Learning Outside the Lines offers seven organizing  basics: 

 1. Every notebook needs your name, phone number,  e-mail address, school address and mailbox number on
 the first page. 
 

2. Find a home where you always keep your notebooks. A backpack, messenger bag or spot next
to your desk would work well.
 

3. Choose and structure your notebooks according to
 who you are. This might be as pragmatic as associating colors with classes or scrounging binders at the Salvation Army. Identifiable binders also are a lot more likely to come back to you if you leave them behind. 
 

4. Giving yourself reasons to keep coming back to
your notebook is the surest way not to lose it —
whether that means storing pencils in there or keeping a timepiece tucked into the front.
 

5. Avoid notebook crossover. If you accidentally grab your biology book on your way to psych class, it is still better to take notes on a loose piece of  paper than in the notebook you have with you. Otherwise, those notes are probably as good as gone.
 

6. Once a week, sit down at a coffee shop with all your notebooks and book bag and tidy up.
 

7. Transitions between places or tasks are when stuff gets lost. Do a quick mental checklist of three questions before you move: Do I have all the  books I brought to class ? Did I leave anything under my seat? Did I stuff any random papers someplace? 

   Learning Outside the Lines :
Two Ivy League Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD Give You the Tools for Academic Success and Educational Revolution
US $10.40 Click here for reviews and to buy
Criticism for the public school system in the United States is nothing new; kids of all skill levels are slipping through the cracks at every age and in every city. Rather than attempting to change the system or point out it's failures, Jonathon Mooney and David Cole have created a practical guide to help kids jump through the necessary hoops to achieve whatever larger, postschool goals they may have. While much of the material is written for  kids who've received the label LD or ADHD, many of the suggestions can
 be just as helpful for those who've been labeled "gifted," or any other student who feels frustrated with the daily routine of standard education. 

 The introduction (personal histories of the authors) is great reading for  parents of LD or ADHD kids, and much of it has a humorous tone that makes it equally appropriate (and approachable) for discouraged adolescents. From the terror of weekly spelling tests to the few inspiring teachers and tutors the two encountered, the tales are equal parts
entertaining, poignant, and encouraging to others who may well be experiencing quite similar events. There's little discussion of what methods are right or wrong--ultimately, both authors take a fundamentally pragmatic  view, and it's "right" if it worked. A steady focus on study skills fills the
 majority of the book, and Mooney and Cole take what are generally pretty familiar stands on note-taking and test preparation and break them down into easily digestible concepts.

With different methods for different types of learners (visual thinkers are encouraged to use maps and brightly colored
 markers), students will find plenty of help in creating notebooks, focusing  their attention, and even appropriate ways of conducting the infamous  all-nighter. Including information on how to recover lost class notebooks,how to make the most of a syllabus, and "The Seven Habits of Highly Disorganized People," Learning Outside the Lines provides students with plenty of tools to further each reader's personal idea of success. --Jill  Lightner 
US$10.40 Click here to buy and for reviews