Chances are, as your child begins the new school year, he or she does so with a sense of excitement, anticipation, and a little angst. You can help ease the transition, and help your child achieve his or her academic goals, by creating a well-organized workstation filled with all the essentials he or she will need to succeed.

Begin with a good desk that can comfortably accommodate a computer and its peripheral hardware as well as provide an additional writing surface on which you can place a cutting mat. Equip the desk with basics such as a calculator, a pencil sharpener, a bone folder, waxed twine, and note cards, plus pens and pencils in open containers. Then, add a wire holder and color-coded file folders, which your child can use to organize his or her work by subject. In addition, you can create shelves using the wall space directly above the desk -- an ideal spot for reference books, scissors, colored pencils, crayons, markers, hole punches, and other supplies -- along with a bulletin board including your child's "to-do" lists, as well as a special section that charts exemplary achievements.