Planning Around the School's Schedule : Helping Your Children Learn to Manage Their Own Schedules (part 2) - Choosing an Age-Appropriate Planner

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Choosing an Age-Appropriate Planner

Although you can jump in at any time to help your children organize their schedules, ideally you'll be building their school-age skills on top of the ones you taught them in their preschool years. To begin, this will mean adding some additional chores that they're now capable of handling (see Table 1 ) and making sure that the method they have for keeping track of their chores is still appealing to them.

Table 1. Additional Chores for School-Age Children
Empty the wastebaskets.	Walk the dog.
Clear the dinner table.	Dust the furniture.
Sort the laundry.	Vacuum the carpeting.

The continuity of a familiar system will probably be very attractive to her. But as children grow and progress through the middle school years, they like to transition to more sophisticated systems. You can help keep chores from getting ignored by looking for the right time to switch your child from a graphic-based system to a word-based chore chart. If your family is using a computer-based family planner, then it's likely that your child will prefer a computer-based chore chart. And, as your child becomes more and more independent, you may find her wanting to take full responsibility for her tasks by keeping track of them in a personal electronic planner.

Of course, by the time your child is in second or third grade, you'll want him to be able to keep track of his school assignments and extracurricular activities in addition to his household chores. Student planners have come a long way since the days of the 3- by 5-inch spiral notebook. Now they come in all shapes and sizes, and with a wide variety of page layouts. You'll want to make sure that you select one that's very user friendly.

Most of the features that you'll want the planner to have are exemplified in the format illustrated in Figure 2 . Such planners offer the following benefits:

Entering information is easy. The student can enter an assignment that will cover a span of days by writing it in once and drawing an arrow or by writing it in across the entire time span. (Some other formats would require that the assignment be rewritten in a separate space for each day.)

caution

Some schools provide planners for all of their students based on a general recommendation from the company that sells them. Take some time to analyze any planner issued by your student's school, and, if it doesn't work well with your student's planning style, make the effort to find a planner that does.

It allows for customization. Although the standard subjects are preprinted, blanks are provided for the student to write in other subjects specific to his course of study.
A lot of information can be assimilated very quickly. By looking down a column, the student can see everything that is due on a given day. By looking across a row, the student can see all assignments for a certain subject for the entire week.
There is a “hook.” A section on each page containing fun facts or a cartoon gives the student an enjoyable reason for opening the planner.

Figure 2. A planner with subjects down the side and days across the top lets the student enter information with minimum effort and review the day's or week's schedule at a glance.

Although planners with this format are frequently sold as “middle school” planners, there is no reason that they won't work for elementary school children, and savvy high schoolers have been known to seek them out rather than deal with “high school” planners that have a more linear layout.

Children these days get comfortable using electronic equipment—computers, cell phones, and so on—at a very young age. You may find that even your elementary school child wants to use a digital scheduler instead of a paper planner. If he seems able to handle the information without the aid of a more visually based paper planner, then you may want to get him an electronic planner designed specifically for children or possibly even an entry-level adult PDA. Just make sure that he is allowed to enter assignments directly into his digital device while he's at school; otherwise, he's sure to forget some vital information that he needs to enter into his planner.

tip

If your child really wants to use an electronic planner but seems to be having trouble keeping track of things, see whether teaching her how to set the alarm function to give her audio reminders will help.

As a final thought, keep in mind that your child's schedule may look great on paper or an electronic screen, but it will still fall apart if your child has to spend much time looking for misplaced schoolwork. Your student will want a simple system for keeping school papers organized at school, at home, and in between. You'll want to help your student set up a system that keeps work separated by subject and requires a minimal amount of paper shuffling (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. This student locker file with removable pockets hangs inside a locker or on a door (left) and folds up into its own self-contained carrying case (right).

INCLUDING HOMESCHOOLING IN YOUR SCHEDULE

Homeschooling adds layers of complexity to the family's schedule. But it's really just a matter of making a commitment to the homeschooling lifestyle and then following the same principles of scheduling that we've talked about throughout this book, making sure that you allocate time for preparation, teaching, and following up.

No two homeschooling programs will be exactly alike, but you'll need to incorporate certain steps into your family's planner to keep your schedule running smoothly:

1.	Learn your state's laws and regulations regarding homeschooling. Build the time you need to comply with each one into your schedule.
2.	Choose one of the four basic styles of homeschooling. The method you select will have a big impact on the activities you need to schedule. Many good books have been written describing these approaches: School at home— This method is highly structured, essentially taking a standard school curriculum and teaching it at home. It seems to work best for people who are highly organized and have children who like structure. Unschooling— In this approach, the function of the parent(s) is primarily as a facilitator for learning, letting the subject being explored be determined by the child's current interests. Unit studies— This approach takes all (or most) of the standard school subjects and rolls them into a unit centered around one main topic of study. Eclectic— This style incorporates elements of each of the other three methods.
3.	Develop your curriculum. Your philosophy will determine how prestructured your curriculum will be, and your curriculum largely will determine how you will structure your schooling schedule. Just be sure that you think it through and get it in writing in the family's planner.
4.	Determine what evaluation method(s) you'll use: Standardized testing— You'll need to arrange for your child to register for the tests and to make sure that they are administered according to the standardized guidelines. Mark the registration deadlines and test dates in your planner. Portfolio assessments— You and your student will put together a collection of the student's work to show the student's progress and achievement. Schedule some school time to make the selections at regular intervals. Progress reports— You'll write a narrative documenting your student's academic accomplishments and progress. Make sure you have time set aside in your planner to keep this document up-to-date on at least a weekly basis. Performance assessments— You and your student will review and assess the student's progress at the culmination of a body of work. Mark down time in the planner at the beginning of a unit to remind you to do this important step at the end of the unit.
5.	Complete your record keeping. Even if your state doesn't require records, you'll probably want to document your child's homeschooling for your own information, college applications, and so on. So, don't forget to schedule this important last step in the homeschooling process.

If both parents in your household work, or you have a single-parent household, then homeschooling may require some major rescheduling of your life, including staggering work schedules, self-employment, job sharing, flex time, or telecommuting.

Homeschooling also requires a little more attention to some other aspects of the family's schedule:

Coordinating socialization opportunities for your children.
Scheduling time to take care of yourself as an adult, to offset the extra time you'll be spending for and with your children.
Ensuring that your family schedule clearly distinguishes between school life and home life. Children need to be able to get away from studies. And sometimes they need you to be a parent, not a teacher.