Homework Station How-to

Choose a Focus-Friendly Space
From TV shows to playful siblings, each home is full of its share of distractions. To keep them to a minimum, stick to these basics when deciding where to set up your station:

• Minimize Temptations: Steer away from spaces with TV’s, stereos and gaming systems.
• Reduce Chatting: To cut down on casual conversation, provide each child with a personal homework station. When a table or desk isn’t available, a portable clipboard can come in handy.
• Help Keep Eyes on the Work: To help limit distractions, position your station’s seating so that it faces a wall. You can create your work surface with one of these clever approaches:

• Turn a cabinet into a desk: While searching for fabulous finds at thrift stores, keep an eye out for an old cabinet. By following our instructions you can turn it into a desk!
• Make use of a nook: Place a small desk in a nook, or use filing cabinets to make your own desk!
• Transform a closet into an office: Free up closet space by hosting a garage sale, then follow our easy instructions to turn it into a low-on-distractions homework station.

Tip: If short on space, a homework caddy will give your child the flexibility to study in a variety of locations. Cover a cardboard drink holder with decorative contact paper, and voila, it becomes an on-the-go organizer for pencils, scissors and more!

Organize & Accessorize Your Station

Once you’ve settle on the location of your homework station, keep it organized and adorable with simple additions:

• Organize Your Storage: Install a pegboard on the wall above your desk and attach anything from storage containers to handmade clocks!

• Accessorize with Color: Try color-coding your pegboard’s organizers to correspond with each bin’s contents. You can sort by subject (science, math, art) or supplies (crayons, pencils, paper). For an addition that’s both stylish and scholarly, hang a map as décor.

• Organize Your Schedule: Download and print our Words to Live By Calendar and use it to record due dates, plans and more. For miscellaneous notes and reminders, follow our instructions to make your own bulletin board.

• Accessorize with a Stylish Helper: Timeless and charming, an hourglass can be placed on a desk as a unique time management tool. If you can’t find one, a good old-fashioned kitchen timer works, too!

• Organize Odds and Ends: For small items like pushpins, staples and paperclips, repurpose ice cube trays or jars as organizers. When it comes to larger items like paperwork and pencils, follow our step-by-step instructions to make your own repurposed organizers for folders, notes, paperwork and pencils.

• Accessorize with Personalized Folders: Download and print our free folder labels and fronts for kids, then glue them to the outside of each folder as a categorization technique. Continue to keep folders in order with our 3-step organized folder system.

• Organize Thoughts: Turn all sorts of surfaces into workspaces for sketching ideas, trying out math problems or jotting down notes by painting on a few layers of chalkboard paint. Paint the top or side of a desk, a wall near your station or a wooden board you can hang on a nearby wall.

• Accessorize with Color: Found online or at a hardware store, colored chalkboard paint can really make your finish pop! Try opting for a calming color like sky blue or a brain-boosting color like purple.