28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 22

Day 22

One week left on loving our homes! I am so thankful for my followers and hope you have been getting some valuable tips and motivation to fall back in love with your homes! I have been talking about kids spaces…those hard to keep clean and organized areas of our homes! Now it is time to work on the dreaded area – study spaces. Whether you are a homeschooler (bless you…I would be fired from that job on day one) or just need a place for homework to take place, organization is vital in making the study space a welcoming one.   I am still not sure I have met a child who WANTS to do homework instead of play, so if you have one – lucky you!

I did a post on this called Homework Haven earlier in the school year.  If you read it I talk about how my son chose to do homework in his room.  Well, six months later and we have a desk in my office for him!  Knowing you child and how they work best is key to success.  My son is social and wants to be with people.  He thought he wanted to study in his room – but would feel so left out he would make his way back down to the kitchen.  I was so tired of the papers all over our small kitchen that we invested in a desk in my office.  Low and behold he actually will do his homework on his own and I sit at my desk and get work done!  Yeah us!  The point here is to find out what works best for your child!

Here are a few items I think are vital for your homework station:

1.  Clean and Orderly. If it is the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, your office desk, their desk, their bed or the car (Yes, I said it.  My kids and their carpool friends are happy homework doers in the car!  They are locked up in seat belts- genius!)  Again regardless of where they are doing it, give them space to do it.  Also, clutter and mess are visual distractions, so unless you want homework to last longer than it should, keep it clear!

A child doing homework will be distracted by anything…the dog breathing, the bird that flew by, the loud car coming down the street.  We know as adults, the more distractions the longer it takes to do something.  Multiply that by 1000 and you can understand how hard it is for kids.  We can’t do too much about the dog breathing or the noise from the street, but we can control it by clearing the unnecessary clutter and mess from their work space.  I am not saying you have to clean up after them, I am saying you need to keep your stuff out of their way if they are utilizing shared space for their homework.

2.  Supplies. I cannot tell you how many times my son leaves things behind.  His protractor is never at home when he needs it.  He forgets everything.  Really.   A habit we just can’t seem to break.  He even forgot his report so many days in a row that he turned it in late.  He was bawling (11 year old boys crying is so not cute) so you would think he would learn from it…not a chance.  So having extra supplies on hand can make or break your homework rhythm.  Now if only I could duplicate the actual work to come home…I am waiting for virtual learning tools to make their way onto the scene.

3.  Home. No, I don’t mean your home.  I mean the items your child uses need homes.  Like where to put their back packs, where to store their supplies, where to keep project that are still in progress…If you don’t assign a place for these items, they get lost in the shuffle.  Trust me, when your child has been in school for 6 or more hours and is hungry, tired and doesn’t want to do their homework, looking for what they need is not going to go over so well!   Assign homes for their items and get them in the habit of putting things back where they belong.   Regardless if you have a large desk for them to work at or the kitchen table, their items need a home, too.  If you need to store the items out of the way during off homework hours, use a caddy that can hold all the items needed.

I like caddies with smaller sections.  This can help separate their supplies so they aren’t wasting time digging for what they need!

Find fun products your kids will want to use.  Make sure they are easy to use though.  If it is has too many things to get it open or close, chances are they won’t put it back!  Think fun and easy when looking for anything organizing for kids!

Where do your kids like to do their homework?  What is your secret to success?  Remember sharing is caring so post your comments!