The Homework Folder

I remember middle school - and high school. I had one 2" inch binder, one pencil pouch in the binder, 5 subject dividers (English, Math, Science, History, Geography), and 1 folder and 1 spiral for each core subject. That was it, and that was the limit of what would fit in your backpack. They were all trashed by the end of the year and replaced each year.

Today's schools are far different - or at least ours is. We have 3 children, but the youngest is in Kindergarten so I'm only addressing our older 2 that are in Middle School (Junior High) in 6th and 8th grades in this post. Each teacher requires their OWN binder, folder, journal, composition book, notebook spiral or some combination thereof. It has been a NIGHTMARE trying to keep the kids organized, and we have had papers everywhere, disappearing homework, forgetting which materials go to which class..

Did I mention both my daughters have autism? Well, that presents its own challenges, so I knew whatever way I found to "Hack the System" to help my kids out had to: work for the teachers, be easy enough for my daughter to use, and be easy to replicate for my older son.

The first thing I invented was: The Homework Folder. This is a basic two pocket poly folder (whenever possible, I've used poly to help things last. It's not the best for the environment, but we started off the school year with paper and they are *already* trashed three weeks into school... so poly it is.)

The front of the folder says Homework and the child's name, grade, and class level. The left side inner pocket is labeled Turn In, and the right side inner pocket is labeled Bring Home.

The Homework Folder accompanies the child to *every* academic class along with their agenda. All homework goes into this folder, notes from teachers, things I need to sign, etc. At home, it is gone through daily. Completed homework and signed papers go into the Left Pocket, and we empty out the Right Pocket. Easy Peasy!

Of course, that's not all they need, which brings me to my next post...

posting to OrgJunkie!