Binders Keepers – 6 Ways to Keep Kids Organized for School

As kids start to get back to school and assignments start to mount, it’s important to establish strategies that allow them to stay ahead of the curve. This post was a result of trying to help my kids last year during final exams. During that time, it became abundantly clear I needed to reinforce a concept to them…much earlier in the year.

Organization!

Let’s take a step back to last year. I was trying to study with my oldest daughter for her History final at the time. She had a study guide but had no idea where to find it. Her 3 ring binder employed none of the available rings. Papers formed one large stack and were staying in place simply by the binder being closed. If you held it the wrong way, all the papers would quickly slide out the other end

She asked me questions and I attempted to find the answer. I flipped furiously through paper after paper, each having no relevance to the one before. There was no method to the madness!

I ultimately ended up going page-by-page laying down papers across the floor – sorting according to general historical timeline. After the study session was over, I let my daughter know she was going to have to do better going forward.

Note taking, and general organization of material, is a critical skill for kids at any level of school. Collecting papers and notes throughout the year and stuffing it loosely, and randomly, into a binder is a set up for failure. When it comes time to pull up information and use it, you can forget about it. Imagine if you went to Google and searched for the Russian Revolution, only to have to sort through the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and Prince and the Revolution before you found anything.

Since the binder serves as a key hub of information for kids at school, let’s focus on it.

Binders Keepers…

1. Keep Consistent and Start from the Beginning

You have to organize from the very beginning of the school year. Trying to organize the notebook half way through, when the damage is already done, proves time consuming and futile. Establish habits at the beginning of the year, stay diligent, and keep consistent throughout the year. Revisit from time to time to make sure your information is organized and you are in position for upcoming topics.

2. Keep Topics Together

Make sure you keep topics logically organized together. If you are studying the Russian Revolution, make a section specifically for it with all related pages, papers, and exercises. Mixing topics creates a headache when you try to find what you’re looking for. Tabbed dividers are nice for keeping topics separated but there are other methods as well. Use sticky tabs on important separating pages, put paper clips at the top of pages that mark sections, or simply write topic titles on pages so when you flip through you’ll have some sort of guidance.

3. Keep it in Order

If you have chronological data, such as in History class, try to keep it in order. When you get to the test at the end of the class, you’ll better understand how events fit together if you’ve been monitoring it and organizing it that way from the start. The same concept can be applied to math and science. If there are methods presented that form the building blocks for future lessons, put those in logical order. You then know where to go to find the initial concepts in order to decipher the more complex problems.

4. Keep it Simple

When capturing notes of your own and storing within the binder, make sure you keep it simple. What does that mean? It means capturing information in bullet format or writing in smaller sections. When you come across a page of notes, you should be able to visually find what you need as soon as possible. If you look at a piece of notebook paper that is filled with sentences on every line, you’ll struggle to find what you need. If you come across that same information presented in bullet format with key words underlined or even highlighted, you’ll have a much better chance of not only finding the information, but also finding it quickly. Focus on the important text and concepts, limit the words that add no value, add line breaks and other formatting, then present it concisely and cleanly.

5. Keep Summary Information at the Back

Study guides, practices tests, and any other summary material should be located in the back of particular sections of information. This allows you to separate day-to-day notes and individual worksheets from cumulative content. You’ll be able to quickly find the valuable summary questions and then pull up your individual notes for any help you may need. If you co-mingle the information, finding these valuable summary documents for future studying becomes much more difficult. Again, we’re interested in saving time when trying to retrieve and study the information.

6. Keep the Excess Out

Not only should you limit the content captured during note-taking, but you should also limit the those papers that provide little value. As I was going through my daughter’s binder, I came across a number of papers that were worthless. Get them out of there! You can keep those papers if you want to, but take them out of the official binder. They will add noise and slow you down when you try to find and consume the information that truly matters.

These are just a few quick tips you can implement in order to help your kids throughout the school year. Keeping an organized notebook is critical for success at any level of education. Your kid will not only be able to find the information they need, but they’ll be able to do so efficiently and effectively. Given the hectic world we live in, establishing organizational skills early in a child’s life benefits them for years to come.

What techniques do you use to help your kids organize the mountain of papers they maintain for school?