How to Help Your Child Get Their Homework Done with Evan Weinberger: Including Homework Planner and Checklists for Kids
How to Improve Executive Function: Simple Tools that Actually Help Kids Stay Organized
As a psychologist and a parent, I talk with families every week who are exhausted by one recurring problem: their child can’t seem to stay organized, manage their time, or follow through with schoolwork. They want to help, but no amount of reminders or nagging seems to stick. That’s why this conversation with Evan Weinberger, founder of Staying Ahead of the Game, is one I think every parent should hear.
Executive function skills are the foundation for independence. When we improve executive function, we’re not just helping kids turn in their homework. We’re teaching them how to plan, organize, and manage their emotions when things get hard. These are the same skills they’ll need to thrive in high school, college, and beyond.
Understanding Executive Function
Executive function is a set of mental skills that help us organize our thoughts, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. When children struggle in these areas, they may appear lazy, distracted, or oppositional - but that’s rarely the truth. The real issue is often underdeveloped executive functioning, which makes it difficult to plan ahead, follow through, and self-monitor.
If your child often forgets to submit assignments, misplaces their materials, or takes hours to complete a short task, that’s not a character flaw. It’s a sign that they need structure and strategies to improve executive function in a way that fits their developmental stage and learning style.
Why Parents Feel So Frustrated
When parents spend time each night helping with homework only to find that nothing was submitted, it can feel like betrayal. The frustration comes from caring deeply but not knowing what else to do. The good news is that executive functioning skills can be taught. You can help your child build the systems they need to succeed without constant reminders or conflict.
The goal is not perfection - it’s progress. Each small change that helps your child improve executive function will also make your daily life calmer and more predictable.
1. Start with Structure: The Power of a Homework Planner
One of the most effective tools for strengthening executive function is a homework planner. Planners create an external structure for the internal process of organizing and sequencing tasks. When students write down their assignments, deadlines, and study goals, they’re practicing the cognitive skills of attention, planning, and working memory.
However, most kids don’t automatically know how to use a planner effectively. Parents often hand them one and expect it to work like magic. Instead, think of it as a skill to teach, not a product to buy. Sit with your child to model how to use the homework planner each day. Review upcoming assignments together, and show them how to break large projects into smaller, manageable parts.
Make sure the homework planner stays visible and consistent. The goal is for your child to eventually check it on their own and experience how planning ahead makes life easier. This sense of control is what begins to improve executive function long-term.
2. Build Habits with Checklists for Kids
Even the most organized adults use checklists to manage their days. Kids need the same scaffolding. Checklists for kids turn complex tasks into concrete, repeatable steps. They also provide a sense of accomplishment each time an item is checked off - a small but powerful form of positive reinforcement.
Start by creating checklists for kids that are specific and predictable. For example:
Morning checklist: get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, pack backpack, review planner.
After-school checklist: unpack, snack, do homework, organize folders, prepare for tomorrow.
These routines reduce emotional decision-making, which helps strengthen the brain’s ability to self-regulate. Over time, kids internalize these sequences, and what began as external support becomes an internal skill. Using checklists for kids consistently is one of the simplest ways to improve executive function at home.
3. Teach Time Awareness: Strengthening Time Management for Teens
Many children struggle with time perception - they don’t accurately feel how long a task takes. That’s where time management for teens comes in. Helping children estimate, track, and adjust their use of time is central to building independence.
You can start by creating clear expectations around how long certain activities should take. Set a timer for homework or morning routines and let your child compare their prediction to the actual time. The goal is not to rush, but to increase awareness. Over time, this kind of gentle feedback improves planning, pacing, and follow-through - all core elements of time management for teens.
The combination of a homework planner, checklists for kids , and consistent timing strategies allows children to gradually internalize structure. This process is how we improve executive function in a way that lasts beyond elementary or middle school.
4. Reinforce Effort, Not Just Results
Parents often focus on grades or finished assignments, but the most meaningful progress happens in small steps. When your child organizes their binder, reviews their homework planner, or completes their checklists for kids without being reminded, that’s the moment to notice and reinforce. Praise effort, not just outcome.
This form of positive reinforcement strengthens motivation and builds confidence. Children who feel capable are more likely to take initiative, which is exactly what we want when teaching time management for teens and self-regulation.
5. When to Consider Additional Support
Sometimes, despite everyone’s best efforts, a child continues to struggle. That’s when working with a professional can make a difference. An executive function coach or therapist can help identify your child’s unique learning style, create systems that fit their personality, and support both the student and parent in maintaining consistency.
At Thriving Child Center and PCIT Experts, our goal is always to bring evidence-based strategies into real family life. Whether it’s a structured homework planner, visual checklists for kids, or hands-on time management for teens exercises, these tools are designed to make daily routines calmer and more sustainable.
Final Thoughts
Helping your child improve executive function is not about fixing them - it’s about teaching skills that help them thrive. When we give kids the right structure, we empower them to develop independence, confidence, and resilience.
If your evenings have turned into a cycle of reminders, resistance, and frustration, know that you’re not alone - and that it can get better. With consistent use of a homework planner, practical checklists for kids , and patient teaching of time management for teens, you’ll begin to see lasting progress in your child’s ability to organize, plan, and manage their responsibilities.
Listen to the Full Conversation
For more strategies and real examples from my conversation with Evan Weinberger, listen to the full episode of The Educated Parent Podcast:
How to Help Your Child Get Their Homework Done with Evan Weinberger: Including Homework Planner and Checklists for Kids
Additional Resources
Learn more about evidence-based parenting support at Thriving Child Center
Explore nationwide teletherapy through PCIT Experts
Get parenting insights and resources delivered to your inbox — join The Educated Parent Newsletter
Let's Connect:
Love having expert tips you can actually use? Join our newsletter and get a beautifully designed PDF of each episode’s top 3 takeaways—delivered straight to your inbox every week.
Are you a provider? Subscribe here for professional insights and parenting resources!
Connect With Evan Weinberger:
Reach out (713-665-4263 or info@saotg.com) to discuss any additional support needs for academic tutoring and/or executive function coaching
-
[00:00:00] Leah: Welcome to the Educated Parent Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Leah Clionsky, and I am really excited about this episode because it's going to solve a problem so many of us have. So have you ever had the situation, your child is, you are doing their homework at home, and then when they go to school, you think they're turning it in and you find out right about this time of year that they're actually not submitting any of it.
[00:00:28] Leah: Or maybe you think they're doing it and they're not even actually doing it. And then as a parent, you're so incredibly frustrated and you're saying, how do I actually get them to do the homework or submit the completed homework? I helped them do. That is what our guest is here to talk about and why I am so excited to bring on Evan Weinberg.
[00:00:47] Leah: He's the founder and CEO of staying ahead of the game, a Houston based academic coaching and tutoring company he founded in 2006. With a focus on helping students build the executive functioning skills that they need to be successful in the classroom and beyond. The core components of this program include organization, time management, study skills, and influencing the perception of others.
[00:01:12] Leah: Evan, I'm just so excited you're here.
[00:01:14] Evan: Thank you for having me, Leah. I've been looking forward to this.
[00:01:17] Leah: Yeah, we're gonna have fun, especially because I know that as a, even though you're an educated parent, you're also a parent, and so you have to help your own kids at times with these kinds of skills.
[00:01:30] Evan: I, I am a parent of three myself, so I listen. Parents, you are not alone. Leah, you are too. We're both, we're parents. We're right in the trenches along with you.
[00:01:38] Leah: Yeah, except for my kids are at the age where whenever they have homework, it's mostly my homework that I have to do and give to their class. So far we haven't run into this difficulty, but I think it definitely starts happening more for kids. Do you think like around middle school or so where they're like really starting to struggle?
[00:01:56] Evan: Yeah, so kids start using planners and some of the tools that we'll talk about today, they start using planners, things to write down stuff, to bring home things they actually, that are important that they have to bring back to school. Maybe starting a little and second, it ramps up in third, fourth, fifth grade.
[00:02:11] Evan: But at that juncture, they still have one or two teachers. The teachers are moving around as opposed to the kids moving around throughout the day. And so you're right in middle school, that's when the teachers start using this online portal. The kids get devices issued to them. They get email addresses with expectations to check those emails.
[00:02:28] Evan: And then they start bouncing around throughout the day from class to class and have specialist teachers, one for social studies, one for math, one for ELA. And so yes, you're right on the money. I think middle school is definitely where it happens, but there is some practice that starts second, third grade.
[00:02:43] Leah: Yeah, I, what I always think is interesting is how incredibly frustrated parents feel about this, because they're like, they're putting in all this work on their end to at nighttime, they're like sitting with their child, they're getting it done, and then at the end when they never submit it. It almost feels like a betrayal sometimes to parents in that moment,
[00:03:03] Evan: And it is, it's so much worse than that. 'cause parents, myself included, sometimes feel helpless. Because school looks so different now than it did many years ago when we were in school, which I don't wanna say is many years ago, it was just one many, right? Many years ago. But even our parents, many years ago when they went to school has evolved so much and there's smart classrooms now and the lot's done over email.
[00:03:24] Evan: Once kids get to a certain age and there's devices, they're doing math through these devices. My math lab, I excel, et cetera. That it makes it difficult. For parents, thinking about their own experience and what worked for them, app apply, copying and pasting, applying that same thing for their kids is not going to help their kids because the nature of school and the whole paradigm, there's been a big kind of shift in the whole dynamic of school and the way school works and therefore what it takes to be successful in school now versus 20 years ago and 20 years before that.
[00:03:56] Leah: You are right. I was thinking as you're talking about all the apps that everyone has to worry about. I see this in my first grader the other night. She wakes. We're putting her to bed and she's like, wait a minute, I haven't done my homework in, I excel and we didn't know there was any homework in I excel and it's now nine we're already past bedtime and there's, figuring it out in the moment.
[00:04:17] Leah: What are we gonna do about this? And that's what the first grader who's life is managed for her with a lot of protectiveness.
[00:04:23] Evan: Yeah. Now I will say it's not all bad, right? I don't wanna say it's all bad. I Excel, for example. It's pretty neat, when a teacher presents a concept or two or three in class and then assigns homework for kids to go and practice that at home. Kids in the classroom, when they hear it the first time, they get that information at different rates.
[00:04:41] Evan: And so some kids. May only need to do it 5, 6, 7 times at home. They get it. Other kids might need to practice 25, 26, 27 times at home in order to get it. And so a program, those programs like IXL are adaptive. And if you understand the concept and you've done it correct two, three times in a row, it will move on to the next concept versus the child who's continuing to struggle with that concept.
[00:05:04] Evan: It will give you 2, 3, 4 more questions just about that concept. And so it's actually neat, it's different amounts of homework based on the needs of each individual child and things are moving that direction. So it's not all bad. There's bumps in the road, but it does. Create a complication for parents trying to help their kids and they're reflecting on their own experiences and it's just so different now.
[00:05:25] Leah: Yeah, I didn't even know about that. I thought it was like a worksheet. When you were done. But I guess at least, it got turned in right? Like that the homework got turned in. It's different than if you like do the worksheet and then you have a child who maybe has a DHD and then, they brought it home.
[00:05:41] Leah: They brought it there in their folder and it never got into the teacher's actual hand and they're not getting any credit.
[00:05:47] Evan: I, absolutely. I, yes. Ditto, echo. Like this, what did they do in the sorority houses like this? I agree with you a hundred percent.
[00:05:54] Leah: snaps? I was in a sorority girl, so I'm
[00:05:56] Evan: Oh, no I think this is like a silent way of saying I agree, is what I understand.
[00:06:01] Leah: Oh, no, I'm like outside my culture. I don't know what that is.
[00:06:06] Evan: I could be wrong. I could be way off base.
[00:06:09] Leah: Yeah, we'll just make it up. We agree. Via, via that hand signal. That's what that means.
[00:06:13] Evan: That's right. That's right.
[00:06:14] Leah: Yeah. Yeah, you're right. There's so many like different variables, and since you are specializing in helping kids with executive functioning, I'm sure like every day you hear all about this constantly.
[00:06:26] Evan: I hear all about it, and when I started this 20 years ago, nobody was talking about executive functioning. I actually called it life skills because, just nobody knew what that term executive functioning really meant. Now it's more commonplace. People are talking about executive function, but these are the real skills.
[00:06:42] Evan: That lie at the foundation that you don't get a grade for directly. But every kid who's doing well in school and sustaining that performance is developing systems and honing their executive function skills. Some of the things that we're gonna talk about today, so I've been real, I was been looking forward to this.
[00:06:58] Evan: I'm super excited. Executive function is such an important topic. Schools are realizing it. They're starting to incorporate it into some of the classes that already exist. Some are reaching out to us, asking us to teach a course at their school in recognition that these are really critical skills and the purpose of school is far beyond math, social studies, English language, et cetera.
[00:07:19] Evan: It's there, it's organization, it's time management, it's study skills, it's self-advocacy and all the skills around that presentation skills. Et cetera. Well, what umbrella term do all these fall under executive function? No doubt that this is an absolutely critical and important topic.
[00:07:35] Evan: And then when you look ahead at the college years, depending on what research you read a quarter to a third of kids within two semesters end up back at home. And what's the biggest difference in that transition from high school to college is all of a sudden, kids have 35 to 40 hours a week managed for them, and then they go off to college.
[00:07:52] Evan: You're only in class. I don't know, 12, 15 hours a week, it's still a full-time job, but kids are not accustomed to managing that much time. So if they go off to college with poor executive function skills, I would say if I put into a pie and all the pieces were the contributors to kids who are a failure to launch why it was that they failed to launch a bunch of those pieces can be consolidated under the idea of poor executive function skills.
[00:08:18] Evan: So an unbelievably important topic.
[00:08:21] Leah: Yeah, that makes so much sense. And like what you're really saying too, is that like your ability to know how to manage your time. Manage getting tasks done in a organized way within certain parameters, is when you have to be in charge of that. And you don't have mom and dad sitting there being like, this is your study time, right?
[00:08:39] Leah: Focus on this subject. Like you have to be able to know how to do that on your own or you just can't adult essentially.
[00:08:45] Evan: Yeah I do many presentations all over the country. One about the transition from high school to college, and I believe it's the biggest transition kids make in their entire lives for many reasons. But you noted a big one, which is the scaffolding is no longer there. Right? Parents call your kids' college and ask for an update on your kids' grades.
[00:09:02] Evan: They'll pretend like they don't know you unless it's about the tuition bill and you're funding that they're not gonna answer any questions. And then your kids, depending, differs depending on your relationship with your kids. That's why it's important to maintain a really good, healthy dynamic and relationship with your kids so that they will talk to you.
[00:09:17] Evan: But, a lot of kids are really busy in college. They're distracted. So distractions are high. Nobody else on campus has the same schedule. Professors change every few months instead of, all year. Every assignment, project test feels like a long term, really big lofty assignment because most classes you'll have three tests in a paper and that's it.
[00:09:34] Evan: And you have so much more time to manage on your own and without that supervision and scaffolding and support from your parents who can, kind of chime in when they see that you're struggling. And so all those things combined make it, I think, the biggest transition kids make in their entire lives.
[00:09:49] Evan: And executive function skills are absolutely critical to launching successfully.
[00:09:54] Leah: So if we can teach kids how to turn in their homework assignments now, then as. As they grow, then they can start applying the skills that take them to the place where they can complete and turn in the homework. We can use those skills in other areas of life, including being successful in college or being successful in making sure that you pay your bills on time, which is also important to do.
[00:10:15] Evan: I, I have a binder with all the manuals of the major appliances in my house, and it's structurally, it's not so dissimilar to the binder that I created when I was in school, and that we to this day create a variation of that binder for every student that, that we work with one-on-one or in a group setting.
[00:10:33] Leah: Wow. All right. Well, I love that you're saying all of this. It is time for you to share some strategies. What do we do if we run into this situation? How do we help kids turn in their homework?
[00:10:46] Evan: So I, I have a four point checklist for you, four things that you can do and everybody listening today, you can implement these things starting tonight. So one, one is a binder. Something happens when kids transition from elementary school to middle school where they realize. Okay, I'm moving around from class to class.
[00:11:04] Evan: I have teacher specialists. Now I'm getting different types of work, short term, medium term, long term work from, at least five often, 6, 7, 8 different directions. How am I physically organizing that material and digital organization? We can talk about for a minute too, but how physically, how am I organizing?
[00:11:23] Evan: There's still enough, even with a growing amount of work that never sees paper. There's a lot that's exchanged old school style via paper. So something happens in that transition where kids say, ah, I need to separate this stuff from each class. What is the most logical way to do that? Create a separate binder for every class.
[00:11:40] Evan: What is the net effect of that? Kids end up with 6, 7, 8 different binders. That are beautifully labeled, classwork, homework, et cetera. Quizzes, tests, reviews vocabulary, grammar, et cetera. And that's great. But times 6, 7, 8 different binders, they won't all fit in a backpack.
[00:11:56] Evan: If you try to fit them in your backpack, you'll break your backpack or your back, one of the other. And so what how can we accomplish the same thing? So what we do with our students is we actually set them up. With two binders, sometimes one, and we can get by with one in middle school, early, early years of middle school.
[00:12:12] Evan: But generally two binders. And each of those binders we've developed a system that we use with students that have traditional dividers and then subdivides. And so it feels like every class has its own dedicated binder but really you're just juggling, you're just juggling two binders and you put up to four classes in each binder behind your English tab.
[00:12:32] Evan: You go through and talk. As you're, when you're organizing your materials, you go through and talk about what does this teacher how does he run his or her class, right? And so do we start with a warmup every day? Do I take notes in class? Is the vocab its own book or do I get, distributed vocab sheets?
[00:12:47] Evan: Same thing for grammar. Should it be handouts, worksheets. And so every teacher runs his or class differently. Totally fine. I actually think that's great. But that means that we need to label our subdivides a little bit differently for each class. The goal is within two or three seconds of getting anything from your teacher designated place for it.
[00:13:05] Evan: No kid ever has told me that staying organized is hard. Getting organized is hard. And so, starting that process and getting everything together, creating a place for everything. It's kind of like your house. When your game room gets messy. Let's say for example, your game room gets messy. What does that mean?
[00:13:21] Evan: That means stuff is everywhere. How do you clean it up? What does that mean? It means you put everything back in its place. That means everything has to have a place or else you'll never get to that place where it's all organized and clean, right? And so the binder's the same. It's about creating a place for all the different types of work that you're gonna get across all of your classes.
[00:13:39] Evan: So that is tip number one. It's so if you create it properly, it's so easy to maintain. It comes home every night. I tell kids, you work just like I do. I bring my briefcase home every day. You bring your backpack home every day, it goes to and from school, and it always has everything that you need in it.
[00:13:55] Evan: And you can retire those binders every semester, every school year, and create new ones. Who knows? Maybe one of your teachers now explains things better than a college professor down the road. So it's nice to keep that stuff.
[00:14:06] Leah: You know, I would, I like that you're also talking about in here is that this is an. Effort with the parent, right? Because sometimes I think parents get frustrated and they say, go organize yourself. Just like they say, go clean your messy room. But for a kid with executive functioning challenges, they don't know where to start.
[00:14:23] Leah: So they just say, no, I can't. Right? And then they're in trouble because their backpack is just full of paper. So like there needs to be. Someone with better executive functioning to sit down with the kid with poor executive functioning to help them organize that system in the first place, or they have no way of even getting into that organizational system.
[00:14:43] Evan: I a hundred percent agree. I think that's great. It's a matter of sitting with kids and just talking through each class, making organized notes about it, and then getting the right supplies and the getting the right supplies. I'm gonna make it easy for every one of your listeners. And so in, in the notes for this podcast, I'm gonna provide a link.
[00:15:01] Evan: That has the exact supplies that I'm referring to, where you have a binder with dividers that fit nicely in the binder and then subdivides that fit nicely within those dividers. It was not easy to land upon that. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different options out there, and they, all, the measurements are all a little bit different.
[00:15:20] Evan: So to put this binder together that I'm describing, I'll provide a link and make it easy. Save every, everybody, all of your listeners, a lot of time.
[00:15:26] Leah: I am so grateful for that. That's gonna be amazing. So you don't have to go recreate the wheel. Evan already created the wheel. All you have to do is follow his. Plan. Amazing. Alright. After the binders, what do we do?
[00:15:40] Evan: so binder, I guess the half step behind the binder is digital organizations. So for those students who have devices that growing amount of digital work, make sure some schools are Microsoft schools, Google schools, whether it's Microsoft OneDrive or Google Classroom. You know, creating bookmarks in your web browser for the portals you go to regularly, making sure files are stored in those clouds, in that Google Drive account or in that Microsoft OneDrive account.
[00:16:03] Evan: The only thing worse than losing your device is losing everything important along with it. And so just some little tips that a digital organization is just as important as physical organization. But tip number two, objective tip number two, planner. Oh my gosh, I cannot stress the importance of a planner.
[00:16:19] Evan: I don't wanna name the school, but I was at a very large and pretty prominent school in town and learned that they, along with a lot of other schools, have stopped supplying students with planners. It's not even available to, to purchase. And when I asked why it wasn't, oh, well, we don't think they need them.
[00:16:35] Evan: You know, we think the portal is an adequate substitute. The reason is because they said, well, we noticed kids weren't using them and they're not cheap, so we're just not providing them anymore. I think that was an awful answer. I think that the answer, if kids aren't using them, we need to double and triple down on how we're explaining the importance of them, and then teach kids how to use them.
[00:16:53] Evan: Every student needs a student planner. This is your task management system. This, that, that anxiety that we as adults feel and as parents feel when our phones realize are not near us, and we just feel a little bit anxious until we find it and it's near us again in case our kids need something that I want to create synthetically.
[00:17:14] Evan: That type of anxiety relate for kids and their parents. Students need a planner. Portals are different. Their function is different. Portals have three functions. One is it tells you when this quiz is happening, when this test is happening, when this project is due. It's a resource for that kind of information about due dates.
[00:17:33] Evan: It's also a resource. For class PowerPoints and answer keys to review sheets where you know your teacher's using 152 slide PowerPoint for the next two and a half weeks in class. They're not gonna print that and give every kid a copy. They're gonna put it on the portal and kids can access it through the portal.
[00:17:50] Evan: They can download it or view it on the, from the portal and go through that. Use it for studying, et cetera. So that's the second part of portals. The third part is, and not all schools, there's still a couple that are holding out, but most schools you have the ability to check your grades. It's not always a hundred percent accurate.
[00:18:05] Evan: Sometimes there are things that are in flux that are waiting to be graded but it gives you an idea if you've turned things in, if things are missing, and generally how you're doing in every class. That's it. Those are the three functions of a school portal, not a single, there's no fourth function of a planner.
[00:18:21] Evan: The portals are edited primarily by the schools and the teachers. Students, generally speaking, don't have the ability to edit the portals. Great two students taking the same classes from the same teachers at the same school in the same grade. Their portals are going to look identical, okay? Because they, they have the same exams, the same projects, the same due dates.
[00:18:41] Evan: Their portals are gonna look identical planners, their planners should look very different because planners are your task management system. That is, what do I need to do today, tomorrow, and the next day in order to stay on track, to meet the deadlines of everything across all my classes that are coming up.
[00:18:57] Evan: And so some students are more right brain, some are more left brain, some math comes a little bit easier, some writing comes a little bit easier. I have students that need to spend over a week interacting with the material, reworking problems, meeting with the teacher two or three times, just so that they can feel confident going into a math exam.
[00:19:14] Evan: But their twin sibling or best friend who's in class with them they can start two days before or even the day before, and they do just fine. And so their planners, while their portals will look identical, their planners should look very different because it's a reflection of your own individual strengths and weaknesses and what you as an individual need to do today, tomorrow, and the next day to deliver what you need to deliver in the timeframe that you are asked to deliver it.
[00:19:37] Evan: And so, there are some key ways that we teach students to keep a planner effectively, but all students need one. They need to write something next to every class, every day. They need to be specific. So actually don't just put bookwork, but write a hundred page 152 numbers, one through 20 even. Or, you know, write your actual homework.
[00:19:57] Evan: Cross things out as you complete them, star things that are due the next day. If something is a bigger assignment, break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks and assign those chunks to different days. I'm gonna do this part on this day, this part on that day. Again, crossing things out when you're done, et cetera.
[00:20:12] Evan: So these are the exact ways that we teach every one of our students on a one-on-one setting or in a group setting to utilize their planners. But they should be writing something next to every class, every day, even none if they truly have no work.
[00:20:27] Leah: I love that the idea of this planner, it has to be physical, right? It's not like you're not like, use this virtual planner. There's something about writing things down that helps you remember them better. There's, I think, some research supporting that. So you're like physical planner. And also there has to, you have to teach your child how to use it.
[00:20:44] Leah: If you just say, here's a planner, you better use this. If you don't know how to use something, then you just won't. Right? Here's a car, go drive it. Right? If you don't know how, you can't go anywhere. So I love that you're doing that. What's our third thing?
[00:21:00] Evan: So our third thing is checklist. Okay. I'm a big fan of checklists. I know it may sound juvenile, but checklists are so I still make them when I go out to run errands and back to the planter thing that crossing things out, writing things down is really important. Crossing things out, actually releases feel good chemicals in our brain, which is why we feel so good crossing things out.
[00:21:20] Evan: And when we realized, when we made a list of errands to run that we also need to swing by the dry cleaners. So we whip around, we swing by the dry cleaners, we grab what we need, we get back to the car. We then go and add it to the list just so we can cross it out because it feels good, right? And so same kind of concept, but checklists are so important to have around the house.
[00:21:39] Evan: Here are the two things you do every time you get to the classroom. Here are the three things you do every time you get home. Here are the seven things you do before you go to bed. Here are the three things you do in the morning, right? I don't care how old you are. So helpful these checklists. And if you are, a lot of kids I find are like more.
[00:21:56] Evan: Alert in the evenings than they are in the mornings. Getting out the door can be a problem. There are some things on a checklist that you can pre-do the night before for the morning. There are some things you can't, right? You can't pre brush your teeth the night before for the morning. Right.
[00:22:09] Evan: But you can lay your clothes out the night before. So that you don't have to think about that in the morning. You can put all your stuff back in your backpack, zip it up, and even bring it to the door, to the garage, or even one step better. You can put it in the car. You can decide what you're gonna eat for breakfast in the morning.
[00:22:24] Evan: If it doesn't require refrigeration, you can even put that together on the counter and ready to go for the morning, right? So, so think about that and checklist. Are so important and at every stage of life, I know my you know, my wife created these wonderful checklists for my young daughters.
[00:22:38] Evan: Now they're young one's in the threes, one's in first grade, and it has little pictures and created this custom thing I think she got on Etsy, where you slide it over and then you slide 'em all back the next day and then repeat it, right? So you can get, have a lot of fun with these. You can print things, laminate them, write with expo markers, and erase them.
[00:22:57] Evan: So I, you know, and I still use these as adults checklists. They just, you know, have matured a little bit my checklist, and now they have categories and things. But I think at every phase of life, checklists are so important as a double or triple check that you've done everything. And you'll find that much, far fewer things fall through the cracks by using and utilizing checklists.
[00:23:17] Leah: Yeah, I love a good checklist too. Use 'em every day. I don't know how I would get through things without 'em. So the checklist, and I know there was one more thing, Evan, that you wanted to bring up.
[00:23:27] Evan: One more thing. And this is really for the parents and the support circle of every student, right? Positive psychology. There's a whole new branch of psychology called positive psych. Positivity is so incredibly powerful. Positive reinforcement. And generally, you know, it's another topic.
[00:23:43] Evan: You could do a podcast on positive and negative reinforcement, but it. It's encouraging the behaviors you want more of and discouraging the behaviors you want less of, right? And so positive reinforcement being your kid's biggest and loudest cheerleaders when you see them making steps in the right direction, reward that effort regardless of the outcome or the results.
[00:24:01] Evan: Reward that effort. So when you see your child doing any of these things, maintaining their binder reorganizing their binder on a daily or weekly basis when you see them keeping a planner and doing a good job for an entire school week, right? It's really important that you incorporate that positive reinforcement.
[00:24:17] Evan: When they are looking at those checklists and then they tell you, oh, I, you know, I almost forgot this. And then I looked at my checklist, reinforce that they're doing that, reinforce that they're using those tools. It will encourage them. To Habitualize using those tools. And then you'll find that they bring those tools with them to college.
[00:24:34] Evan: And when you go visit them many years later in college they're using a lot of those same tools that you were reinforcing so that feedback, that reinforcement is so, so important. So this is for the caregivers, for the parents and others in student support circles.
[00:24:49] Leah: And I couldn't agree with you more, and if you as a parent are hesitant, go back and listen to my episode about praising Your Child and why you need to do it with Julia Lair, because we do talk about it for a whole episode. So important. Well, Evan, I am so glad that you came on to share these strategies.
[00:25:07] Leah: Hopefully we can use them in the middle of the year and help reorganize some students who are struggling. Talk for a minute about how people can find you and staying ahead of the game if people want. You know, if parents realize I need someone who is not me to help organize my child, right? Like, we have too much tension, or I'm too disorganized to help them, how can they contact you and get help?
[00:25:29] Evan: Sure. So if you need a captain of the ship, if you need a little extra reinforcements, we help students with executive function. So organization, physical and digital. Implement these systems for time management, juggling planners and portals to maximize outcomes, understanding how they learn. So there's dozens of research driven science-based study techniques, strategies that are proven but not each one is gonna work equally well for each student.
[00:25:52] Evan: If you need some help. I helping your student identify what maximizes outcomes specifically for them as an individual or academic tutoring, math, science, English history, foreign languages, standardized test prep, college essays, et cetera. We are here for you, so you can find us@satg.com, SAO tg.com on Instagram and S-A-O-T-G on Facebook.
[00:26:14] Evan: At staying ahead of the game we have a fabulous newsletter, monthly newsletter. You can sign up on our homepage, SA tg.com. Scroll to the bottom. And it's a monthly newsletter. We also, our website has over 250 blogs, all about what we discuss today and other topics related to executive function, exercise and executive function, coffee or caffeine and executive function, just all things related to executive function.
[00:26:38] Evan: Check it out. Keep in touch. I spend my time doing presentations at schools for educators all around the country as well as parent workshops for parents. So if you are working at a school or you're interested in hosting something like that at your school, feel free to reach out to me. And look out for that link for the, to our blog with all the links to create the binder that we talked about for physical organization.
[00:27:00] Evan: And if your school no longer carries a planner, reach out to us. And I got your.
[00:27:04] Leah: Yeah, and we do have links for all of those things. Evan mentioned the website, the social media so that you can contact him and get help. We refer kids all the time to staying ahead of the game. They're amazing. Well, thanks so much again, Evan, for coming on. Thank you for listening to the podcast today. I hope you have a wonderful week, and I will talk to you again next Tuesday.