In our home we have three formal desks and five kids at school. This means that not everyone has a place they can use as their own and have their homework materials and projects set up permanently.
We have had success for some time with a small central place to store homework items which you can read about here, but as the kids have grown older it wasn’t working as effectively for us.
This year I have created two homework boxes for the younger children. Our year three son has started official weekly homework this year and while the year one child doesn’t have any official homework, he often likes to do something when everyone else is, so we have one for him too!
The aim of the homework box is so he has a place to keep everything he needs to complete his homework. He has a full pencil case at school that he brings home if he has a creative type project, but other than that he can get by using the materials in the box.
If he has homework that will take him more than one evening, he can simply pack it up, put it on the shelf, ready to start on it again the following evening.
The basic items I have included are:
- A notebook – if he needs help working his homework out, I can write out examples, notes and diagrams etc in this book that he can keep for future reference.
- Scrap paper – for writing out ideas, drafts etc
- Ruler
- Sharpener
- Highlighter
- Scissors
- Sticky tape
- Eraser
- Glue stick
- Stapler
- And a red pen will be going in it soon!
So far it is working well and it means the kids can work in a space near me or a desk of their choosing.
How do you manage homework materials amongst multiple kids?