I still recall being flummoxed on a daily basis for the entire year my elementary school teacher insisted kids had to have a color coded system for their subject notebooks. Why was red science? If we were going to have a color for science, surely it should be blue or green. Oh no, I left orange at home and now I don't have my social studies homework. Couldn't I just use one notebook with colored dividers. No, I suppose not... And on and on in my mind, every day. I wasted so much of what little EF I had on trying to follow the color rules (and the many other "organization rules") that I had little left for actual school work.
I thought I had my EF weaknesses covered - the kind of job where the software keeps track of my due dates for me, yearly reports and enough time on my own I the office to get to grips with the filing system without embarrassing myself (but oh, how I wish I had a paralegal for myself to keep me in order instead of just "bits" of several for diverse tasks). The important stuff in my house (medical stuff, clean laundry, clean dishes, healthy food under control. My DH on my page. But then DS started elementary school and the amount of colour coding off exercise books, folders, craft stuff, letters home etc. etc. drives me insane. Drives him even more insane, of course, particularly if he is again of of the few (or the only) kid who didn't do or doesn't have xyz. I remember I thought by middle school all this was easier because the separation of subjects made more sense, and the academic stuff began to actually count. Except for having to actually write down his homework, I am thinking DS8 isn't spending an ounce of energy on actual schoolwork.
