What parents can do to help their children get organized?

In our experience with working with international students a main issue is organization skills. At Shanghai Expat Tutors we dont stop learning and doing research in order to help our students improve every day.

Below some tips parents and tutors can do to improve the organization skills of the students:

* Together with your child choose a place in the home that has adequate lighting, is comfortable for working and is free from distarctions.

* Post a master calendar or wall chart for important events and activities. Remember to update it often.

* Ask to see how the child is recording his assignments. Praise all efforts at being organized.

* Consider "no phone, no skype" times during homework time.

* Help the child to divide the assignments into manageable chunks. Ask to see what he/she has accomplished after a certain amount of time.

* Consider using a timer. Sometimes a "beat the clock system" is effective in motivating children to complete a task.

*Communicate your expectations that homework is a priority. In today's busy society, many families are over-extended with the number of extracurricular activities they are involved in. If there is very little time in an evening to devote to schoolwork, perhaps you need to re-examine your commitments and activities.

*Request the teacher's help in making sure all assignments are record daily.

Bibliography

Archer, Anita and Gleason Mary. Skills for school success (grades 3-6). Curriculum Associates, Inc.