Middle Schooler's Planners

[NavyWifeandMommy]

What do you use for your middle schooler's planning. Do you by them a planner, just print out a list, give the books and go?

Starting in April I will have a middle schooler. Our school year is a little different. Right now I just put her stuff daily stuff in a folder and off she goes after we do group work after breakfast. I use the Motivated Moms for my daily to do activites and my curriculum is my planner for school. I do use the suggested giving the child a timer to wake up and she has on her calendar all her 'after school' activities.

I am a poor planner and never really learned properly to plan out stuff. I don't want my children to be poor planners like me.

TIA

[Sasharowan]

I use Homeschool Tracker and print out a weekly list for each of my kids. As long as the list is completed by Friday afternoon, they can work all independent work on their own. Work with me has to be more scheduled since they cannot all ask me for help at the same time. Dd11 has a calendar where she keeps track of upcoming events and makes lists for things she will need. I think that this is a personality trait since the boys do not do that with the same access to a calendar and paper and the same teaching on planning.

[Capt_Uhura]

I bought my son a planner this year. He's in 5th grade. My intention was to go over the week's work on Sunday night, have him write it in his planner. It hasn't worked out that way. I've been writing in his planner (double work for me b/c I have my own that I write in as we go) and he's been checking things off as he goes which he likes to do. I suppose it is a process.

[PeterPan]

Do you anticipate some major change in how you're working? Sounds to me like what you're doing is working. I wouldn't mess with it. We don't have a group time, because we don't have a group, lol. Everyone's mix is different. We have together things and independent things. I use a weekly checklist to keep track of things. (Print a basic form for the week and write in the particular lesson or page numbers.) She has daily goals and weekly assignments (book reports, larger projects). That might be the next thing for you to work on, developing some longer-term projects that she does in stages.

[gingersmom]

I give my daughter a list everyday of what she needs to do. She is to write down any long term projects in her planner. She is writing them down but I am not sure it is helping her with planning ahead.

[mom31257]

I bought both my kids their own planners this year from Good News Planners. I use the elementary for my dd, but I don't like the format of the high school, so I'm going to get her input for next year.

 

Over the summer I do a general plan of what units, chapters, etc., need to be done each week. I did the filing system this summer which has been great. I sit down with my dd each weekend and discuss what needs to be completed for the next week and any appointments or activities we have out. She then plans her week herself. She loves feeling in control of her schedule and time. I think it is a great motivator for her and a very useful life skill.

 

I plan my ds's but I will probably have him start doing it within a year or two.

[elegantlion]

I use a donnayoung.org form and print our weekly assignments on a weekly basis, I tweak too much to print ahead of schedule. I also bought ds a planner this year. In an effort to teach him how to have more accountability to his work, I'm starting to have him write what subjects we do on the planner date, when he checks them off the assignment sheet.

 

It sounds like overkill, but my grand plan is that he will use the planner for keeping track of projects, homework, notes, etc. Also my grand plan includes him being able to track his own assignments from a syllabus and do more of his own scheduling. That may be a few years down the line.

 

This is the planner I purchased this year. It's really nice for the price.

[angela in ohio]

I create a blank planner for each child at the beginning of the year. I print it out and have it spiral bound at Kinko's. It has a monthly calendar, chore charts, weekly schedule planning charts, weekly planner pages with room for each subject Mon-Sat, books read pages, project planning pages, and some blank pages for notes.

 

I help them plan out a lot at the beginning of the year, but after a few weeks, I give them their assignment after we meet for our subjects, and they plan it out over the time they have until we meet again.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I've enrolled my son part time and they gave me one. They also said the are available in the school bookstore for $5. They are really nice! At this point, I fill them out and he checks completed assignments off.

 

Perhaps you can have a friend w/ public schooled kids to pick one up for you?

[Sheila in OK]

I am using the Well-Grounded Middle Schooler for my 7th grade dd this year. It is nice, but I have since seen similar ones that would do the same job for much less $$. I spend some time every weekend writing out what she needs to do for the week, and she checks it off. It is working out really well--I'm going to do something similar for ds next year. It keeps me from forgetting subjects and keeps them from asking, "Am I done yet?" over and over. :)

[HSMom2One]

I am using the Well-Grounded Middle Schooler for my 7th grade dd this year. It is nice, but I have since seen similar ones that would do the same job for much less $$. I spend some time every weekend writing out what she needs to do for the week, and she checks it off. It is working out really well--I'm going to do something similar for ds next year. It keeps me from forgetting subjects and keeps them from asking, "Am I done yet?" over and over. :)

 

For myself, I used and LOVE The Well Planned Day organizer. I was looking at their site just last month and discovered the Well-Grounded Middle Schooler, and decided then and there that is what I will buy for my dd next year for 7th grade. She is currently using a planner that I made her from donnayoung.org, but she would love to have one similar to my WPD book and the fact that she doesn't have to fill in all the blanks each week would be a real treat. These planners are so beautiful and well laid out that I have decided to treat us as an annual gift for the new school year.

 

Instead of me writing in her book, we sit down on Mondays and I give her all the assignments for the week and she writes them out herself. It is a good exercise in many ways, especially for the fact that she gets to decide how to pace herself with several subjects. Whenever I give her some choices to make like this for herself, it gives her a sense of empowerment, and at this age I think that is a marvelous thing.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

Edited November 28, 2010 by HSMom2One

[rafiki]

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[Sheila in OK]

I *love* the looks of that planner! I had already bought myself The Homeschooler's Journal when I found it, otherwise I probably would've tried it this year. Maybe next . . .

 

I do like the Middle School one, I just feel we don't use it to its full advantage (don't do the catechism questions, etc. since dd is in confirmation at church). My original plan was to have her take on more responsibility for planning her own work, but so far that hasn't happened. :tongue_smilie:

 

For myself, I used and LOVE The Well Planned Day organizer. I was looking at their site just last month and discovered the Well-Grounded Middle Schooler, and decided then and there that is what I will buy for my dd next year for 7th grade. She is currently using a planner that I made her from donnayoung.org, but she would love to have one similar to my WPD book and the fact that she doesn't have to fill in all the blanks each week would be a real treat. These planners are so beautiful and well laid out that I have decided to treat us as an annual gift for the new school year.

 

Instead of me writing in her book, we sit down on Mondays and I give her all the assignments for the week and she writes them out herself. It is a good exercise in many ways, especially for the fact that she gets to decide how to pace herself with several subjects. Whenever I give her some choices to make like this for herself, it gives her a sense of empowerment, and at this age I think that is a marvelous thing.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda