One of my goals for the upcoming school year (and work year and basically, as a family) is to be more organized.
As the kids get older, I am finding that we are all getting busier, whether it’s because of volunteer nights, parent council, sports and activities, work commitments or family plans, the calendar is filling up.
The best way to keep on top of it all is to be as organized as I can. I am researching new planners and agendas to keep track of my commitments (in addition to google calendar which keeps me on track) but I also was in need of a way that the kids can stay organized too.
This is what I came up with: A school/family command centre. It’s a hub for all of us to keep organized.
Using a bookshelf, I’ve set it up right in the kitchen which is open to our dining and living room. Since we use the dining room to do homework primarily, and it’s often while I’m preparing supper, having access to all things school in that same area only makes sense. On top of the book shelf, I’ve added a pencil holder so that they are never hunting for those either.
I have set up file folders for each of them to dump homework and agendas and school notes in at the end of the day. Library books can be gathered there, and field trip forms will get signed quickly. Then, each morning, they can check their folder and gather everything up to bring back to school.
The bottom area of the bookshelf (which is also holding my recipe books) will be for their bookbags and lunch bags to go at the end of the day. No more tripping on them, and no more wondering where everything is. We already had a good system of cleaning out lunch bags as soon as everyone got home, but now we will be even more organized.
The white board above, which currently holds their chore chart to the side as well, will have a calendar and be used for notes and dates that we all need to remember.
My hope is that all of us will contribute to the centre and make use of it. It will be useful for all of us and I think will save some time. At the very least, we should feel less frenzied about school evenings and mornings!
Do you have a family command centre? What might mine be missing?
