Peace of Mind Organizing

Back to school organizing (featuring Peter Walsh and a giveaway!)

7 August 2009

I’m not a parent, so the phrase “back to school” hasn’t meant a lot to me since I was actually in school, a long time ago. But I realize for a lot of parents, the beginning of the school year brings along mixed emotions, including worries about getting/keeping kids organized with their school day and school work.

Yesterday I was one of 200 bloggers who watched a webcast on this very topic from super organizer Peter Walsh, accompanied by a couple of bloggers: middle-school teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron and stay-at-home-mom of three Ana Picazo. There were also two school-age children, Keaton and Megan participating.

In the lively, 40-minute webcast (which you can watch yourself here) Walsh and his team discussed tips and strategies for helping kids be organized both at home and at school. The takeaway message was one that applies to adults as well. To help students be successful, establish limits and routines.

Examples of routines include emptying the backpack every day. Or setting out clothes the night before, to make mornings easier. Examples of limits include establishing a storage area for a category of belongings (like toys) and helping the child understand that if the storage area is full, nothing new can be added until something is taken away. Walsh encouraged parents to include kids in the donation process, so they can understand about giving to people in need.

Another nugget was the suggestion from teacher Wolpert-Gawron to give teachers supplies, not an apple or “#1 Teacher” mug when you feel like giving a gift. Teachers often have to purchase supplies for their classroom out of their own pocket (to the tune of an average $1200, according to Walsh), so a gift of supplies would be much appreciated.

The blogcast was sponsored by Office Max which carries Walsh’s IN PLACE SYSTEM of office products. They also carry a fun line of kid-centric school supplies, called Schoolio Von Hoolio. They’re available only in stores, but it’s worth it to venture because they’re offering great back to school savings in the OfficeMax stores right now.

Here’s the giveaway

Since I was an invited participant in the blogcast, OfficeMax sent me a box full of the Schoolio Von Hoolio products. And now I want to pass them on to you.

Here’s a photo of the actual goodies:

The box the giveaway winner will receive will contain the items pictured above:

• 7-pocket expanding file
• Owl and cupcake rigid binder
• Purple heart flexible binder
• Hot pink drawstring bag
• Purple heart composition notebook
• Owl and cupcake composition notebook
• Owl and cupcake spiral notebook
• Owl clipboard and mini notebook
• Cupcake two-pocket folder
• Pencil box and pencil set

To enter, just leave a comment below. For an extra entry, tweet about the giveaway on Twitter (in addition to your comment). Please be sure to put @janinea in the tweet so I’ll see it. The winner will be selected at random at noon CDT in the US on Tuesday, August 11.

ETA: We have a winner! Using the Random Integer Generator, Diane Wilkinson of Pacific City, Oregon, was selected. The box of goodies is on the way to you now, Diane. Thanks for all the entries and the tweets. I hope to be doing another giveaway soon.

Tagged with: giveaway, peter walsh, students

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