How to Make a Homework Binder to Stay Organized

Homework is a task that every child will have throughout their entire school career. It is important to keep homework assignments organized so that papers are not lost during the shuffle between school and home. You can help your child organize their homework assignments quickly and easily.

When your child is just beginning school organizing their homework tends to be quite simple. Generally all you need is one folder that they can use to transport their assignments from school and home each day.

It is important to go through their folder each day in order to remove past assignments that have been graded so that the new assignments to not get miss placed within all the unnecessary paperwork. You may want to label each side of the folder for the specific papers that should be placed in the given slot. Current assignments should be on the side label homework or return to school and past assignments should be on the side labeled keep home or completed.

It may take a few weeks for your child to completely grasp the system but once they do their homework assignments will be much more organized and you will not have to worry about what pages need to stay home or return to school with your child.

As your child advances through school their homework assignments begin to increase in quantity and one folder system will no longer do the trick. You will need to expand this system to be able to handle the quantity of homework your child is being assigned to complete each week. By the time your child enters middle school you may find that they will need a folder designated to each subject's homework assignments.

You can set up a folder system that fits your child's homework needs. Your child may choose to have individual folders for each subject or they may wish to have a binder that holds all the folders together in one designated area. I have two children in sixth grade. My daughter holds all of her folders in one binder and my stepson chooses to have a loose folder for each subject. The organization works the same for both of them even though they chose to do it in a different way, you just need to figure out what will work best for your child's individual needs.

The folders are pretty much used the same way as the original one folder system they had during their earlier school years. The only difference is instead of having one general folder they now have a separate folder for each subject. Homework assignments are still kept on one side and the other side still holds papers that can stay home or papers that are no longer needed.

You can create a homework binder for your child quickly and inexpensively. You will need the following supplies:

• Binder
• Folders for each subject
• Marker to label each folder
• Labels (if you do not want to write directly on the folder itself)

All of these items can be purchased from any local store that carries school supplies. I like to purchase ours from our local dollar store.

Once you have the supplies you can easily create the homework binder for your child by following these steps:

1. Label each folder with the name of the subject it is for.
2. Place the folders inside the binder in the order your child has those classes in school.
3. Label the binder with your child's name, grade, and teachers name. This will help if the binder becomes lost at school because if found it can easily be returned to your child.
4. If you are using labels just follow the above steps when creating each one.

Once the binder is completed explain to your child how to use it. Be patient if this is the first binder they are using because it may take a little time to getting use to the system. You can sit down with your child each night and help to remove any old assignments that are no longer needed to help reduce any paper clutter from the binder system. Finally you and your child can feel at ease knowing that all assignments are neatly organized for safe keeping!