I believe SWB recommended a student planner in 5th grade?

[Capt_Uhura]

Do you use a student planner? I seem to recall that in WTM2009, SWB recommended giving your student a planner in 5th grade to foster independence. 8FillstheHeart mentioned in another thread giving her students a planner. Do you have a link for a secular student planner? How do you use it?

[christine in al]

Oldest is just now finishing 4th. He does want a list to know what he has left ( not the best motivation :-(

i have thought about moving toward a weekly list, rather than a daily list. Laura in China ( except now it Scotland) has a weekely list for her son Calvin. She has a blog, but I don't know the link.

 

I bought an academic calendar last year for both, ( 2nd and 4th)

they resisted them. i may try again.

 

So,:bigear:

~Christine in al

[rafiki]

.

[Caitilin]

I am a little confused. Does a student planner mean that the student fills it out? Or that it's written to the student? If the latter, then all my kids have student planners; if not, I just don't get it. (No snark, just confused! :))Can someone explain to me?

[Capt_Uhura]

Thanks for the link to the planner Michele!

 

Caitlin, I've asked 8FillstheHeart for clarification on how she uses the planner. Here's what she said in another thread.

 

Then I write my plans in 5-6 week segments. (we tend to do school for 5-6 weeks followed by a week off. during that week off, I write my next set of plans) During my planning time, I focus specifically on what we are getting ready to cover (the notes I wrote earlier keep me targeted as we go through our sources) and make notes to the kids in their planners. For example...who/what to place on their timeline, what to map, questions to answer, or notes about X they need to take to write an essay, etc. This yr I am writing 3 different grade levels for the same time period. Each child's "notes" will be different b/c they will individualized for their skill level.

 

For example, I'm thinking of using K12 HO as my spine w/ History Odyssey level 2 ANcients. I'd plan that out in 7 week blocks. I'd write this out on DS's planner, including any extra reading, which book and pages he should outline from, which books he should give me an oral narration, etc.

 

Capt_Uhura

[Caitilin]

Thanks! That sounds like just what I am already doing, in that case, except that I plan weekly. :) I just didn't know if there was some other aspect of it that I was missing. If one didn't do it this way, would one have to be always saying to students, "now do XYZ?" That just seems like too much trouble! ;) (I am lazy, can you tell!)

[happygrrl]

I will be utilizing planners in the fall quarter. We already do a "daily" of what we are going to do.. pretty easy since in most subjects it's just "do the next thing". The *big* idea for me is that I intend to schedule out some projects, and help the kids break down the needed steps and write them in the planner *themselves*.

 

For example: "Kids, you have book report due the end of the month. What do we need to do to produce a finished report? Right! Read the book. When should we have the book finished so that we have enough time to do the report? Oooh, let's write that in our planner. But we can't read it on one day, so let's break it down. How manny chapters are there?" etc. etc. etc. Hopefully by HS I will be able to give them due dates for papers/projects and they can figure out the steps. I know adults who can't do this!

 

Sorry that my example was so basic, but hopefully you get what I mean!

(I am prepping for dinner and watching neighbor kids at the moment.. precious little time to think!)

[LunaLee]

Well, ideally, when we get back into the flow of homeschooling two instead of one, and all the other stuff in my life quiets down and I can finally get my feet underneath me... We (dd & maybe ds next year for 6th) would use a student planner like this: I use HST+ so I would print up the work that would need to be done for the week and then (ideally) sit down with dc on Sunday or Monday and have them determine when they will do what and have them write it down. Or, use the weekly print up from HST+ and have them record what they've done during the day at night. That might work for dd, but not ds. Either way is helping them become or keep them accountable for the work they do. Also, as dd gets older and is getting ready to start college courses in the next year or so she will really need to work on time management which is a HUGE issue for her.

 

I really liked the planners from Franklin Covey, but I don't like the selection that they have this year-they've changed my favorite format and I couldn't even find the student planners last year. These are the ones we use now: http://fergnusservices.com/ I like them because the days aren't locked in-you can choose which days to list in case you don't school Mon-Fri.

Edited May 2, 2010 by LunaLee

[cheryl h]

Every month I print out a copy of our family calendar that is kept on MS Outlook. Dd12 then writes in her due dates for projects, papers, or test dates on the calendar. The fact that it has sports/music/vacation/other commitments on the calendar helps her to know how to manage her time better by knowing when we will or will not have time to work on something. I think it helps her learn to manage her time and at the same time be part of the "team"(family). Though we didn't start this until this year because we didn't start hsing until this year, I don't think I could have expected her to do this as a 5th grader last year. Good luck finding what works for you.

[SilverMoon]

I haven't to this point, but you inspired me to set one up for my rising fifth grader today. When I glanced at TWTM again before making my fall plans I didn't bother to read the fifth grade stuff, because I've already done early logic stage with my oldest. :tongue_smilie: (My oldest's internal motivator has been busted this year, and I doubt a planner would work for him.)

 

I had generic, undated student planners on my school supply shelf, in dd's favorite color even. They were probably grabbed from a sale rack somewhere. I wrote in her lesson numbers and assignments for the week and showed it to her. It was love at first site. :laugh:

[Capt_Uhura]

I will be utilizing planners in the fall quarter. We already do a "daily" of what we are going to do.. pretty easy since in most subjects it's just "do the next thing". The *big* idea for me is that I intend to schedule out some projects, and help the kids break down the needed steps and write them in the planner *themselves*.

 

For example: "Kids, you have book report due the end of the month. What do we need to do to produce a finished report? Right! Read the book. When should we have the book finished so that we have enough time to do the report? Oooh, let's write that in our planner. But we can't read it on one day, so let's break it down. How manny chapters are there?" etc. etc. etc. Hopefully by HS I will be able to give them due dates for papers/projects and they can figure out the steps. I know adults who can't do this!

 

 

 

I LOVED your example. That's exactly what I want to work on as well. It's a skill I've seen reported by colleges as being terribly lacking in students. I think a planner will work great for that.

[Capt_Uhura]

Lunalee - I will check those out thank you!

 

Silivermoon - I'm happy to have inspired you and fortuitous you already had the perfect planner! :001_smile:

 

I currently use a group of pdfs, darn, can't recall the name, that i just print out myself. I print the pages and put in a binder. I log on it what we do each day. It's columns for each day of the week and then lined blocks for the subjects. I'm thinking there might not be enough space for me to write notes unless I say give the notes numbers and then have a blank page in the back for longer notes. I may try this now and see how it works. That way of the planner gets messed up w/ water or something, I can just print more. But then I was thinking a nice "official" planner might tickle his fancy or not. :lol:

 

Capt_Uhura

[elegantlion]

I do my planning weekly. I print an excel sheet from donnayoung.org. I print two copies, one for me, one for ds. We're working on diligence, so he is required to check off the subjects daily.

 

ETA: here's the form I use.

Edited May 2, 2010 by elegantlion

[oraetstudia]

I don't know where exactly I ran across this planner that a mom put together for her child, but I think it looks like it would be awesome.

 

http://amblesideclassical.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-assignment-organizer-i-have-been-in.html

[abbeyej]

I'm linking to another thread on what people use for 6th grade, 'cause it includes what we use and, at the bottom, a copy of a single week from ds' assignment book for this year. As you can see, his assignments are included in the book, but there's space at the bottom for him to add additional notes (homework for Latin and Greek, field trips, reminders, etc). I gave him the whole year in a spiral-bound book on our first day of school. I'll be doing something similar again this year.

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1635177#poststop

[8filltheheart]

I have a planners that my kids really like, but they are definitely Catholic. http://www.pflaum.com/preview/10planners/opening.pdf I use the intermediate one for all grade levels, though I am thinking about the teacher's one for my rising 11th grader.

[Capt_Uhura]

Thanks everyone! You were all busy while I was spending the day sweating at a soccer game! Now I have some things to follow up on while I cool off! Thank you! :001_smile:

[Capt_Uhura]

I'm linking to another thread on what people use for 6th grade, 'cause it includes what we use and, at the bottom, a copy of a single week from ds' assignment book for this year. As you can see, his assignments are included in the book, but there's space at the bottom for him to add additional notes (homework for Latin and Greek, field trips, reminders, etc). I gave him the whole year in a spiral-bound book on our first day of school. I'll be doing something similar again this year.

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1635177#poststop

 

Did you make that planner? So you planned the entire year in advance? Did you make it in Excel?

 

Capt_Uhura

[Capt_Uhura]

Now that I think about it more, someone on the Highschool board had mentioned using database software instead of a spreadsheet. HHmmm must. research......

 

Capt_Uhura

[Skadi]

I haven't tried it yet myself, but Mac users out there might want to look at this: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/syllabus.html

 

The demo is free, and if you decide to buy it, the software only costs $19. :)

[A.J. at J.A.]

Is anyone familiar with this planner? It looks pretty good. http://www.scriptureplanner.com/lsesms.php

 

Blessings,

Angela

[Caitilin]

I have a planners that my kids really like, but they are definitely Catholic. http://www.pflaum.com/preview/10planners/opening.pdf I use the intermediate one for all grade levels, though I am thinking about the teacher's one for my rising 11th grader.

 

 

I use the teacher's ones for all my kiddos--they have worked really well for us. I like the layout of the days across and the weeks down.

[angela in ohio]

Mine get a planner starting in about sixth grade. I create it myself with the pages they will need, and then I have it spiral bound at Kinko's (which isn't Kinko's anymore, but will forever be to me.)

 

This past year, they had:

 

 

• clear plastic cover
  
• 'Student Planner 2009-2010' on heavy cardstock
  
• a page where they put contact info in case it is lost (my phone #)
  
• monthly calendar - 1 page per month, Aug-July (I print these from Outlook)
  
• a few pages of weekly schedule sheets (if their schedule changes during the year, they can fill out the next one and tear the old one out) Mon-Sat from 6 am to 9 pm
  
• weekly assignment sheets, undated, with subjects down the left side and Mon-Sat across the top, a column for weekly 'To Read', 'To do', and 'Notes' down the right side, the boxes are lined
  
• project planning pages - boxes to plan longer-term projecs in, either for school or for craft projects
  
• 'Books Read' pages - columns for title, author, and date completed
  
• an address book
  
• a lot of lined pages titled 'Notes'
  
• a heavier cardstock plain back cover
  
• another piece of clear platic
  

 

 

My 6th/7th grader just filled in the minimum: assignments, books read, weekly schedule, but my 8th grader used it fully. We do a lot less independent work than most (I actively teach almost every subject,) but they still need to write down what I assign them at the end of class.

[Capt_Uhura]

Angela,

 

Thank you for your post! If I may ask you a few more questions? So your DC fill out the planner themselves? How do you do your planning?

 

Can you post a picture of the weekly assignment sheets, please?

 

I'm mulling over doing my planning on the computer, going over it w/ DS and then have him write his assignments in his planner. That way he could decide which days he would do what assignments.

 

I do like the idea of having something bound for him rather than printing each week and putting in a binder.

 

Also, next year I may be running a FLL team and so he would need to keep up w/ his schedule along w/ soccer practice etc.

 

just thinking out loud....

 

Capt_Uhura

[8filltheheart]

I use the teacher's ones for all my kiddos--they have worked really well for us. I like the layout of the days across and the weeks down.

 

 

That's good to know. My kids love the tidbits and info in the intermediate ones, but my older dd is definitely in the "need higher level" category.

 

From what I have seen from the previews online, I think the formats are the same, the only difference is the content. Do you happen to know if that is correct?

[lovemykids]

This is a wonderful post. We need to do this ASAP.

 

Thanks for this!

[angela in ohio]

Angela,

 

Thank you for your post! If I may ask you a few more questions? So your DC fill out the planner themselves? How do you do your planning?

 

Can you post a picture of the weekly assignment sheets, please?

 

I'm mulling over doing my planning on the computer, going over it w/ DS and then have him write his assignments in his planner. That way he could decide which days he would do what assignments.

 

I do like the idea of having something bound for him rather than printing each week and putting in a binder.

 

Also, next year I may be running a FLL team and so he would need to keep up w/ his schedule along w/ soccer practice etc.

 

just thinking out loud....

 

Capt_Uhura

 

Here are the assignment pages I created:

page 1

page 2

 

(You would probably want to list the days of the week in the correct order. :D I had them all printed and bound before I noticed that I had switched Fri and Sat. My dd got a kick out of that all year.

 

Here are the weekly schedule and the books read. They are all black and white and very plain, as I want dc to have room to doodle and make them their own, instead of me decorating them.

 

Here's a quick explanation of how I lesson plan in a recent thread on setting goals. I keep everything in one binder: the overview for each subject, a calendar of events, a weekly schedule, my weekly lesson plans. I don't give anything printed to dc. (Oldest will get a syllabus for each subject next year for high school, though.) We meet for each class once a week or once a day or somewhere in between, and I give them assignments when we are done discussing or I am done teaching. They write those down on their own in their assignment book. I give them less and less help in breaking down longer-term projects. I think itis really important to know the goal I have for them, but then to work toward it in steps, giving them the direction and information they need.

 

I taught a dozen junior high kiddos this year, including my two dd. I required them all to have a planner. I went through and systematically taught them study skills, including how to use their planner and schedule their time, so my dd got a great overview this past year, even though they have done this before.

 

Basically, I taught them to keep their home life and outside activities schedule updated, so that they could plan their school assignments around that. So for example, if they were going to be out of town on Thursday and we met on Friday, they needed to do more Mon-Wed to be ready. I kept working with them on spreading assignments out over the week, rather than bunching them up on the last day. These are things we take for granted, but most just don't know yet, unless you explicitly tell them.

 

Anyway, I don't think I will ever go back to buying assignment books again. It is so much nicer to have exactly what pages they need and enough weeks and subject blocks. They were also less than the cost of a good purchased planner.

[Capt_Uhura]

Angela, Thank you thank you thank you! I have much to ponder. At least I'm starting early this year with planning.

 

Capt_Uhura

[skissugar]

we are going to use "the well planned day" planner.. i got myself one and my soon to be 7th grader one..

[lovemykids]

Here are the assignment pages I created:

page 1

page 2

 

(You would probably want to list the days of the week in the correct order. :D I had them all printed and bound before I noticed that I had switched Fri and Sat. My dd got a kick out of that all year.

 

Here are the weekly schedule and the books read. They are all black and white and very plain, as I want dc to have room to doodle and make them their own, instead of me decorating them.

 

Here's a quick explanation of how I lesson plan in a recent thread on setting goals. I keep everything in one binder: the overview for each subject, a calendar of events, a weekly schedule, my weekly lesson plans. I don't give anything printed to dc. (Oldest will get a syllabus for each subject next year for high school, though.) We meet for each class once a week or once a day or somewhere in between, and I give them assignments when we are done discussing or I am done teaching. They write those down on their own in their assignment book. I give them less and less help in breaking down longer-term projects. I think itis really important to know the goal I have for them, but then to work toward it in steps, giving them the direction and information they need.

 

I taught a dozen junior high kiddos this year, including my two dd. I required them all to have a planner. I went through and systematically taught them study skills, including how to use their planner and schedule their time, so my dd got a great overview this past year, even though they have done this before.

 

Basically, I taught them to keep their home life and outside activities schedule updated, so that they could plan their school assignments around that. So for example, if they were going to be out of town on Thursday and we met on Friday, they needed to do more Mon-Wed to be ready. I kept working with them on spreading assignments out over the week, rather than bunching them up on the last day. These are things we take for granted, but most just don't know yet, unless you explicitly tell them.

 

Anyway, I don't think I will ever go back to buying assignment books again. It is so much nicer to have exactly what pages they need and enough weeks and subject blocks. They were also less than the cost of a good purchased planner.

 

That’s what I have decided to do. I am going to print planner pages. I have so many of them on pdf. – might as well use them. This is sort of what I have done in the past, but I need to be consistent. And having my dd take ownership of it is an excellent idea. I’ll get her a binder, print some pages and we will be good to go. :D