It's that time of year when even the birds begin spring cleaning, readying their nests for new growth. Students can benefit from a little tidying up themselves. Being more organized can make it easier to keep track of homework and important dates like tests and project deadlines. Here are some tips for helping your kids spring clean:
Start with their backpacks
Kids can carry some serious baggage when it comes to backpacks. Half a year's worth of papers and tests, candy wrappers and other junk can quickly pile up. Not only is this a mess, but loading up a backpack can also cause serious back problems that last for your kids' entire lives. Have them go through their bags each semester to toss out garbage and unwanted debris, leaving room for books and other necessary materials. You can also spot clean or wash the entire backpack depending on what it's made of.
Move on to their study spaces
Plenty of people have a hard time concentrating when their physical space is cluttered. Your kids may benefit from spring cleaning their study spaces. Create folders for different classes where they can keep track of assignments and homework, and then file the papers out of sight in a drawer or cabinet. Then, they can make sure they are stocked up on writing utensils, tape, scissors, glue and anything else they may need while doing schoolwork. Keep a garbage can within reach to encourage in-the-moment cleaning and be sure your kids take it out when it gets full – there's nothing so distracting as leftover snack wrappers and fruit peels that stink up a study space.
Talk about lockers
Just like their backpacks, student lockers tend to quickly fill up with forgotten artifacts from the year. Just opening a cluttered one can be stress-inducing and cause a kid to be late to class as a cascade of junk falls to the floor. It's also just difficult to find what you're looking for when you have to dig. Help your kids stay organized by setting them up with locker shelves. This makes it easy to stash books and smaller items where your kids can reach them in a hurry. To prevent germ buildup, send your students with cleaning wipes so they can sanitize the inside and outside of their lockers on a weekly basis. This may help them cut down on sick days and absences.
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