TIPS FOR YOUNGSTERS | How to manage time wisely

Some tips for helping children learn time-management and organizational skills, by age group:
PRESCHOOL
Set up a quiet area with good lighting, books and puzzles. Establish a late-afternoon routine for these activities. Later, this can become a study area with a desk, while the after-school routine transitions to homework time.
Set a timer and tell kids to clean their room for 15 minutes, for example. This helps them track how much time something takes and keeps them focused.
It seems obvious, but show children the basics: how to stack big books on the bottom and smaller books on top, for example.
As you clean a room or organize a backpack, explain what's happening to young children: "Help me put all the Legos in the Lego container. Let's store all the cars together in this box."
Don't assume that because you've got your act together, your children will too. Parents often organize their kids' time and belongings, and "children don't learn independent skills and how to put them in action," explained Peggy Umansky, founder of St. Louis-based It's About Time.
ELEMENTARY PUPILS
Show children how to track commitments on a large calendar in their room. Write down all activities, homework, tests, projects and time with friends. "This helps them learn to pace themselves," Umansky said. Break projects into smaller pieces, such as "do research," "write draft," "type final copy," instead of just writing the due date.
Help children set a homework routine. Suggest that they start with the hardest subject and end with the easiest. "I've seen kids waste 40 minutes just deciding what order to do their homework in," Umansky said. Keep a box with homework-related supplies.
Remind kids that they're wasting time if they do homework but don't bother to turn it in. "Students can lose an entire letter grade because they don't do the homework -- or displaced it or left it at home," Umansky said.
Keep a family dry-erase calendar using different-colored markers for each family member's commitments. Organizing consultant Audrey Thomas holds a weekly family meeting to discuss upcoming activities so her children know what to expect each week, down to who will pick them up from an after-school practice. "It helps you avoid that chaotic feeling that you're always one step behind," she said.
Buy a pack of adhesive notes and encourage kids to use them to mark where they left off reading on a page or to write down notes before they take a break. "This triggers their minds right back to where they were so they don't lose time," Umansky said.
Help children find the type of planner that works for them. It could be a day planner, personal digital assistant or microcassette (to read assignments off the board and listen to at home). Umansky prefers planners that show a week at a time. "Kids won't turn the page until they have to," she said. "So they might not see that they have a math test tomorrow until it's too late."
Set a timer for 20 minutes and ask children to focus on homework until it dings. Then they can take a break or eat a snack. "This helps build concentration and makes them more goal-oriented," said Cheryl Carter, executive director of Organize Your Life! and author of "500 Ways to Organize Your Child."
Insist that children clean out their backpacks at least once a week. Chances are, you'll hear, "Oh, that's where that is," Thomas notes.
SECONDARY PUPILS
Make sure pupils wear a watch.
Ask children how long they think a project or report will take -- they inevitably underestimate -- and offer a more realistic time commitment. Don't forget "extras" such as setting up meetings for a group project.
Encourage pupils to work backward when planning their use of time. For example, what time do they want to go to bed or be free to watch a TV show? Then what time do they need to start homework so they are finished by that hour? "Besides teaching time management, it shows natural consequences: You didn't start homework early enough, so that's why you're going to bed late," Carter said.
Insist that children write assignments down. "They think they're going to remember, but they can't keep all the information straight in their heads," Umansky said.
Have one folder for bringing homework home and back to school.
SOME ORGANIZING AND STUDY TIPS BY LEARNING STYLE
VISUAL
Store files in open crates or use clear containers.
Color-code when storing materials or files.
Use adhesive notes, checklists and reminder cards.
Use pictures, charts or graphs.
Back up reading by watching a movie.
AUDITORY
Speak messages on a tape recorder.
Study in groups for tests.
Use books on tape.
Read aloud (sometimes reading to a pet is helpful).
Edit work out loud.
KINESTHETIC/TACTILE
Use computers to do written work.
Try a personal digital assistant instead of a planner.
Do projects instead of written reports.
Play with a stress ball or Silly Putty while working.
Use a rolling or rocking chair so children can move within the confines of their study area.
Attach a puffy sticker to a homework folder or planner. When the child feels it, it's a reminder to bring home textbooks.
Kids don't have to sit at a desk -- the floor or bed is fine too.
Music might help children stay focused.
Sources: Peggy Umansky, Audrey Thomas and Cheryl Carter; The Seattle Times