Q. What age is the H₂O / Homework Organizer meant for?

A. The H₂O / Homework Organizer is targeted to assist middle to high school students.  With adult guidance, it can be used for fifth graders as well. 

Q. What type of student benefits most from it?

A. The H₂O / Homework Organizer is very effective with students who have executive functioning difficulties, which includes ADHD/ADD, learning disabled, gifted underachievers, regular ed and special ed students.

Q. How is the H₂O / Homework Organizer different from other homework planners?

A. Unlike other products, the H₂O / Homework Organizer provides a step-at-a- time system for teaching organization and planning skills.  It can be used completely, with all its features, or just partially, depending upon student needs and challenges.  It is behaviorally engineered to provide success-promising stepping stones to kids who are reluctant or unmotivated to take a risk and try.

Q. Why doesn’t the H₂O / Homework Organizer have the glitz and glitter of other planners?

A. The H₂O / Homework Organizer intentionally does not include distracting graphics or extras that detract from its main purpose—to teach organization and planning skills and increase the homework completion they foster.  We believe that glitz and glitter are not instructive and actually interfere with this process. It has been described by educational expert Dr. Mel Levine as “very practical yet highly sophisticated” for a reason:  it is exquisitely engineered using the most effective principles of learning and behavior, and yet it has “translated” these into a program that is practical, understandable and down-to-earth.

Q. Who is responsible for the development of this book?

A. The H₂O / Homework Organizer was created and is self-published by Dr. Gail Epstein Mengel—a veteran school psychologist who specializes in helping kids get their lives organized and their homework done. 

Q. How do you get kids to start using the book?

A. The back cover of the book has a survey that appeals to kids to decide what area of their school lives they want to make easier for themselves.  It directs them to the related feature of the book to focus on first. 

Then, to get kids started actually using the H₂O / Homework Organizer, a checklist is provided for beginning-of-school-year homework assignments. The checklist is very stepwise and specific in guiding attention to the multiple features of the book. This makes it immediately familiar to them so they can see how the book “works.” The checklist is also intentional in orienting kids with respect to time, schedule and calendar.

Q:  Why is the Homework Organizer called “H₂O” and what are the rippling water and stream of water about?

A:  The water theme for the cover of the book came about at the suggestion of the author’s high school son.  The idea of “H₂O” was the result of the Homework (H) Organizer’s (O) being published in its 2nd (2) edition.  H₂O became the integration of these. The symbolism of the rippling water has to do with the book’s making an impact (teaching organizational skills) that has far reaching effects.  We were hoping to perpetuate a “mystery” that people might want to ponder and figure out!

Q: Can you bind a school’s handbook into the Homework Organizer?

A:  Although we don’t like to associate other content—especially if it contains disciplinary information—with the book and dilute its intent, a school handbook can be bound into it for a slight extra charge.  Please call for more details.

If you don’t see your question answered above, send us an email!