As the kids, teens and adults are heading back to school in September, it seems appropriate to talk about organizing kid’s rooms. But before we can do organizing, we should talk about the room’s atmosphere and environment. For kids (or anyone) to be able to get work done in their bedroom, there should be an inviting atmosphere, a way to remove distractions and the ability to focus. Even if the kids don’t end up doing their homework and projects in their room, the work environment is essential wherever they are working. If the bedroom, complete with toys and comfy bed, is the location where your kids will be doing their homework, there are 3 essential areas to organize.
Shelving: Every bedroom should have some form of shelving to store books, toys and art projects on. Getting a really tall bookshelf, or putting up tall shelves is ok, even with younger kids, because the art projects etc can go up higher and toys and books be lower where they can reach them. Having extra, unused shelving is always a good idea for future use!
Under bed storage: A great place to hide away clothes or toys is under the bed. Purchase bed risers that many college students use for your home and raise your kid’s beds so you can store boxes underneath and easily access them. If the toys are put away so that they aren’t visible to kids, the kids will be more likely to focus on their homework and be less distracted by the toys strewn about.
Desk: A desk is a priority for doing homework. Not only do they need a desk, it should have the necessary tools in it. Pens, pencils, erasers, colored pencils, crayons, markers, ruler, glue, glue stick, lined paper, coloring/drawing paper, calculator (as appropriate), protractor, compass, dictionary, and anything else your children (or you!) need to do homework and projects. The top of the desk should be clean for ease of doing work, and the tools listed above should each have a home in the desk drawers, cubbys or boxes by the desk (depending on the type of desk).
A clean, organized room will go a long way to encourage creativity and attentiveness while doing homework.
Don’t know where to start? Working with an organizer is easy and fun!