I can sympathize with your concerns about your son's organization. My DD just turned 9 and she is a constant work in progress in the organization department. Maybe it is easier for us because we only have two kids and I am OCD? Or maybe it is worse because I can't relax and let things go?
What has helped here (immensely) is to help her with the organization. We had her make a morning schedule and a bedtime schedule which she designed herself on the computer and printed out. Both are posted in her room and in the kitchen. She picked the order of the activities and all we have to do is refer her to her list when she is dawdling. It saves us from going through the list 20 times to see what she has and has not done. And, it is helping her take responsibility for what she forgets. If she leaves home without checking her school bag to be sure her homework is there then it is not our fault (this is probably my favourite part).
Her and I sit down on Sunday and plan out her lunches for the week. She loves having a say in the menu and helps us pack it the night before - this is also good! We also do up contracts for homework, as hers is doled out on a monthly basis. She decides how much to do each day and we type it up and she signs it. We simply have to remind her that it is homework time.
We figured that she was never going to just figure it out on her own, so we are doing our version of intensive tutorials to help her out. It has reduced a lot of the friction in our house! With DD, it works well when she is involved in all stages of planning. We get great 'buy in' when we use her ideas. Commiting them to paper is the key in our house.
Last edited by kathleen'smum; 09/28/11 03:16 PM.
