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Age group for which this tool is beneficial:
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond
To what category does this tool belong?
No-tech tools (no power supply necessary)
Skills strengthened with the help of this tool:
Both organizational and academic
How does the tool work?
Lists are the least expensive, most effective, most underutilized organizational tools. There are two secrets to keeping effective lists.
- Your child needs to have the lists available whenever she thinks of something she needs to do. Which means, simply, she has to carry the list everywhere she goes.
- EVERYTHING she needs to do needs to be written on a list.
A simple list system consists of a hand-held binder, lots of paper, and a few tabs.
Use the tabs to create categories of lists. The categories should be simple, intuitive, and few. Some people create geographical categories: school, home, softball practice. Others create categories by project: science fair, math homework, birthday party, Girl Scout picnic. For those people who find it difficult to think categorically, one master list is the most effective strategy.
Once the system is set up, get everything your child needs to do out of his head and onto a list. Then she can experience the pleasure of checking off completed items.
What is the benefit to the user?
Once everything is on a list, there may still be too much to do, but things won? be forgotten.
Other information to consider:
It takes practice to learn to take the lists everywhere. It's also important to photocopy the lists periodically to avoid having to reconstruct the lists if your child misplaces them. On the other hand, tasks are like bills, if you ignore or forget them, they'll resurface.
The above content was researched and written by Frank Sopper.
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