I would set up a filing system, either a drawer or a freestanding unit. After a unit is completed the student can file worksheets, quizzes and other papers in an appropriate file. Then when finals roll around he/she can grab the papers out of the file to study from them.

A bulletin board on the wall would be helpful. Across the top of the board you can put headers - Upcoming quizzes, Projects, Reports, etc. Or the headers can be the name of each class - Spanish, Algebra, English, etc.

He can use index cards tacked up under each heading - Under projects he might have an index card saying "go to library and get book about capital punishment", and then another card "summerize book", etc. I think kids have a really hard time with projects - breaking them into steps helps a lot. Sometimes they can't even start a project because it seems like an impossible job, whereas "go to library and get book" is really very easy.

My daughter requires lots of markers, colored pencils and pens, variety of papers, on her desk. My son, he's happy with a pencil and a piece of college ruled paper. See what your child needs to do their work happily and stock up. Always have at least 10 pieces of poster board in your house at all times. You don't want to run out at 10PM to get some because a project is due the next day.

A large white board calendar is nice to have. On it he can put dates of tests and due dates for projects, field trips, days that school is closed, after school activities, dentist appts and even things like "bring home PE clothes for washing". Writing it down helps them to remember it.

My family uses airset which emails my kids to let them know of upcoming events. They can then transfer those to the white board calendar when the email arrives.

This is up to you, but my kids have phones in their rooms. They often do homework on the phone with other kids in their classes.

A great book to have is "Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens" by Julie Morgenstern. It will give you lots of ideas, not just for desks, but for other things in the room and for time management.

Hope this helps!

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Hello Linda,

Immense help. Thank you for your response.
The query was focussed on a 6th grader who believes that 'he and time, just dont go together' and 'what's wrong with a messy desk'!!! A potent mix.

The idea about the bulletin board was useful and gives me a basis to start planning the workstation from desk surface up.

The hard part will be trying to get him to actually use the 'system'![/][/][/]