The Little Things that Help School Get Done

January.  Time to get back in the swing of things after a long holiday break.  I always find myself re-thinking our school at this time of year.

Staying motivated at the mid-point of the year is always tricky.  Momentum is key for us.  Everything needs to work smoothly in order to keep everyone (including Mommy) engaged and on task.  Sometimes it is simply having the right stuff on hand to keep us on task.

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Magnetic bookmarks prevent us from loosing our place when all of the school books are piled together at the end of the day.  There is nothing more frustrating than spending 10 minutes searching for a lost place, re-reading material already covered, and loosing the attention little ones in the process.

Hardware organizers keep math manipulatives organized and ready to go.  I love these in particular because they are light enough for even my preschooler to carry around, they have nice handles, and they stack up flat to keep our shelves looking neat.

Pencil grips take the arguement out of proper pencil positioning.  My oldest still chooses to use hers when practicing cursive.  On the other hand, just the threat of needing to use a grip is enough to get my youngest to improve her writing.

Rolling bins quickly bring an entire shelf of books to the table, and then hide away neatly after lessons are over without any lifting.  My back is terrible, so these are an essential in our house.

A date stamp makes it easy and fun for little ones to put the date on their paper, an eternal battle in our house.

A condiment caddy allows us to bring all of our pens and pencils to the table at once, and gives the kids a place to put all of their completed work.  (Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a link to a caddy that looks exactly like mine – ours has a flip out drawer underneath where I store index cards, pencil sharpeners, and white board erasers.  I’ll keep searching)

That’s it.  Nothing revolutionary, nothing big, but all of these keep us moving.

Next week I’ll go into the non-stuff (yeah, technical term there) ideas that keep us on track. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!