Homework Angst!

Homework Angst!!

If you have kids of any age then they are probably back to school and suffering from homework angst.  I know I am...two teens in high school...daughter has 4 AP classes + an extra science this year...son has an AP class and rest honors classes.  I may need sedatives to get through this school year again and that ain't no lie people.   

You'd think since my kids are 17 and 15 that it would get easy...NO..I'm here to tell you that it doesn't get easier.  So if you have younger kids you heard it direct from my mouth so anyone that says it does get easier is LYYYYYING to you...ahahaha!!

My daughter is super organized and I never have to "sit" on her to get things done...HOWEVER...she gets super stressed over deadlines, essays and tests...that stress bubbles over to mom which is never good.  Some days I feel like I'M the one back in school..and I def don't want to feel like that LOL! She's got a 4.1 GPA so obviously its workin' for her, but me NOT so much.  I can only imagine how she will be in college next year...ay yi yi!  'Tis the season for moms & dads to have fun with school age kids I guess.

Now my son is a whole 'nother story...he's super smart...quick to grasp concepts...but UNORGANIZED and not always focused.  Boy syndrome I call it...if you have a boy like this raise your hands now!  This is the child who had 10 minutes of homework in kindergarten but couldn't stay focused long enough to get it done in 10 mins...he needed a drink, potty break, oh look a bug is on the floor, the weather outside was more interesting.  The fact that he is 15.5 years old now and I haven't killed him yet MAY be the universe's biggest miracle lemme tell ya!!  He had ONE binder last year...ONE..for all his classes and papers everywhere.  It is like my worse nightmare come true...so this year I'm sitting on all 6'3 240 lbs of him every day to go through the paperwork and stay organized if it KILLS ME!  So frustrating...hope he grows out of it...course I've been saying that since he was 5...oh boy!  Boys are such much fun as teens I tell ya :)

So here's to a brand new school year...it will all go smoothly <snort> and everyone will be organized and on top of everything...this is my prayer...now pray with me please ;)

 

To stay on top of things I keep a ton of school supplies on hand.  I've been the mom whose child came home and said (more than once) "ummm I forgot but I need a poster board for my presentation..and its tomorrow"...never a good omen.  So I keep a bit of everything in the house now.  I have a special drawer in our study that houses extra binders, notebooks, folders, dividers, graph papers, etc that they can shop from.  In my craftroom I have a large pack of poster boards in different sizes...ha if you can stump me now!

 BEFORE

So in our kitchen we have some large drawers that are shallow and one was our junk/school/everything drawer.  Well it just got out of hand last year and I never had time to tackle it.  Well I tackled it this summer, cleaned it out and re-did everything.  See above before the BEFORE mess that it was.

AFTER

It now looks like this bit of beauty...so organized I could squeal with excitement <cue my teens rolling their eyes>!  This drawer everyone can easily access the smaller school necessities that they need to replenish or use most days.  Pencils, mechnical pencils, glue, pens, highlighters, paper, calculators, rulers, stapler, erasers, clips, and note cards.

And YES even in highschool they need crayons and colored pencils for some homework.  I buy new ones every year, multiples of each because you KNOW during the school year they get lost and broken!  I put the colored pencils in their own bin that can be grabbed and brought to the table easily.  The crayons stay in the box...the teens are old enough to replace them most of the time and it keeps the crayons protected a bit more.

I still keep my batteries, extra keys and camera chargers in this drawer because its convenient and they fit nicely.  I also have chalk and erasers for my chalk board that hangs nearby in my kitchen.  In high school they need blue, black and red pens so I keep a nice stash of those.  Also sticky note pads for notes in their school books or notebooks are needed.

This is where the drawer lives in my kitchen..across from my island and near the kitchen table.

Easily accessible for everyone!  See my new breadbox there I got when I was junkin'..yup it won't look like that soon :)  The other large drawer holds cat food and treats, the next drawer holds chips and the bottom drawer is the snack drawer as seen HERE after it was organized.

All those white bins that hook together came from Walmart & Target for a few dollars each. I like the fact that you can rearrange and add on to them to create whatever shape you need for whatever you need to store.

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Now if you don't have a drawer like I do or want something more portable here 

are some other cute ideas from Pinterest!

Easily portable idea here! These bins are on sale at JoAnns & Michaels & AC Moore around VA for cheap.  Easy way to store and transport homework supplies!

Cool idea here...these type of caddies are on sale at Target for $6 in white and steel colors..they were part of the summer supplies they had and are heavily discounted.

Great idea here...these lil' buckets are usually $1 in the Target bin, adhere them on a Lazy-Susan

and you have a great homework station.

Love this idea too...take a silverware caddy (seen these at Target too) and paint the front

with chalkboard paint or cover with chalkboard contact paper.  Too cute!

Happy School Days Y'all!!
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Entering this into the following Linky Parties:

I Heart Organizing
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Wednesdays 
No Minimalist Here - Thursdays