaching.

With summer winding down and fall just around the corner, sunny days spent splashing in the pool and playing outside will quickly turn into structured days of school and homework. For many students, this time of year brings stomach-churning anxiety and unsettling nerves. You can help your child ease the transition back into school by teaching him strategies for effective organization and homework management. Try some of the tips below:

1. Set up a filing system.

When you embark on your annual school supplies shopping trip, purchase some tools for setting up an organized filing system. Help your child pick out a “working notebook” – either a 3-ring binder or a folder and spiral notebook for each class – that she will carry with her to school on a regular basis. Also purchase a large accordion file that stays at home for filing. Inside the file, label three sections for each class: homework, notes, and tests/quizzes. For example, inside the accordion file, she might label: math homework, math notes, math tests/quizzes, science homework, science notes, etc. She should designate one day per week to be her “clean out my working notebook” day, where she cleans out any papers she doesn’t absolutely need to be carrying with her (including those from the bottom of her backpack) and files them into the appropriate section of her accordion file.

‎2. Set up a regular work space.

Before the school year begins, help your child identify an effective work space that ‎he will use regularly for completing assignments. This should ideally be a clean desk in his room but a table in the kitchen or another room could work too. Make sure he has all of the supplies he may need for completing his homework: pens, paper, a hole puncher, a stapler, and so on. You can try using a “homework supplies box,” which some students prefer, where all of the supplies are kept together in one place. Just remember to re-fill the supplies when you notice they are running low, since a lack of supplies can turn into an easy point of distraction.‎

3. Set up a regular schedule.

Once the school year begins, after school activities, events, and school work all seem to pile up quickly. Carving out time to study and complete homework can become a challenge.  Thus, it’s important to set up a regular time of day for your child to complete her assignments. Some students prefer to complete their homework right after school, when they are still in “school mode.” Others like to wind down and take a break when they come home, and some seem to work most optimally right after dinner. Any of these options can work as long as they are right for your child. Just make sure she maintains consistency with her preferred work time.

4. Color code.

Before the school year begins, help your child set up a color-based organizational system. She should choose one color for each class: green for science, for instance, blue for math, and so on. All of her binders, note books, and folders should match the color she chooses for a given subject. When studying, she can even use color-specific flash cards and highlighters to maintain consistency.

5. Use an assignment book!

We all know students who feel they can remember all of their assignments without writing them down. Yet this task becomes increasingly hard to do and inevitably leads to forgotten books and assignments. Instead, purchase an assignment book that has ample space for each day and try using this 5-column assignment book strategy to reinforce effective homework management skills:

‎The first column  should be labeled “Assignment” and should be given the largest amount of space. The other four columns, placed at the far right, should be labeled: ET (Estimated Time), AT (Actual Time), O (Order), and D (Done).  During the school day, your child should only write down his assignments in the “Assignments” column. When he comes home from school, he should predict how much time he thinks each assignment will take to complete (and write it in the ET column), then decide on the order in which to complete them (1, 2, 3, etc., which he writes in the O column). Once he finishes each assignment, your child should write down the actual time each one took to complete in the AT column. After he puts away the assignment in the right place to be turned in, he should place a check mark in the D column.

The transition back to school can be a challenging one for many students. By helping your child set up systems for completing homework and maintaining organization, ‎you can make sure he starts the year off on a positive note.

The post Homework & Organizational Tips for the New School Year appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Set your child up for school-year success by getting organized during the summer

Moving from the sun-filled days of summer to the cool, brisk days of fall can bring back-to-school jitters to almost all children. During the summer, planning out tasks, organizing notebooks and backpacks, and turning in completed homework assignments all fall to the back burner. Yet with the start of school just around the corner, these organizational skills will quickly become paramount. Try the five tips below for helping your child become organized for the new school year.

1. Create a Working Notebook and a Filing System

When you embark on your annual school supplies shopping trip, ‎help your child select a working notebook, or a notebook he will take to school with him on a regular basis. The working notebook should include only essential papers he needs to carry with him daily. To create an at-home organizational system, he should also pick out an accordion file which will stay at home for filing. Inside the file, he should label three tabs for each class: homework, notes, and tests/quizzes (for example: English homework, English notes, English tests/quizzes; math homework, math notes, etc.). Then he should designate one day per week to be his “clean out my working notebook” day. On this ‎day, he will remove any papers from his working notebook that he doesn’t absolutely need to be carrying with him and file them into the correct section of his accordion file. Those at-home papers can later be used to study for tests and quizzes.

2. Set Up (and Maintain) a Planner

Setting up and maintaining an organized planner can help students develop strong homework and time management skills. If your child’s school doesn’t provide one, purchase a planner that has a large amount of space for each day of the week. Then have your child create five columns for each day, labeled as follows: Assignment (where she writes down the assignment while in school), ET (estimated time, or how much time she thinks it will take to complete the assignment), O (order, or the order in which she wants to do the assignments), AT (actual time, or the actual time it took to complete the assignment), and D (done, which she checks off once the assignment is done and put away in the right place to be turned in). If need be, offer your child an incentive at the end of each week for following through on this strategy each day. Practicing this strategy will help your child learn to manage her time and homework more effectively.

3. Designate a Color for Each Subject

Have your child designate a specific color for each subject and maintain consistency with that color for all notebooks, folders, and assignments. For example, he might designate green for science. He should then use a green folder and notebook for science, and perhaps even highlight all science assignments in his planner using a green highlighter. He could use green note cards to study for exams. Math might be blue, English purple, and so on.

4. Time Management: Estimated Time vs. Actual Time 

For all school (and some non-school) assignments, have your child estimate ‎how much time she thinks a given task will take, and then compare it to the actual time it takes. While this technique is integrated into the planner system, it can be applied more generally.  For example, she might estimate that it will take her 30 minutes to complete a math worksheet (ET). She should then time herself to see how long it actually takes and record the AT (actual time). This strategy can be applied to non-school tasks, including cleaning her room, taking out the garbage, eating breakfast, making her bed, and so on.

5. Introduce a Highlighting and Note-Taking Strategy 

Introduce a highlighting and note-taking strategy before the school year begins so your child can apply this strategy as soon as he starts receiving assignments. When he reads, even if it’s a newspaper article, have him highlight the topic (one, two, or three words describing the passage) in blue, main idea (what the author is saying about the topic) in green, and important details (important information describing the main idea) in yellow. Then he can create a two-column note-taking diagram by writing the topic on the top, main ideas (in his own words) in the left column, and important details (also in his own words) in the right column.

Try spending some time at the tail-end of summer helping your child set up organizational systems for the new school year. In doing so, he will start the year off on a positive note and will be well on his way to academic success!

The post 5 Tips For Organizing Your Child For The New School Year appeared first on EBL Coaching.

The Assignment Book

We often hear complaints from students about not wanting to use a planner since their assignments are posted online or they can “easily” remember them without writing anything down. Yet even if assignments are posted online, students should still actively use an assignment book so that their entire agenda is written in one place and they can see the “big picture” of all that needs to get done. Ideally, your child should use a “one sheet per day assignment book” with ample space to write down each assignment.

During the school day, encourage your child to write down assignments as they are given out. Then, when she gets home that afternoon, have her look at all of her assignments and predict how long she thinks each one will take. She should write down the ET (Estimated Time) next to each assignment and, based on these times, decide which ones she will do first, second, third, etc., and complete them in that order. Finally, after she has completed each assignment and put it in the right place to be turned in, she should cross it off and write the AT (actual time it look to complete). This strategy will help students develop time management, homework management, and planning skills.

The Binder

Some students might prefer using an open-style three-ring binder for carrying papers to and from school. Yet this kind of binder can lead to disaster (namely the disappearance of critical papers and assignments), particularly for those who are not naturally organized. Rather than using a completely open 3-ring binder, purchase a fully enclosed binder for your child that has a zipper and a handle. With this style binder, if your child drops it, nothing will spill out.

Inside the binder, purchase a colored folder containing two pockets for each subject that is made of hard plastic, not flimsy paper. ‎Create a white label with the subject name on it to stick on the outside of each folder. Inside the folder, on the left side, attach a sticker labeled “to be done” and on the right side, attach one labeled “completed/returned‎.”

In the front portion of your child’s binder, attach two monthly calendar sheets so‎ that your child can see all upcoming long-term assignments. The current month should be placed on top, and the next month should be placed underneath. This setup will help him see a global picture of upcoming assignments and tests for the next two months.

The Filing System

Rather than watching an ever-growing mess of papers stack up on your child’s desk or inside his backpack, help him establish an effective at-home filing system. Purchase a filing box for your child that is the size of an egg crate, without a top. Use box board bottom file folders with tabs – one per class, ideally in a color matching that of the subject folders in his binder, and label each tab by subject. ‎ Place plain manila file folders (one for each month of the school year) inside each file folder, so that each box board bottom file folder has its own set of monthly folders.

Designate one day per week as a “clean out my binder” day, where your child cleans out sheets from the right side of each folder in his binder (labeled “completed/returned”). These should be papers that he does not need to be carrying with him on a regular basis, and they should be placed in the proper monthly file, a task that should take roughly 5-15 minutes. When his teacher announces a test, he should pull out all papers from the start of that unit (from the at-home filing system) to use for studying.

Try implementing these strategies at home and your child will soon become more organized, learn effective time management strategies, and become an overall better student. As an added bonus, you’ll find that your life will become easier by not having to micro-manage your child’s school work, an all-out winning scenario.

Written by Dr. Emily Levy, Director of EBL Coaching

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder of EBL Coaching, a tutoring program that specializes in one-on-one home and on-site instruction for students in grades preK-12 in NYC and NJ.  She is also the author of Strategies for Study Success, a study skills workbooks series emphasizing test taking, note taking, reading comprehension, writing, and summarizing strategies, and the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook series.  These workbooks are currently used at schools nationwide.

Dr. Levy studied at Brown University and later received her Masters Degree in Special Education and her Doctorate Degree in Education. She has spoken at national and international conferences on research-based methods for teaching students with and without learning disabilities. Dr. Levy is currently the Director of EBL Coaching’s NYC and NJ learning centers.

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