You have your planner prepped and ready to go for the new year. But, what about your children?
Believe it or not, our children can begin to learn organizational and time management skills at a very young age. The Well Planned Day Family Homeschool Planner includes resources to help teach your young learners how to manage their time and work through a to-do list. But, starting around fourth grade, many children are ready to learn how to maintain their own planner. That is the thought behind the design of my Student Planners.
A Walk Through Your Student Planner
Whether you are preparing to teach your student how to use his or her brand new planner or are still trying to decide if a Student Planner is a good fit, here’s the chance to take a look inside this year’s edition of the Dazzling Doodles or Camping Camo Student Planner while I walk you through each section.
Learning to Plan
These pages are packed full of information to help your student learn how to plan. First, you will an article walking you through how to use the planner and create routines. Next, you’ll find additional tools to help the school year get off to a great start.
My Schedule
Use this page to keep track of things that happen every day, such as school subjects, music lessons, sports practice, co-op, or other daily/weekly activities. This is also where you will record routines, as described in the planning article. Consider helping your student create color-coding or abbreviation keys to reduce what he or she has to write every day. For instance, math can be marked with an M and music with Mu. You can use blue for family activities and green for school or pick a different color for each school subject.
My Reading Goals
At the beginning of each semester, your student can note a few books that would be a good challenge for the semester. Throughout the semester, mark the completion date for each book and add other titles that come to mind.
Scratchpad
This page, included at the beginning of each semester, allows a wide variety of creativity. Your student can make notes about expectations for the coming year, keep track of miscellaneous thoughts, or even set some goals.
Monthly Spread
Encourage your student to take some time each month to jot down things from the family calendar on this monthly page. Having the monthly spread filled out will help your student see if there are any days when flexibility is required, helping him or her learn how to make adjustments as needed.
Projects
This spread is a great place to teach your child how to plan for larger projects. This could be anything from hobbies to school projects. Show your child how to break bigger tasks into smaller chunks, create supply lists, or record progress.
weekly pages
These are the pages your student will use most regularly, and they include four sections.
Routine
This numbered column allows a quick and easy way to keep up with and check off routines without having to rewrite them daily.
School Assignments
This space allows your student to write down assignments for each day, then check them off as they are completed.
Practice
This can be anything from sports to music to a hobby – anything that helps your student learn more about what it means to use his or her God-given skills and talents.
Chores
This section will help your student keep up with and check off responsibilities without having to be reminded.
Semester Success
Have your student use this page to note some of his or her favorite things, accomplishments, and growth from the semester.
Student Reference
The Student Planner closes out with a subject-by-subject reference section. Often, having quick facts in an easy location for reference reinforces learning. Encourage your student to refer to this section often to help solidify the concepts found here.
