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By Kristin Backert

Recently, a friend (and Thinking Organized colleague!) dragged me out to be social and enjoy the nice weather. We were chatting about books while eating some froyo, and she mentioned that she’d read about 100 books last year. Now, I love reading as much as the next person, but 100 books?! How on earth did she have the time? Was she secretly a robot? I immediately felt guilty about not reading nearly as much as my possibly-a-robot friend, and I started plotting how I could get close to 100 books this year.

But as I sat and plotted, I ran into a problem. Namely, I have so many hobbies that if I tried to just focus all my efforts on one, I’d be forced to neglect the others (or I could just avoid sleep altogether). Reading, puzzling, crocheting, and running all take up good chunks of time, not to mention any new hobby that decides it wants to join my life. If I didn’t want to cut back time on a hobby but also wanted to increase how much attention that I devoted toward others, I would have to come up with some sort of plan.

This is all still a work in progress, but my initial plan to Increase Reading Time looked something like this:

• Reading: go to bed earlier so that I can have at least a solid hour of reading time. Depending on the text and how I’m feeling, I can knock out a few chapters every night.
• Puzzling: when the work day is over, take a few minutes to relax and puzzle. Focus on one section for maybe 20 minutes to clear my head before dinner.
• Crocheting: while watching TV, work on my current project! Do this for about 30-60 minutes each night if possible, or every other night.
• Running: wake up early to run and beat the heat of the day. Depending on the temperature and whether I’ve busted my knee again, the amount of time that I’m outside will likely range.

A lot of this depended on me altering my morning and evening routines, which seemed doable. Once 9:00 pm hit, I aimed to get ready for bed, giving myself about a 20-minute grace period in case I was working on something and couldn’t stop exactly at 9 pm. Then, I set my alarm early enough so that I’d be out the door by 8:00 am to head to a running trail. While I don’t love waking up early on weekends, I have really loved exercising in the morning; it somehow makes the rest of the day that much easier to get through. And while it definitely feels weird to sometimes be in bed before 10 pm, I’ve absolutely loved having so much time to just sit there and read.

While I don’t think that I’ll hit 100 books this year, I feel better knowing that I’ve thought through how to divide my time amongst my favorite hobbies (other than figuring out if my friend is a robot…I can sacrifice that pursuit…for now). There are just so many things that I enjoy doing, so if I manage my time properly, I know that I’ll be able to tackle them all!

By Gaby McLish

Looking for a fun way to practice executive functioning skills with your child over the summer? Look no further! Everyone has one day during the summer whether it be the weekend or a day off from camp where you think to yourself…why didn’t I plan anything? In times like these, it’s actually a great opportunity to get input from your children and have them plan a day or an activity. Putting your children in the driver’s seat may seem scary, but with the right support and enough planning, it can be a rewarding and fun day. Here’s what you can to do to make it happen:

1. Talk to your children: Ask them to think of something that they would really like to do this summer. If they have more than one idea, they can make a list and pick a few (if they’re all doable in one day, great! If not, pull out a calendar and see how you can space these days out).
2. Brainstorm: Take some time to have your children think about what they’re going to need to make their day happen. Here are some guiding questions you can have them answer:

• • • Where are you going?
    • What are we going to do there?
    • What makes this a good activity?
    • How will you get there?
    • How long does it take to get there?
    • Do you need money for your activity?
    • If yes, how much?
    • What time do you need to be there by?
    • Who is going with you?
    • What day are you going to go?
    • What do you need to bring with you?
    • What will the weather be like?

3. Make a Plan: Once these questions have been answered, they can serve as a roadmap for planning the day. If your children (with some help) can identify and execute all the things necessary to do the activity they’ve picked, then they can get to it! If they need more support, it’s a great opportunity to work with them to troubleshoot the difficult parts and discuss alternatives for next time. You can help them think of things that they may not have considered, such as money for food or an activity to bring during downtime.
4. Talk about what they accomplished: Let’s say that your children decide that they want to meet their friends at the pool for the day. They will need to pick a time to meet, set their alarm to get there on time, consider ways to get themselves there, and remember to bring sunscreen, among other things. Successfully planning this activity, even partially, is an accomplishment, and you can discuss how this mindset can be applied to other areas of life (i.e., how could you use these skills to get to school? Pack a bag for a trip?).

Regardless of the result, summer is a great time to try something new, so make sure that you and your children make it a fun experience!

By Kristin Backert

Readers, by now you know that I’m an old geeky woman at heart. I crochet, read comic books, collect Pokémon cards…I am a multifaceted individual!

And today, I’m here to share one of my old lady hobbies: puzzles. I’ve loved puzzles ever since I was a kid; anytime that I went to a dollar store, I’d stock up on new 500-piece puzzles (anything less than 500 pieces is for babies, obviously). As a kid, I’d throw on a CSI, Law and Order: SVU, or Project Runway marathon and just lose myself for hours. Sure, my back would be aching and my hands would have carpet imprints on them, but it didn’t matter. Puzzles were just such a fun way for me to pass the time.

As an adult, I’ve started to think more about why puzzles have been such a big part of my life. In addition to passing the time in a way that didn’t rot my brain (per my parents), I’ve always loved the challenge that they pose. Going through the box to first locate all of the edge pieces and figuring out where they go, deciding which portion of the puzzle to work on next (always choose a solid color block to work on!), figuring out how the shapes all go together…puzzling is all about staying organized and adjusting your plan if the first one fails. There are still times when I’m positive that two pieces just have to fit, but no matter how many times I try, there’s always this tiny pinch of space between the pieces that signals that they are not, in fact, best friends.

Above all, puzzles are a great way for me to relax. Sure, there are tons of frustrations – why won’t these two pieces just fit?! – but the ability to sit for a few hours, or even just a few minutes, and solve a low-stakes problem is incredibly soothing for my brain. For however long I spend sitting on the floor (or table if you’re fancy enough to lose an eating space), I can take a break from all of the things running through my mind and just focus on what’s in front of me.

Now as an adult, I’m coming to appreciate that feeling even more. When life feels stressful, it’s comforting to know that I’ve got a surefire way to help relax and calm my brain down. So, if you’re looking for some stress-relieving, executive-functioning building activities to try this summer, then invest in a puzzle! Here’s the most recent puzzle that I completed to help inspire you, complete with my ancient puzzle board (seriously, I’ve had this board for at least a good 15 years):

By Cassie Castro

I believe that your physical environment reflects your internal headspace, and for that reason, I enjoy seasonal cleaning… not just Spring cleaning! I have tons of cleaning and organizational rituals – daily activities like making sure my bed is made before I leave for the day, weekly tasks like vacuuming and washing sheets, and monthly goals like deep cleaning the bathroom. I find cleaning and organizing to be very therapeutic and calming.

I look forward to all of my cleaning rituals, but I get excited about seasonal cleaning the most. This is the time when I systematically tackle each room of the house, inventory what’s inside, and purge to give away for donations! I endeavor to live minimally (but I sometimes get lost in the chaos of retail therapy and trending Amazon life hacks). Here are my favorite seasonal cleaning guidelines:

• Work in one room at a time, targeting one space of the room at a time. For example, if you’re planning to start in your bedroom, start with one section of the dresser before moving on to the next. The last thing you want to do is start going through and inventorying too many things that you feel overwhelmed and give up!
• Take everything out of their designated storage spaces. Create three piles: keep, throw away, and donate (and if you wanted, a sell or repair pile, too).
• How do you determine which item goes in which pile? As Marie Kondo, the famous organizing consultant, suggests, if it sparks joy, keep it! If you haven’t used it this season or last season, check for quality to donate or throw away. If you’re holding onto it because of its monetary value, look to sell or regift it.
• If you’re having trouble letting go of something sentimental, take a picture of it and then let it go.
• Set a goal for what you want to accomplish each day… Keep chipping away at it!
• Put on your favorite playlist and have your friends or partner participate by helping.

Now that you’ve minimized the clutter in your space, you can reorganize your belongings and move on to phase two: deep cleaning! This means that it’s time to break out the cleaning supplies, dusting and polishing tools, and the vacuum. More on that for my next blog!

By Julia Simak

It’s Spring Break! Your friends may be off eating pasta in Italy or tanning on a beach in Florida, but your family decides to take this time to catch up on life and have everyone pursue their most creative passion. Too much time has passed since you last sat down with your thoughts and dipped into your creative hobbies. It has just not been  the right time… well, the right time may be now! With a plan in place, you can embark on a journey of pursuing a craft that you’ve always wanted to do. Whether you’re interested in learning how to knit, bake a three-layer cake, or learn French, keep reading to learn the most efficient way to plan your Spring Break!

Step 1: Brainstorm
Spend some time getting inspired! Although you only have a week, any long-term plan needs a place to start. Whether you go for a nature walk, explore the nearest city, or go down a YouTube rabbit hole, make a list of anything you find that catches your eye. Don’t limit yourself – even if skateboarding looks difficult, add it to your list if you’re legitimately interested in it. Also, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to become an expert with your chosen creative pursuit in the course of a week; maybe Spring Break is spent solely on identifying potential options and then creating a shortlist. It’s up to you to decide!

Step 2: Get Organized
Lists, lists, lists… and make a list of your lists! Everything can and should be organized in a … you guessed it… list. There are many variables to consider when beginning a new hobby. For example, what research do you need to do before starting? What materials do you need? Where can you acquire them? Where is the best place to work? Who do you need to contact? The list goes on. Once these questions are answered and the lists are filled with valuable information, you can move to the next step.

Step 3: Time Management
You have one week. Seven days to fulfill your lifelong dream of crocheting life-sized frogs. Take out a weekly calendar and start planning! Here is an example:

Your weekly plan can and should change depending on the goals that you’ve set for yourself. For example, if you didn’t have time to buy yarn on Monday because there was a huge storm, you can shift your plan around so that you can go to the store on Tuesday. As you’re tackling each step, remember to have fun!

What creative endeavor will you pursue this Spring Break?

By Madeline Albertine

When I hear someone mention “February,” I immediately think of Valentine’s Day and how this holiday can mean a lot of different things for people. When I think back on my childhood, Valentine’s Day often meant classroom parties at school. We got to show up with personally decorated boxes and pass out cards and candy to all of our classmates. I loved taking ownership over creating my box and selecting what goodies to pass out during the big day. Valentine’s Day is the perfect way to engage students in planning fun activities, whether it be for a school party or a fun family celebration!

In order to get your children involved in the holiday, talk over plans for the day: Do they need to bring candy to school? Are all families chipping in $5 for a pizza party (with the pie shaped like a heart, of course)? Can you prepare for a dinner together as a family? Whatever it may be, this can be a great opportunity to practice executive functioning skills!

For school
Involve your children in the process of creating a Valentine’s Day box, selecting cards to pass out to classmates, and choosing the best candy to hand out. Whether you have them write out a list of supplies that they need to creatively put materials together from scratch or simply take them to the store with you to choose their own materials, help them take ownership over this activity! They can also make a list of their classmates, along with something that they truly enjoy (think soccer, whales, rock music), so that each card can be super personal. Below are some great inspirational boxes that remind me of what I did when I was in school. Use this as an opportunity to spend time with your children and be as creative as you want!

For home
Does your children’s school not celebrate Valentine’s Day? That’s okay! My family always used the day as an opportunity to show our love and appreciation for one another. My dad often got us candy, my mom created cards for each of us, and my siblings and I got to pick what we ate for dinner. This is a great way to involve the whole family in a day of planning to have a special evening together. Challenge your children to make personalized cards for each member of the family; see if they can make cute puns about dad’s love for golfing, mom’s love of tennis, or a sibling’s love of Minecraft. Finish the activities by encouraging the kids to take charge of baking a special dessert for dinner.

Make this Valentine’s Day one to remember by working together. Create lists of supplies needed to celebrate in the way that you choose. Then, once supplies are gathered, sit around the table and enjoy creating crafts or eating a delicious dessert together. After all, Valentine’s Day is all about showing those you love that you care!

Box Ideas

Snack Ideas

Images from:

36+ Valentine’s Day Dessert Recipes

Easy Valentine’s Day Treats

https://www.sixcleversisters.com/10-minute-valentines-day-treat/

By Colette Hapi

Happy New Year, everyone! With 2024 upon us, I’ve been reflecting on some of the challenges that my students have faced in managing their assignments so far. One big issue that I’ve noticed is how students are struggling to juggle on-paper and digital homework. This hybrid system has led to a perplexing scenario where parents, eager to support their children, are left in the dark due to delayed school portal updates. The result? Students find themselves lost in a sea of uncertainty, parents are frustrated, and grades appear to be all over the place. But fear not! Together, we can develop a strategy to vanquish this chaos.

With the digital era colliding with traditional paper assignments, students are grappling with a unique set of hurdles. School portals will automatically update an assignment deadline, marking tasks as missing or incomplete – even if a student submitted a hard copy. Teachers don’t always have the bandwidth to grade work the night that it’s turned in, thus causing the portal to possibly show assignments as mistakenly being missing. Students can swear up and down that they’ve turned in their work, but if there’s no update to the school portal, we enter a difficult world where we feel like we have to doubt the student’s honesty. That can lead to tons of resentment and anger directed at the student, the parent, and the teacher. To help reduce these negative feelings, I’ve implemented a simple yet powerful strategy with some of my students to bridge the gap between the analog and digital worlds. This method not only eases the burden on parents but also empowers students to take charge of their academic responsibilities.

The Assignment Tracker Strategy

• Step 1: Empowering Students. I guide my students to maintain an assignment tracker (download a copy of it here!). This isn’t just a digital to-do list; it’s a tangible document that requires a teacher’s signature when an assignment is turned in. This hands-on approach encourages a sense of responsibility and accountability.
• Step 2: Real-time Updates. Rather than relying solely on portal updates, students carry their assignment trackers to class. When they submit a paper assignment, they get the teacher’s signature on the tracker. This simple act becomes a real-time acknowledgment of their submission.
• Step 3: Panicking Parents No More. With teachers updating the portal when they can, parents no longer find themselves in the dark. The assignment tracker acts as a parallel record, providing a tangible way to track their child’s progress without the need for constant portal checks.
• Step 4: Clarity for Students. The assignment tracker isn’t just a formality; it’s a lifeline for students. It serves as a visual representation of their academic journey, allowing students to see exactly what has been turned in and what still requires attention. No more excuses or confusion about the status of assignments!

In the ever-evolving educational landscape, the assignment tracker has proven to be incredibly helpful for my students. It brings order to chaos, empowers students to take control of their academic responsibilities, and provides parents with transparency. I’ve personally witnessed the transformation and am a big proponent of how simple solutions are the most effective. So, here’s to navigating the paper-digital divide and fostering a harmonious academic journey for students, parents, and educators alike. Have a great 2024!

By Jessica Bauman

With the winter holidays upon us, your head might be spinning from wondering what gifts to get for the loved ones in your life. If gift-giving is part of your winter tradition, games make great presents! Games offer a fun activity for the often-increased family time that comes with this season, and learning to play a new game is an excellent way to shake the winter doldrums. As a source of novelty, it can provide a mental energy boost, as well!

Games also provide chances to practice and reflect on executive functioning skills. There’s no shortage of recommendations available online, so you can find the best game tailored to you and your family’s interests, strengths, and ages. The most important thing to remember about these lists is that nearly any game can support executive functioning if intentional conversation points out the skill that the game is demanding and how it might relate to real-world situations. Does the game require players to set priorities? Think flexibly? Make a plan? Control impulses? Focus? Use knowledge of categories and associations? Nearly all games will use at least one of these skills and can, therefore, become a teaching tool!

That said, after an extensive review, I’d like to highlight the following two game ideas. I hope that these ideas, plus intentionally framing any game that your kiddos already love, help you and your family have a holiday full of both fun and skill-building!

For Older Elementary Students (and Perhaps Younger!)

• Kid-friendly, updated takes on chess. The “Game of Kings” is a timeless classic that requires planning, perspective-taking, and problem-solving. You can’t advance far into the game without learning the meaning of the word “strategy,” so it makes sense to place “spin-offs” of it at the beginning of a list of executive functioning games! Several options exist for making the game more engaging and less intimidating for younger children (and older folks who are learning to play!). Storytime Chess and its expansions teach the basic rules and more advanced tactics through a series of characters and stories, for children as young as 3. No Stress Chess, for ages 7 and up, teaches the rules by dictating player moves via cards that players draw. As players gain experience, they increase their independence by selecting from draws of two or three cards.

For Tweens and/or Teens (and Older!)

• Take Among Us off the screen, and make it wordy. If you missed the Among Us craze that took over teens’ phones in recent years – well, you may not know many teens with phones (haha!). The premise of that game is to identify, by careful observation and deduction, which of several players on a spaceship is the “impostor” – i.e., which player is sabotaging other players rather than completing assigned tasks. The Chameleon takes the “find the odd one out” premise and takes it low-tech. It’s recommended for ages 14 and up, but reviewers frequently note enjoying it with children aged as young as 10. In this game, all players but one (the “chameleon”) are privy to a shared word or phrase. Players must say a word that’s obvious enough to signal to other players that they know the secret information, but vague enough to make it challenging for the chameleon to say a word that fits the topic. This game is recommended for a group size no smaller than three people and works better with larger groups (up to 8 people).

Happy gaming this holiday season! What will your family be playing together?

By Gabrielle McLish

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to whip up some potatoes, stuff the 20lb turkey, and sit back and relax while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (or if you’re in my family, opt out of the parade and watch The National Dog Show instead!). While we think of Thanksgiving as a day to spend time with family and friends and eat more food than you would ever consider eating on any other day of the year, the holiday can also be a stressful time for many. There are often many moving parts that go into getting dinner (or lunch) on the table. Only last year did I come to fully appreciate the amount of executive functioning skills that goes in to making Thanksgiving happen.

Until last year, my contribution to the Thanksgiving meal was deciding how many appetizers should be placed out before dinner (a very important job if you’re like me and love hors d’oeuvres). However, last year my family decided to switch it up, and we moved our longstanding tradition of having Thanksgiving at my house to a NEW location. This threw a wrench in my once relaxing and enjoyable holiday. All of a sudden, there was food that needed to be packed into the car, tablecloths and silverware that had to be accounted for, and OOPS – don’t forget a pan big enough to fit the turkey (because I did)!

If you’re like me and keeping track of all these things makes your head spin, here are some tips and tricks to help you stay on top of your Thanksgiving meal this year:

1. Make a list! Simple, I know, but often when we’ve done something over and over for so many years, we assume that we can easily remember what we did the year before. But think about how much happens in between Thanksgivings – it’s a year full of summer BBQ’s, birthdays, and other holiday parties. Making a list at the beginning of November can save you time and energy when approaching the holiday. Google Keep, Google Tasks, or even just the Notes app on your phone all allow you to make checklists that you can refer back to, and they make it easy to check things off as you go. Here’s what my list looks like this year:

   

2. Communicate and Delegate! If you’re eating dinner with others, remember that it’s okay to delegate and ask for help. If this is finally the year that you consider giving up the responsibility of making the stuffing, don’t be afraid to ask someone else to do it. When my Thanksgiving changed, there were so many new things on my plate that my hors d’oeuvres didn’t make it. When it finally came time to set things up, I was disappointed that there was only some leftover cheese and crackers to set out for my friends and family. Basically, I forgot to delegate the job. This year, I’ve already asked my brother to follow in my footsteps so that by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, I won’t have to worry because I know my appetizers will be in good hands.
3. Chunk out your time! This tip is for the day of (T-day, if you will). As we all know, there’s so much to get done on the day that sometimes we don’t even know where to start. To ease the otherwise overwhelming tasks at hand, my suggestion is to chunk out your time, ahead of time. Spend a few minutes looking over your list (which by now you should have already made…right?) and label each item with a time. Then you can set aside chunks of time in your day/on your calendar to make it all seem manageable. Breaking things down into smaller chunks helps our brains make huge tasks more digestible.

Prepping for T-Day can be hard, but you can make it easier by planning ahead! How do you and your family plan on spending the holiday?

By Kristin Backert-Evans

Many of my students will tell me that they’re dreading an upcoming presentation and that public speaking is their least favorite thing in the world. I don’t blame them! Public speaking comes with a unique brand of horror, and it’s something that many people, students and professionals alike, struggle with. Knowing that you might freeze in front of a group of people or might misspeak is a terrifying thought.

Last month, I attended a comic book signing. I was super excited and blew through tons of things that the author had written so that I would be more familiar with his work. But as the signing day got closer, I found that I was dreading it and secretly hoping that it would get canceled. Maybe an earthquake would occur and swallow the comic shop, or maybe a bear would tear through the shop and eat all of the comics. Alas! No more signing!

Even though I was so excited, I was incredibly nervous about speaking to the writer. After all, if you’re going to get something signed, there’s going to be at least a little bit of small talk. In this case, I was going to talk to a guy who redefined my perception of a character, so what on earth could I possibly say to him? Anything that I attempted to say would either be something that he had heard before (“OMG I love your work”), something inane (“uhhh….hi…umm….bye”), or maybe just a vague garbled sound as I choked on my words (“BLARG!”). And if I said something silly, I would possibly perish on the spot. Not only that, I knew that I would likely look ridiculous: when I’m nervous about speaking, I tend to turn red, shake, and sweat. Better to avoid this pain by simply not going to the signing, right?

Although my head said that the logical thing to do was to pretend that the signing wasn’t happening so that I would avoid some mental pain, my heart said otherwise. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve wanted to speak to someone that I admired but ended up chickening out. I’ll never forget the time that I saw David Quammen, one of my favorite science writers, speak at the National Book Festival a few years ago. My husband and I hung back so that we could chat with Quammen afterwards, but I was so nervous that I didn’t say anything; my husband ended up having to carry the whole conversation. I nodded along while they spoke, but I don’t think that I actually heard what they were talking about because I was mentally yelling at myself to say anything, say something, just speak! Oh, I can message authors and such on social media without any problems, but the second they’re literally standing in front of me, it’s like my brain decides that my mouth can’t work and that all power must be diverted to making me turn red as a tomato.

Even though I knew that there was a chance of internal humiliation, I also knew that skipping the comic signing wasn’t ideal because I would feel bummed about not meeting the writer. In order to prepare myself for the inevitable small talk, I had to do a lot of reflecting. Would I turn red and possibly shake? Yes, but there were steps that I could take to mitigate those things, like take deep breaths while waiting in line to calm myself down. And even if I did turn red, so what? Surely I wasn’t the only person in this long line who felt nervous, and no one was really going to pay attention to another fan in line. The most important thing that I did, in my humble opinion, was plan in advance what I wanted to say. For several days, I ran through potential options that wouldn’t embarrass me on the spot. When it came time to get my comic signed, I introduced myself and paused because I could feel my heart starting to go wild. But I took a deep breath and used one of the lines that I had thought of a few days prior, and I actually said it! Just the act of getting that sentence out instantly made me feel better. And when the writer responded positively, that feeling of validation was awesome. We spoke for a few more seconds, and then, boom, it was over.

Days and days of agonizing over a 30-second interaction is nothing new to me, but it’s something that I’m actively trying to change. While I’ll still probably have catastrophic thoughts about everything that could go wrong, I know that I can tell myself something like, “True, but if the comic shop doesn’t get hit by a meteor, here are some things that we can say to the next writer.” This will probably continue to be a work in progress for a long time, but it’s something I’m happy to work toward.