Create a Schedule Practice for Elementary Kids

Jan 26. 2020

ORGANIZED UNDER: Schedule

As our children progress from littles to elementary age, we see a lot of growth in their independence. They’re able to do much more of their self-care, engage in chores more independently, and more. That makes this stage a perfect time to start helping them progress from scheduling habits that we teach them to learning the nuts and bolts behind a solid schedule.

Although it will be a while before your child is ready to build a schedule on their own, this is a great stage to start implementing activities that help them practice schedule-building skills.

Tips for the Getting Excited Stage

2nd - 4th Grade

Here are some tips for developing time management in the Getting Excited stage of learning.

Elementary children are beginning to understand the passage of time. Use a family calendar where everyone’s information is all in one place. Train children to use the calendar to see when an upcoming event will occur and show them how to add important information to the schedule.

Don’t over-schedule. Teach your children how to work hard while still scheduling down time and rest.
Help your children schedule daily priorities. Show them how to decide how much time each task will take, rank tasks according to importance, and make sure that necessary items get done first.
Use color-coding for each family member so that children can quickly find their information on the family calendar.
Model for them. Make sure you use your own planner and calendar and let your children see how you do it. Let them hear you tell others that you will need to check your calendar or planner before you commit to an activity.
Purchase an alarm clock for your children. By the end of this stage children should be able to get themselves up on time on their own. (Note: Be sure to pay attention to their sleep cycles. If the alarm is regularly jolting them out of a heavy sleep cycle, make appropriate adjustments to the schedule to ensure adequate sleep.)
Teach your children the power of “no” when a request will result in over-commitment.

What kind of scheduling habits are you modeling for your child? How might you be able to teach a child who is more scheduled or more flexible than you? Take our Planner Personality Quiz to discover your planner personality type and learn tips for scheduling well as a family.