<p>My child isn't. I had a parent teacher conference today. In one notebook, she has four subjects in one notebook. These pages aren't individual pieces of paper, instead it is in ONE notebook. She makes the teachers search for the material. Not a good sign! She has notebooks, she has folders, but she chose to record everything in one notebook because it was easiest!</p>
<p>Is lack of organization a marker that she isn't ready for boarding school? Academically, she is ready. But can she keep her papers straight? Do most schools have study sessions for juniors (or Freshman in regular speech).</p>
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<p>Is this a lack of organization, or has your daughter adopted a simple system? Back in the dark ages, I carried one notebook to class. Much less stuff to lose. I don’t consider separate notebooks for separate courses to be a sign of an organized person. I think schools pushing such systems are overloading students’ capacity. ([BBC</a> - Radio 4 Memory Experience - Understanding working memory](<a href=“BBC - Radio 4 Memory Experience - Understanding working memory”>BBC - Radio 4 Memory Experience - Understanding working memory)) If our working memory capacity is 7 +/- 2 items, requiring a student with two courses to carry and keep track of 1) a separate notebook for each course, 2) a calculator, 3) an agenda, 4) a pen, a 5) a pencil, and 6) a textbook for each course will occupy most students’ short-term capacity.</p>
<p>Compliance with others’ systems is not a sign of organization–it’s the sign of compliance.
On a practical note, she could divide the notebook into four sections. Sticky file folder tabs would do the trick for a spiral-bound notebook. Tab dividers will work for binders. </p>
<p>She shouldn’t make the teacher hunt for the material. Does she do her homework, and have it in her possession at the start of class? Does she complete her work on time? Is she on top of due dates for projects, term papers and exams? </p>
<p>Does she require your help to keep track of her work? Do you act as her secretary and executive assistant? <---- I would worry about that much more than about using one notebook for four subjects.</p>
<p>Schools vary in terms of study support systems, but this is a GREAT question to ask during the admissions process. Schools are pretty honest about it, too. Some have all kinds of built-in tutorial opportunities, others feel that the students’ learning to navigate for themselves is a critical part of the experience. Neither is inherently right or wrong, but you are correct, you need to know your kid, and then seek out the schools where your kid can succeed (or where they’re at least willing to meet you half way).</p>
<p>I am with Periwinkle.</p>
<p>Managing half a dozen different 2 inch binders is a burden. One or two binders with dividers worked best for me.</p>
<p>The requisite 8.5 x 11 agenda is equally stifling when a 4x6 planner more than suffices and is more practical due to its portability. How do you stick an 8.5 x 11 agenda into your pocket. Better yet, why can’t they use their smartphones for scheduling.</p>
<p>I have two children and both of them are very different in the way they organize themselves. My daughter is very organized, everything is in seperate binders or folders and neatly labled. My son however is the total opposite. Up until the 7th grade I used to stress about how unorganized he was until my husband told me to back off a little. It was hard, but I did. I soon realized that even though, in my opinion, he was incredibly unorganized he in fact is not. It was just that his way was different from mine, and like Periwinkle said, he has just adopted a more streamlined approach.</p>
<p>That said it is the one question I have asked his advisor and teachers, all of them have been suprised that it was a worry of mine.I do think it is a valid concern and definitely one that you should keep an eye on.</p>
<p>I should have explained better. We live in Europe and the notebooks are NOT the 8.5x11 notebooks. Her notebooks are thin (48 pages each) and are A5 size (6.5 x 9).
She doesn’t complete the assignment when it is too easy or boring. This, of course, is not a good option. (When she completes the assignments, she always is a top performer. However, she doesn’t always complete them!)</p>
<p>Her backpack is squashed with papers not put away properly.</p>
<p>I know she would rather be reading her books and not doing mundane assignments. She classifies herself as a writer or a researcher. She’s intellectual, however, not organized.</p>
<p>Rose2014, I now understand…I thought you were referring to one single 3 ring (2 ring Leitz in Europe?) binder where papers can be removed, exchanged, and organized. Using one bound notebook for all subjects and tossing loose papers into the backpack is a recipe for academic disaster in my view. “The Middle School Years” is an interesting book by Michele Hernandez that has a good section on helping your child get organized.</p>
<p>Not completing assignments will not be an option in BS. I think that would be more of a concern than organization. Does incomplete assignments affect her grades? Though grades aren’t everything, they are one factor in BS admission that your daughter has easy control over correcting if this behavior is causing them to be less than they could be. If there’s nothing on your daughter’s transcript to indicate incomplete assignments and her grades are fine, I would just say she needs to make sure she’s not making extra work for her teachers and let it go at that.</p>
<p>Like 1hlpfulparent’s son, our son appears to be very disorganized and I’ve often dispaired that it will catch up with him in a disastrous way some day, but he does well in a very competitive BS, so I can only conclude that my way is not the only way. Our son’s school offers access to a third party seminar on organization, note taking, increased reading speed/comprehension, but it is at additional cost and workload. And, of course, DS is sure it would be a waste of his time.</p>