Since it’s back to school time for so many people, I thought I would offer tips on how to stay organize and start the year off right. Whether you have a senior going off to college or a young one first starting, being organized is the key to a successful year.
Tip #1: Money Saver Tip:
There are many stores having sales, but are they great deals? One way to save money is to take the school list and go through your supplies at home. You would be surprised on how many items you already have at home.
If your student is going to Elementary school, don’t feel you need to get everything on the list. The large quantities of supplies being requested are so that the school can add them to their “community closet”. Your student doesn’t really need to take all of what they request. Save money, give your student ONLY what they need and nothing more. Once you have gone through your supplies at home, go shopping.
Recycle last years binder, and backpack. If they are in good condition, don't toss them out, reuse them until you need to replace them. Reuse last years dividers by simply relabeling the tab for the new subject. Last year, I saved almost $100 on school supplies simply by going through our supplies at home first!
Some of the local grocery stores have better deals on the basic supplies over some of the large stores such as “Office Depot” and even “Costco”. It pays to shop around. Don’t be in a hurry for those supplies, you will find the deals along the way.
Tip #2: Organization Starts With The Binder:
When organizing your student’s binder, pick up the plastic dividers that have pockets, and tabs on them. Have one tab for each subject and one tab marked “homework”. When the teacher gives them an assignment it goes into the pocket. When the assignment is complete, the student puts it back into the pocket, so they know where to find it. Once the teacher returns the paper, they put the paper behind the “homework” tab for later review. These can be labeled with a P-Touch label maker for a cleaner, neater, more organized look.


Using dividers with tabs, Post-It durable Index tabs to flag important
thin
gs or chapters in a book, will help your student start the year off right!
Tip #3: Monthly Calendar For Each Subject:
School often hand out planners, however the problem that I have with the planners is that there is not enough room for each class. Print out a monthly calendar for each class and put them in your binder. With the monthly calendar for each class, your student can write the homework for that class. Being able to keep track of what homework, for what class is due is the key to never forgetting what is due. I recommend only printing out 3 months at a time for each subject. When students mark on their calendar due dates, test dates as well as days off, they know exactly what is going on for each class.

Tip #4: Organizing Your Jump Drive:
Many teachers require students to use jump drives or thumb drives as some call them. The best way to organize the jump drive is to set up folders for each subject. Inside each subject’s folder, create a folder for “notes”, and “homework”. If the student has regular activities such as “Lectures”, “PowerPoint” and “Special Projects” etc, have them create a folder for each one of those as well. Set these up early so that as soon as you begin homework, it has a place to save it to.
Tip #5: Best Note Taking Tool EVER!
Ok, this is my FAVORITE tool ever. Livescribe Inc. is the maker of the award-winning Pulse smartpen, This is a recordable pen that allows the person to record what you hear so you don’t ever miss a word. It is a computer in a pen.
The notepads are dot style spiral notebooks. When you tap on the words, the pen will play back what was recorded. The pen allows you to download the notes, email the notes and play back the notes for review. The pen is available in a silver Titanium body style as well as the new Echo, which offers a sleek new design. This product is PC/Apple compatible and comes in a 2GB, 4GB and 8GB.
The 2GB of memory can hold over 200 hours of audio. Actual recording time varies by audio quality setting. As a full-time student myself, I have used this and I can tell you it is the BEST tool for any student as well as a great tool to use in any professional career. I only wish that I had this when I younger and in High School. It would have been a life saver for taking notes in class, making me a better student.
It can be found at such stores as the Apple Store, Best Buy and Staples and costs between $129-$169. This is a GREAT product and one that every student needs for a success when taking notes. Livescribe can be found on Facebook where they offer great technical support. Check out this product at www.livescribe.com as well as on Facebook at www.facebook.com/livescribe
This will make a great gift for any student!
Start this year out right! With these helpful tips, your student will feel that they have their best foot forward!
I would love to have you add your favorite "Back To School" Tips, or if you have experienced any of these tips yourself.
Good luck, and make it a GREAT year~