Parent to Parent
Keeping Track of It All
by Patti Hermes
 By now we should be pretty well settled into the school year. We've added the Parent/Teacher conferences, pep rallies and fund raiser dates to our already full calendars. And, inevitably, there are conflicts, especially when you have multiple children attending different schools. Don't you wish they could all get together and at least have the same days off?
How do parents decide which is more important, Johnny's soccer game, Mary's volleyball game, or dinner? Divide and conquer? Is that how schools get more parental involvement? It's practically a full time job just keeping track of it all.
In fact, some parents who think they've mastered the organizational aspects of managing the family social calendar have gone so far as to set up web sites to help those less fortunate. Sometimes free and loaded with useful advice, they often lead to some great tools that just happen to be conveniently available for purchase at the click of a mouse.
Since I am perpetually disorganized, I am naturally drawn to these sites quite regularly, especially when they use the word "FREE". Once I'm there, it's not too much of a stretch for me to actually shell out some money for specialized tools or motivational cd's if I believe they may help my situation.
It was several years ago that I first came across the FlyLady, who promised an end to CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) if I would only follow the baby steps and shine my sink, already. Sure it worked for me, but I've long since fallen off the routine, and FlyLady has grown and expanded exponentially to now include Flytools, which can be purchased at the Flyshop. I think this is a good year for me to be getting back to FLYing Lessons. Organized Home is another all-inclusive site to help out the organizationally-challenged. From the Household Notebook to de-cluttering your closets and family menu tips, this site has plenty of fresh advice to calm the frazzled home administrator, and even a special link for the sewing enthusiast to safeguard her fabric stash.
Homeschoolers are notorious for needing and/or giving organizational help, if only to keep school clutter from not only taking over your entire home, but your entire daily life as well! Knowing when to put schooling aside and sit down for a family meal is one thing. Having already planned out the weekly menu, with all ingredients close at hand, is quite another.
Just Tell Me What to Cook and Menus4Moms.com have been lifesavers in my home. Not that my family has ever eaten any of the delicious meals I have tested from the menus, but at least I have all the ingredients in my well-stocked pantry. And plenty of tasty leftovers, too.
I recently found a book in my local library about teaching children organizational skills. Desperate not to curse my own children with my affliction, I checked it out. It was filled with worksheets, most of which were then supposed to be filed somewhere. That's right, the organizing gurus think my 3rd grader needs his own filing system. Just another useless step between me and the recycling bin, I say. So again I turn to the internet for help, where I found DLTK's Custom Chore Charts. Along the lines of keeping it simple and easy to understand, this may be the trick to get the boys in line. Or maybe it's the stickers.
If all attempts at organizing your home and school clutter have failed, you may be a candidate for The Change Your Life Challenge. But you must not delay; it's a 70 day program and you'll want to leave time for a little holiday shopping.
For those of you who are not quite drowning in permission slips, progress reports and newsletters, now is the perfect time to take a moment and corral the whole lot of it into your Home Central Notebook. And as soon as you're done, jump right into those holiday preparations. Because for some strange reason, everything speeds up between Halloween and Christmas, and I wouldn't want you to feel overwhelmed.
Comment Script
Comments
This comment form is powered by GentleSource Comment Script. It can be included in PHP or HTML files and allows visitors to leave comments on the website.
|