Are planner books worth it?

[Kathie in VA]

I have never used a planner, yet I read about them more and more. So many use them that I'm beginning to rethink their use. I've looked at a several and see how it can be neat to have all that info in there. However I would think it would also take time to create it and more to maintain it. Do you need to schedule time to maintain a planner??:confused:

 

My kids hate to write anything, I wonder if they would even bother to write in all their assignments and anything else it would need. Then again, maybe just having the book will inspire them to use it. I don't know. We tend to use a spread sheet of subjects and days and they check them off daily so we know what's been worked on per day/week. Each subject is either a do the next thing or has it's own assignment sheet.

 

Yet things sometimes don't get done and we haven't done too many long term assignments yet. Also my high schoolers are taking some out-side classes. For them they usually have an assignment sheet to check or they just write out their homeworks.

 

I also wonder if using a planner is something they should learn because it seems SO popular that it is almost becoming an expected skill.??

 

comments?

[Murphy101]

I think a simpler question is whether you feel a need for more structure/organization?

 

If yes, then a planner of some sort might be a must

 

If you are going along fine, then why bother fixing what isn't broke?

 

My kids have planners. No excuses accepted for not getting their work done on time bc it's written right there and they know it.;)

 

For the younger ones, I write it in for them.

 

About 8th grade and up I go over how they should do it with them.

 

My oldest is slowly getting better at doing it himself.

 

Eventually they are going to need to know how to plan and schedule on their own. A few seem to naturally know how to do this. But all I have to do is read the boards here about the many adults who can't do this to know it's a skill that takes practice for many others to learn.:)

[Hunter's Moon]

I use a planner for fear that our computer will crash someday and I'll be stuck in a world of not knowing what is coming next, which would drive me absolutely crazy :willy_nilly:

 

I don't really plan out what I will do, I just write down what I did do for the day. That is only because I use a loop schedule. If I were to write down something I had to do and didn't get to it, I would flip. So, by writing out what I did do and not having high expectations, I actually get more done.

 

I have a general plan for the year though so I know if I am going too far off course, am ahead, or just right.

 

If keeping a planner would be a hassle, then I say don't get one.