The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in School and Beyond Reviews

• She knows what she is teaching...

  
  By A2FTCH80DSYS7L on 2005-11-28
  First a warning: I bought this planning to hand it off to my disorganized junior high school kid who gets either A+ on his homework or F- because he cannot find it in his backpack. BUT this book is written for the parent. And it is a great book. It is an easy read in the best sense. The book is very logically organized, progressing thru backpack, workspace, locker, etc... The author became a professional organizer many years ago when she had to rescue her own disorganized kid. We spend so much time and money teaching our kids English, math, foreign languages but we forget to teach them how to organize their work and thereby teach themselves. It was worth the price for me.
  
  

• This book has student organization nailed!

  
  By AB6S6A56UMEUQ on 2005-10-24
  I especially like that that the author describes more than one way to get organized, and the methods are not complicated. I've observed that schools (& parents) tend to attack lack of organization with even more folders, binders, etc., as if adding to the quantity will somehow reduce chaos.
  
  The initial thing I was looking for was advice on a workable planner for my middle school son. The author recommends one that has 2 pages for all 7 days of the week, and lists subjects down the side, so that the student can easily see patterns in assignments as well as a weekly view. The author writes over a teacher planner, as the proper layout is impossible to find. I ended up using this model to create one of our own using a page layout program & getting it wirebound at an office supply store.
  
  The author describes a simple yet very effective way to set up a ring binder system for keeping & filing papers & notes. However, ring binders can be awkward for some students: left-handers, those who must cope with small desks in class, or those who find binders hard to work with in general. The alternative system involves a portfolio with divided pockets to hold papers by subject; these are later filed into a binder or tote box at home. Either way, the student must "own" his system in order to make it work.
  
  There are other very valuable chapters on organizing lockers, desks at home, and filing old papers.
  
  This book is an extremely valuable resource for parents and students, and I discovered it just in time.
  
  

• Concrete help

  
  By AEBQGX28KUFN2 on 2006-07-31
  This is an excellent book that will be helpful to most students. I checked it out at the library and found it so helpful that I am now purchasing my own copy. My 12 year old daughter doesn't have a lot of trouble with organization, but occasionally loses an assignment here or there. I have read the book - only a motivated high school student could handle this solo - and found it to have some excellent ideas. The book gives several options as far as organizing notes and assignments, individualized as to the student's personal preferences or learning styles. The book includes pictures of how binders or accordian files, assignment logs, etc... should be organized. We will put her ideas into use this Fall so that hopefully things can be found quickly, assignments can be seen as part of the "big picture" and even fewer things can be misplaced. I highly recommend this book.
  
  

• A Hopeful Mom

  
  By A1EDV1O36FK1VY on 2005-08-18
  I am ever so grateful for the content of this book. As a mom of a 13 year old son with ADD the school year is a constant battle of "where's this?", "when's X due?", "did you turn in X?", etc., etc. I am for once looking at the coming school year with a great sense of hope.
  
  

• Very Helpful

  
  By A1DJSJA4ZT4FT4 on 2005-12-23
  I am an obsessively organized mom, who thought that just by being so, I would have organized children. What this book taught me is that just because I am an organized thinker, my child won't necessarily be. She really taught me to empathize with my 10 year old son; who can make straight A's when he can find his papers. Her tips were practical, and her book is so "readable" that it's a pleasure to pick up at night. I feel truly equipped to help my son get organized for the New Year, while maintaining my patience with him. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars, was that the second half of the book didn't feel quite as helpful (cleaning the teenager's room, etc). Although, I was very impressed with her chapter regarding "winding up" projects. I realized that it is a terribly useful skill, one that I myself fail to do at times.
  The most helpful chapters were on the organized backpack, travelling "office", cubby/locker, etc. I have a 12 year old who is already very organized; but there are some clever tips for her as well.
  
  
• Organize the organizer
  By A2C8H3O37B9JE2 on 2007-02-03
  This book has some helpful hints for helping students to be better organized, but the book itself is poorly organized. It didn't need to be nearly so long. It seemed as if the author felt the need to justify writing the book by fluffing the first chapters with fillers. I was constantly thinking "just get to the point already". Also, some of the comments about going to your child's school to help clean out lockers is just not realistic. Likewise, the recommendations to wait until your child is ready to cooperate are not really helpful. As a teacher, the demands on students today to get organized and stay on track and up-do-date are overwhelming.
  Connecting with your child's teacher and forming a partnership is the best way to communicate to the student that we are all in this together, and there really are few alternatives to "getting it together". Patience and gentle but firm prodding are the order of the day most days.
  
  
• A must for every middle schooler
  By A38B7HDD5E0FXL on 2005-08-16
  I was so very pleased with this book. We have two older boys who did not struggle with the transition to middle school at all. So when our daughter, who had been an excellent student in elementary school was suddenly not turning in homework which she had done and having other struggles - we were stumped. This book gave us questions to ask her, systems to help organize her and ways to keep her motivated. After having a bad 6th grade year. She is organized and motivated to begin 7th grade.
  
  
• The Organized Student
  By AR0JO2OWOGG4 on 2005-09-20
  The Organized Student is a must for all parents of middle school children - especially if your child is constantly losing their schoolwork and/or forgetting their schoolbooks they need for homework at school. I am a parent of a middle school child but being that his Mom is a professional organizer, he is pretty organized but I still picked up quite a few tips. The book helps with organizing ideas for the locker and backpack. Organizing ideas for the traveling papers (back and forth to school). Organizing ideas for the papers that live at home. It touches on time management, calendars/schedules and bedroom organizing. Each topic had a list of questions to help determine the best solution for your student. I found that to be very beneficial since different kids have different issues. It really helped to pinpoint the issue and a solution for it. The back of the book contained `further reading', `resources' and `shopping lists'. All of which I found very helpful. As a professional organizer, this book is sure to help you with your middle school age clients!
  
  
• A ray of sunshine in a world of disorganization
  By A2HV83RUCPHS8E on 2006-04-28
  The book is a road map in the world of disorganziation. My son and I both have ADD/ADHD and I really lacked the necessary organization skills to help my child succeed at school. I also apply the same principles to help me at work. This is not just for kids. It's also great for adults.
  
  We finally have a tool that can help us be succesful. The examples are easy to follow. The example photos were great. This is an extremely valuable resource for any struggling parent who has children who are struggling academically. The book is empowering and so easy to read and understand. This is definitely a resource you can't afford to be without.
  
  
• The Organized Student
  By AVJO2V7V2WU7M on 2005-08-08
  This is a great source of information for kids and adults. I purchased this for help with my 10 year old son who is organizationally challenged, due to his ADD. Loooking forward to implementing the book's tips during the upcoming new school year.
  
  
• A Book about the Basics
  By A3HKGR3RHA14CO on 2005-10-14
  I work at a bookstore and we had this on a display; I got so many comments from parents who said the book "saved their lives" that I picked it up for myself. This book is great. I know that people still in MS and HS will find Ch3 ("The Locker and Backpack") helpful, but for me Ch 4 ("Traveling Paper") and 5 ("The Desktop Filing System") were the most helpful. Ms. Goldberg outlined how to go about setting up a system that WORKS FOR YOU and made it budget-friendly. It's easy to take the suggestions she gives for MS students and apply them the the (slightly different) needs of a college student or working adult.
  
  When I go to bed at night I feel much more settled knowing that I am organized and prepared not just for the next day or week, but for the whole semester.
  
  
• The real nuts and bolts
  By A24CX7AIB0Y6N0 on 2006-09-19
  A great find. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't need this book. My [...] year-old saw it on the table and picked it up and found it helpful--though I think it's too dense for most kids. An important feature of the authors method is to have your kids participate in the process which will help cement it. Especially helpful if you have a child entering middle-school where the big changes of multiple schedules, moving classrooms and intense homework take place for the first time.
  
  
• Great for Parents
  By A1CDSSV9Q7810 on 2006-03-09
  This is a great book for parents. I have a very unorganized teenager. She had piles of papers and no idea what most of them were. Homework didn't get turned in, her grades went down, and she couldn't find things to study for tests. This book has a lot of great tips for getting your student organized. A lot of it is common sense with a few new ideas thrown in. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to help their child be more organized.
  
  
• Life Saver!
  By A2SMF8DCHBSCCU on 2005-08-27
  My boys, 14 and 12, have embraced the ideas and concepts of this book. For once, we are ALL looking forward to the upcoming school year!
  
  
• Addresses key issues in a child's education
  By A30WQI3H83JDB1 on 2006-03-12
  The book is written by a self-employed consultant who is unfettered by educational elitism and eschews psychological jargon. She directly and forcefully addresses key concerns such as: time management, physical organization, mental organization, the rudiments of project management, and file-purging. She shows how to diagnose the problems most kids have by observing their behavior and attitudes. She shows how to enforce changes gradually, with a "consequences" approach, and a "coaching" type of attitude. Its a good read and worth the ~$13.00. She may want to include the benefits of passive reading in her next edition.
  
  
• Review of The Organized Student
  By A1VZL6NFQKVHCO on 2007-05-21
  This book is very helpful. My son has just gotten into high school and has been very disorganized ever since [...]. I had no idea how to help him get organized and this book has some great suggestions and ideas, as well as explaining the phenomenon of an intelligent student being so disorganized that grades and self-esteem suffer. Thanks.
  
  
• Fantastic Ideas
  By A2XSCVMKAEKWA8 on 2007-06-12
  GREAT book! Lots of ideas, easy to implement with super results. I have used this both at home with my son and in my high school classroom!
  
  
• Just For Parents?
  By AC3RS86VXER32 on 2006-07-27
  I have never read this book, but I had to rate it so that I could post this question. I was wondering if anyone could please tell me if this book is just for parents. Could a kid or teen read it and understand it also, or is it mostly for the adult audience? Thanks in advance!
  
  
• What about the disorganized parent?
  By AMJ42IO1SE46L on 2008-02-25
  If you actually have time to sit down and read this book, you will probably discover there is nothing in it you didn't already know. The real problem is the overextended parent who doesn't have the time to be a good example of organizational skills.
  Well-written and informative.
  
  
• Excellent advice
  By A5DT9KXFWV7R3 on 2007-05-29
  Donna Goldberg gives good insight of the disorganized student. She offers solutions that are practical and easy to understand.
  
  
• You need this book!
  By A1ZIND80MFWL5Z on 2008-02-02
  I have never read another book about getting a student organized because I have never needed another book! I have read the book once each summer and skimmed it often. It is easy to understand, supplies are readily available and everything is flexible. No off the shelf binder comes close and there is not a filing system that I have ever seen for kids. My 8 year old read some sections and checklists before setting up his systems and enjoyed some of the stories the author included. We have 4 active boys with very messy rooms, but absolutely no lost papers, no disorganized backpacks, no missing work, no overflowing desks or lockers and no school papers floating around our house. Our children can manage the systems on their own and they do so because it's so easy. Our kids started early in elementary school and now it's second nature. As they get older, more of the book becomes relevant and is easy to implement. I honestly think that I have never gotten a better return on a few dollars in my life in terms of saving us time, reducing stress and helping our kids be successful and independent students. Now if only she could come up with a way to get them to keep their rooms clean!
  
  
• Wish I'd had this when I was a teenager!
  By A3OZ7N0ZRVE3HA on 2006-03-19
  This is a wonderful book! I heard about it on the radio and thought I'd check it out. My oldest son is only 7, but I was hoping I could get some good organizational tips to get him started. I think a good place to start is with time management. Donna talks about how the kids are taught how to organize and time management in school, but are not taught why they need these skills. My son is very imaginative, but very disorganized and has a great tendency to lose things. I hope we can implement things from this book little by little and by the time he enters middle school he will have all the tools available in this book.
  
  
• Excellent, practical information
  By A1L2IHAFI6XJU3 on 2008-01-07
  Excellent information for students and adults. Highly recommended! I'm a professional organizer, and I learned many tips for working with students.
  
  
• Every parent should read this Book!!!!!
  By AU63ANDZKYW39 on 2008-02-15
  I got this for a friend who's daughter just started High School and it helped more than anyone can imagine. Life is more fast paced than ever before and kids in school feel the pressure as well. This book has more solutions than a room full of parents. It is completely accurate and has helped this freshman learn how to be better organized in our high paced, complex high schools that seem to reflect the chaotic world we all live in. I give this book a 10+++++ rating and it is a must for every parent who wants to start helping their kids get organized well before college. I wish this book was around before I went to college 20 years ago. I am sending this book to my sister-in-law for my nephew who is 10 yrs old. Its never to late to start, in fact its a great book for adults as well..you can teach an old dog new tricks.
  
  
  
  
  
• Organization really does help
  By A2AWGJ496E3I3X on 2008-05-14
  This book is very well written and was recommended to us by the developmental medicine physician my son sees for his ADHD. I think it has a great deal to offer with alot of useful suggestions (especially how to set up a binder). We adopted alot of what she said and it did help my son (and also his sister without ADHD) but some of the ideas were over the top for a fifth grader. The child also has to see the value of organization because if he doesn't work on it and buy into it you will waste alot of time and money.
  
  
• Necessary Help For Students & Parents
  By AIBTCCJ6232DZ on 2008-06-30
  I am going to urge all the parents of my middle school students to purchase this book (before school even starts) and begin working with their children to set up the systems referenced.
  
  Implementing successful systems of organization for homework and classwork is not generally taught in school, and, as a result, students, parents, and teachers suffer. I will attempt to implement this book in the forthcoming school year as a practical guide for keeping organized.
  
  There are very few students (IMHO) who innately have the organization skills needed to be successful. The lack of direct instruction in this area (organization) is clearly missing from both the school/classroom curriculum and many parental words of wisdom.
  
  It is easy to tell a child to be organized. However, that is just not good enough! The authors write that organization has to be taught, just like any other subject with which students are unfamiliar. The instruction needs to be incremental, there must be maps (for lockers and backpacks), and there must be regular review and assessment of the organizational systems students are using.
  
  Teachers and parents cannot expect students to get truly organized on their own. This book is really written for parents who are interested in helping their children learn to get organized. Parents will have to commit a good amount of time and effort, but the return will be huge.
  
  The only point I have a minor disagreement with is the timetable for implementation. Whereas the authors recommend that the process of implementing the systems discussed in the book should unfold over quite a few weeks/months, I think students at my school (with the packed curriculum we have) would benefit with a more rapid implementation of the systems. I think to some degree parents will have to speed up the pace and get the systems set up more rapidly than what is mentioned in the book. It will take some time, and I think getting ready as much as one can before school starts will be a big help.
  
  With this minor point aside, I think the authors are spot on with their concepts and strategies, and I have high expectations for this book and how it is going to help my students be more successful.
  
  
• Great ideas
  By A2ZSTQYRIPNLF4 on 2008-08-31
  I like this book for parents of students who don't know where to begin and need a good overview. It is a how to on organizing techniques and esp. good ideas for kids making the difficult transition from homeroom instruction to different classes throughout the day, which is where the system usually falls apart with many kids.
  
  
• Good advice, but not practical for most
  By AT79BAVA063DG on 2008-09-22
  This book has several good tips (particularly on teaching the concept of time), but just how practical is it to teach a child a special organizational system, when many schools these days require the purchase AND use of a school planner? (Really a mandatory fundraiser, if you ask me.)
  
  I have seen where the school planner use is actually part of the student's grade in some schools, so aren't you just making extra work for the student? The author's advice to work it out with the teacher could cause problems (Why is so-and-so excused from doing what the rest of the class has to?). Or worse, it could get your child labelled, which you might have an issue with.
  
  It would be far better to just tell the student "This (a particular planner) is one of those things that you will just have to put up until you get out of this particular school. When you are out in the real world, no one will care how you keep track of important things, as long as the system works for you."
  
  Mind you, I'm all for teaching organizational skills, and I do agree with the author no particular planner/system is a one-size-fits-all solution. But, until schools get the message that it is truly NONE of their business how a student keeps track of his/her responsibilities as long as assignments are turned in on time, this book would be much more useful for someone who is homeschooled, or going to a more enlightened public or private school, where one has more choice in how to keep track of things. An adult going back to school again might also find this book useful.
  
  The author does tend to go overboard on some things, such as writing every little thing in a planner--really, who has time for that--and her assumption that every child is either over-scheduled with outside activities, and/or is having difficulty in school planning out how to do long-term assignments such as research papers, wears thin after a while.
  
  I also took off a star for the book being printed on cheap newsprint, considering the price.
  
  Borrow from your library first, before buying.
  
  
• Not bad, but not very good either
  By A17S8JQXYXS3MX on 2008-10-06
  The book is readable, and it has nice hints about physical space, surroundings, etc. Unfortunately it is a little too commonsense and basic - do we really need pictures of office supplies to show us what they are? I am a bit disappointed.
  
  
• Truly Helpful
  By ADYNML9CCL61F on 2008-11-29
  This is the second time I bought this book, because I loaned it to a friend and never got it back. That's how much she liked it, too. Practical and straight forward. I bought it to help organize my 4th grader who habitually forgot to bring homework home, or bring back to school. This book is aimed at parents rather than kids, and does an excellent job describing the deficiencies in adolescent Executive Function and how we, as parents, can help compensate. Highly recommend.
  
  

• Organizing from the Inside Out for Teenagers: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Room, Your Time, and Your Life
• Super Study Skills (Scholastic Guides)
• Where's My Stuff?: The Ultimate Teen Organizing Guide
• Get Organized Without Losing It (Free Spirit Laugh & Learn Series)
• Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention (The Guilford Practical Intervention in Schools Series)