Back to School with Peter Walsh and Office Max

“A place for everything and everything in its place”..as said by Peter Walsh during the Back to School Webcast sponsored by Office Max.

These words really got my attention as I was listening in during the show, hosted by Peter Walsh, organizational extraordinaire from TLC’s Clean Sweep. In attendance was also a teacher, mom and students to help demonstrate the most effective ways to maximize space and organize at home, in the classroom and your child. I freely admit, I’m not the most organized mom, I like to call my space “organized chaos”. To the outside eye, it looks like a disaster, yet I know where everything is. While this strategy may work for me, it’s not the lesson I should be teaching my children.

In an effort to change one space at a time, I took many of Peter’s tips to heart and set out to organize my child and his workspace at home. Oh wait, he didn’t have a workspace!

Follow along as I take Peter’s basic 3 step at home tips to my child’s bedroom in an effort to get him ready for the new school year.

Organize the Home

STEP 1 – Fine the Vision you have for a space.

Clearly this is the place to start. My 8 year old son, entering 3rd grade this year will have some serious work in store for him when it comes to homework and he needed a space of his own. Last week we picked up his very own desk and started with “clean slate”

STEP 2 – Make Organization a Family Value

While I’m not quite there yet, we’re working on it together. The first step was defining spaces for everyone in the house, learning to respect each others areas and finding the best practices for keeping areas organized.

STEP 3 – Use the Right Tools for Great Organization

Office Max provided webcast participants with an awesome assortment of Schoolio Von Hoolio back to school products including items like: pencils, erasers, notebooks, binders and more, budget priced at .99 – 5.99 each. A trip to Office Max led us to this great black wire organization kit that included everything we needed to keep his desk space neat and manageable.

More great tips from Peter Walsh to organize for back to school.

TIPS FOR YOUR CHILD

1. Show that you value Organization
2. Establish Clear Limits and Routines
3. Always Complete the Task

TIPS FOR YOUR CLASSROOM

1. Establish Clear Routines
2. Involve the Children with Classroom Organization
3. Use Words, Pictures and Color to Organize

Whether your children attend public school, private school or home school, the tips lay out the ground work for keeping you and your child organized and ready for a successful school year. I urge you to check out the recorded webcast featuring Peter Walsh and watch him go in depth on the above highlighted tips.

To stay up to date on all the news and happenings with Peter Walsh and his team of helpers, connect with them online.

Peter Walsh: Twitter.com/Peter_Walsh and Peter’s Facebook Page

OfficeMax: Twitter.com/OfficeMax and School Supplies Deals

Heather Wolpert-Gawron: Tween Teacher blog

Ana Picazo: Finding Bonggamom

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.