Once children enter school, their time no longer
belongs to them and their family alone. Just as jobs place restrictions
on adults' lives, schools place restrictions on students' lives, and all
of those restrictions impact the way the family can schedule its time.
Adjusting the Family's Schedule
When a child is ready to
start school, we tend to put all of the focus on how this new phase will
impact the child's life. But the first changes you'll really begin to
notice probably are the ones that affect everyone. Many families with
only preschool children choose to vacation in the autumn months when the
weather is cooler, the attractions are less crowded, and the hotel
rates are lower. Except for the weather, those advantages exist, in
large part, because families with school-age children can't travel then.
After any of your children are in school, your family will be unable to
vacation then as well. Likewise, a midwinter break to a warm, sunny
destination for people living in areas where the winters are very cold
or to snowy mountains for families who like to ski may have become a
welcome routine. Once the children are in school, you'll be confined to
one of the couple of weeks of winter when almost everyone else is trying
to get away, too. You can avoid any bad feelings that come with these
realizations by taking a super vacation during the summer and booking
any winter travels well in advance—after checking the school's winter
and spring vacation schedules.
tip
Most school districts
set their calendars three years in advance. Even if they haven't been
published yet, you can find out when the school's vacation breaks have
been scheduled by calling the school district's central administration
office.
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Even
something as simple as eating lunch takes on a whole series of
scheduling issues when school enters the picture. The first question to
answer is this: Will the student purchase lunch at school or bring a
lunch from home?
You and your student should take into account several considerations when answering this question: |
Does
going through the cafeteria line at school leave your child with enough
time to eat at a reasonable pace? Some cafeteria lines are so long that
some students aren't able to sit down with their lunches until five
minutes before they need to get back to class. Does
your student like any of the food available for purchase at school? If
not, then packing a lunch every day will be your best option. Does
your student like some of the food available at school, but not all of
it? If so, then you'll want to review the published lunch menu to
determine what days your child will buy her lunch and what days she'll
carry it. You'll need to factor these choices into your grocery list for
each week. Does
your student like almost all of the food available at school? If so,
then you and your student may decide that purchasing a lunch at
school—and coordinating the school lunch menu with your family's dinner
menu—is the easier solution.
After
the decision has been made to pack lunches—and the grocery shopping
list and schedule have been adjusted to make sure you have the right
foods (and paper and plastic products) available—you still need to
decide
Who
will make the lunches? Will one person make the lunches for everyone?
Will the same person make all of the lunches every day, or will the job
rotate? Will each person make his own lunch? When
will the lunches be made? Making them in the evening has the advantage
of avoiding the morning rush, but it has the disadvantage of making the
lunches a little less fresh-tasting come noontime the next day. Will
the lunches be packed in disposable paper bags or reusable insulated
bags? The insulated bags will keep the food better, especially if the
lunch contains highly perishable items or needs to be stored in a hot
locker, but the student will have to take responsibility for bringing
the bag home every afternoon.
With
all of these factors surrounding just the scheduling of lunch, is it
any wonder that coordinating your family's schedule with the school's
schedule requires serious concentration? |
You'll find you also have
to start scheduling other more routine activities around the school day
as well. If you want to avoid having to make your child miss school for
doctor and dentist appointments, you'll have to book them much further
in advance to get time slots during the more scarce after-school hours.
And, even if you're willing to let your child miss school, you'll find
it's difficult to make sure that you don't schedule the appointment
during an important test, assembly, or field trip.
tip
To make the
transition to the school schedule easier, change your family's sleeping
and eating patterns to match the school-year schedule a week or two
before the start of the school year.
One way to avoid
this type of scheduling nightmare altogether is to plan to make all
annual appointments during summer vacation. Early summer appointments
are probably easier to get than late summer appointments; plus, they
have the added bonus of being taken care of earlier rather than later.
Make a note in your planner to book these appointments in January or
February to ensure that you can get the dates and times that won't
conflict with your other summer activities (camp, swimming lessons,
vacation, and so on).
caution
Before rescheduling all
of your child's current activities around the school day, don't forget
to take time to evaluate whether he should be continuing with all of
them on top of his school responsibilities.
While you're at it,
you'll want to reschedule private music lessons and other such
activities well in advance of the start of school. After-school and
weekend spots fill fast, so there's no question that the organized
family is the one that will get the most desirable time slots.
Fill out all of the forms the school sends home Schedule back-to-school shopping excursions for clothes and supplies Make arrangements to attend school events Find time to talk about school with your child Set aside time for doing homework
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Adding in the School's Schedule
After you've rearranged
your family's schedule around the standard school day, you still need to
add into your schedule a wide variety of items that are tied directly
to attending school:
Meeting the
school's administrative requirements. You'll need to begin this task
before the school year by making sure that you've filled out all of the
necessary registration forms and provided the school with documentation
of your student's immunizations (getting the immunizations first, if
necessary) and proof of residency. Then, at the beginning of the school
year, set aside enough time to fill out emergency notification forms,
student directory forms, teacher questionnaires, and any other paperwork
that gets sent home. Finally, set up an ongoing system with time
allotted to fill out permissions slips and other requests that come home
throughout the school year. Designating a place for your students to
put forms when they come home from school, coupled with places where
you'll put completed forms for each student, will go a long way to
keeping this administrative task running smoothly. An occasional
reminder to each student to use the system wouldn't be a bad idea
either.
Making
sure your student has the right tools. Back-to-school shopping has
become a sort of national tradition. Whether your child wears a uniform
prescribed by the school or a personally selected wardrobe, schedule the
time for clothes shopping into your family's planner as soon as you've
established your summer schedule enough to know when you'll have a block
of time available. Many teachers now send home school supply
requirements—or put them on file at local stores—sometime over the
summer. As soon as you receive the list—or sooner, if you know when
teachers at your school send them out—block out time for this shopping
in your family's planner, too. Also, block out time in the evening of
the first or second day of school to make another trip to the supply
store; no matter how well-equipped your student is on the first day of
school, something always needs to be exchanged or added!
Attending
school events. Study the school calendar carefully to see when
must-attend events will take place for both parent and student. Look for
things such as parent open house, assemblies, awards programs,
concerts, plays, other productions, field trips, and parent-teacher
conferences. If you're not sure what an event is, don't hesitate to call
the school office and ask. If there's an event that you should attend
as a parent, make sure you get it into your planner and make the
necessary arrangements to take off from work or get a babysitter for
younger children. Never assume that your child won't get an award or
participate in a project; keep your schedule as flexible as possible
around any possible event. Also, if your child is in elementary school,
you might want to find out early on if the school offers opportunities
for you to volunteer in the classroom, and plan ahead if you're
interested. The more years your children are in school, the easier it
will become for you to review the school calendar and know what dates
and times to enter into your planner.
Talking
about school. Your child needs an adult to talk with about school
situations—both the good and the bad. Make sure your schedule and your
student's schedule have room in them for these conversations. This time
may be as simple to find as talking with your student when you pick her
up at school to take her to a music lesson, or you may find that you
need to do a little more planning.
Setting aside time for homework. The amount of time the student needs
to set aside for homework will depend on how much the teacher is
assigning (which may depend on the student's grade level) and how long
the individual student takes to do it. The family can help by scheduling
homework time into the family's planner. You can't realistically expect
a student—especially a young student—to concentrate on a homework
assignment if the rest of the family is doing something that he finds
more alluring, such as having a water fight in the backyard or eating
fresh-baked cookies.
tip
If you live in an area that
has year-round school, then slot the school's annual administrative
requirements and your family's “back-to-school” shopping into the breaks
between terms that are most appropriate to your school's calendar.
Create a visual representation of time for your young student
Show your student how to break down long-term projects into reasonably sized steps
Choose planning tools with your student to keep track of chores and school work
