Tip #48 from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents (McKinley & Trombly) - Organization

  


Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.


#48

Organization is the Key

 

 Organize, don't agonize.
~ Nancy Pelosi

 

Many teachers agree: Organization is the key. To what? To everything!

If you are truly organized, you can achieve amazing things! The problem most people have is that organization itself takes time and energy. After a very busy and tiring evening of driving to and from practices or lessons and then dinner and homework, it is very easy to say, “Let’s call it a night,” and then relax. As enticing as this sounds, you may be paying for it the next day. As the bus pulls up, you may find yourself making futile, hurried attempts to get your child dressed, searching to find his backpack, or looking for a much needed field trip permission slip.

Taking the time and energy to organize yourself and your child in the evening can lead to a more pleasant, calm atmosphere in the morning. After all, who wouldn’t like to start their day with a bit less chaos?

Try reserving a small portion of time right after school or at the end of the night to go over a checklist (written or mental) with your child. Statements such as, “Show me what you’re going to wear tomorrow” or “Let’s double check your school bag for completed homework and get it ready to go” can help teach your child important organization skills and lead him toward being responsible for himself. Consult your calendar at the message center to see if there is anything special to be aware of for the morning (such as gym day, a field trip, the due date for the final report, etc.) and get ready accordingly. The structure you provide by being organized will help keep your mornings calm and quiet.

Becoming organized and teaching your child to be organized may require a lot of effort and follow through on your part at first. However, if you can reinforce organization now, the payoff will come later when organization becomes second nature to your child and he begins to take on responsibilities from laying out his clothes for the next day to keeping his study area clean and stocked and ready to use! After all, the morning sets the tone for the entire day, so get it off to a good start for your sake and your child’s.

  



     Cindy McKinley Alder                                            Patti Trombly

 

For more posts about the authors and their books (this is not the only one), click HERE.

For excerpts from more books, click HERE.

For more excerpts from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents, click HERE.

          For more posts about books about parenting, click HERE. 



To purchase copies of this book at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore.


Want to read this book and not have to pay for it?  

Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.



(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)

Check out recent issues.

 



Follow MSI Press on Twitter, Face Book, Pinterest, Bluesky, and Instagram. 




Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? 


We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Do you have a future with us?





Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author and/or do not have a strong platform yet? If you have a strong manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help.





Check out information on how to submit a proposal.




Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our author au pair services will mentor you through the process.






Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com.



Want an author-signed copy of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.

Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.


Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.

Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.




   
MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Post from Dr. Dennis Ortman: Words Matter

Image
  WORDS MATTER “If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging symbol.” --I Corinthians 13: 1   My three brothers recently visited from afar. We spent a week together crammed into my small apartment. We exhausted ourselves talking about our lives and our favorite subjects--religion, psychology, and politics. I daily used up my quota of words. Many family and friends avoid talking about these subjects to avoid conflict. But we relish the give-and-take of debate. Coincidentally, the Republican National Convention was televised each night. We watched it diligently and exchanged views. Our convictions ranged across the political spectrum. So our conversations were animated, our disagreements passionate. However, at the end of the week, we learned something from each other and parted friends. Words matter. They have power. Our traditions attest to this fact. For example, God created the world with His word. He be...
Read more

Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning: Language Islands, A Shortcut to Language Fluency

Image
  If you've ever found yourself struggling mid-conversation in another language, desperately searching for words, translating in your head, and praying for a merciful topic change… you’re not alone. We've all been there. But today’s tip might just change the way you approach language learning — and save your dignity at the next international gathering. Let’s talk about language islands . What Are Language Islands? Back in the mid-1980s, Boris Shekhtman, a brilliant and wildly successful instructor at the Foreign Service Institute (and later the Specialized Language Training Center), coined the term “language islands.” His students — diplomats, international journalists, and world travelers — swore by his methods. And no wonder. A language island is a memorized chunk of speech — a little monologue, a practiced story, a polished opinion — that you know so well, you can say it without thinking. No mental translation. No stuttering. No panicked flailing for vocabulary. Just smooth...
Read more

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: De-confusing Royalty Structure

Image
  Authors frequently confuse LIST and NET and, in this way, end up with contracts that pay lower royalties when they believe that they are getting a good deal. Often, they cannot negotiate in ways that benefit themselves because they do not understand this difference and its significance. Let's break this down. List refers to the retail price of the book. Payment on list means a percentage of the retail price of the book. If royalties are 8% of list (5-8% is typical), then on a $10 book, royalties would be 80 cents; if they are 10%, royalties are $1, on every book sold. Easy to calculate, easy to predict income, and always standardized, no surprises or overestimations. Net refers to what is leftover after expenses. Gross revenue gets adjusted by a number of expenses: printing costs, printer set-up fees, shipping costs, handling fees, distributor percentage of sales (typically, 40%-55% per book), distributors' initial and continuing catalogue listing costs (without which online ...
Read more