Organizing Tips for a Neat Backpack

It is beyond belief how messy my middle-schooler's backpack is. I have tried to give him organizing hints, but he just keeps shoving all his schoolwork in the bag -- even his neatly done homework. How can I help him get organized? -- For Organization
Answer: Everyone has different standards of neatness. Some students have perfectly organized notebooks with every paper in the right place. Others like your son just jam paper after paper in their backpacks. Most students are probably somewhere in the middle.
If your son is doing well in school and seems to be able to find papers and other school materials without too much trouble, give up on trying to organize him. Disorganization is working for him, so he is not going to be committed to changing.
There is one thing that you can do to minimize the problem of the overstuffed backpack. Before he starts his homework each day, insist that he find the papers and books that he needs in the backpack and dump the rest into a specific bin or box in the house. In this way, he'll start each day with an empty backpack except for material being returned to school. This should satisfy your desire for him to have a neater backpack as well as make it much easier for him to find important papers.
When the box or bin is full, he can either sort through the papers and find those he wants to keep or simply throw everything out. You may wish to date a few and put them in a folder or album, as they will be a good record of how he is progressing in school.