Do you have your children make up work they didn't get to during the week?

[Mommy7]

Maybe by finishing on Saturday or something?

 

I want to do a planner for each child for next year, but when I tried that one year, the dates always got messed up and it ended up being difficult to follow what they had done and for them to tell what was next.

 

Do you guys have any ideas for planners that actually work??? I need a way of keeping my dc accountable. I just did a check off the list thing this year from Donna Young's site that was nice in a way, but it didn't show the details that I would like.

 

Any thoughts? I was wondering if I had them make up the work on Saturdays, maybe we could actually stay on track.

 

Thanks!

[Tess in the Burbs]

Our weekends are full of sports, church and time with friends. I can't imagine trying to put extra school on those days thinking it would get done. It wouldn't.

 

We are just starting logic stage and I too want them to work from a planner but I learned this year to give them the planner and help them through it. At first it was daily, then mid week, now it's near the end of the week. My dd is aware of assignments due in the next week but ds is not. I know he has a project due for a class tomorrow and I wonder if he will think of it today....

 

Anyway, I think you have to start by helping them. And slowly wean off your help. Maybe those weekends with nothing planned would be a good week to say nothing so you can do it on Sat. I know for us I put too much into our activities to just let the lesson be learned most weekends. Good luck setting it up!

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I make them finish up work if they were wasting time not getting it done during the week. If the week was busy and it was just to much we push it to the next week instead. It really depends on WHY it is not getting done.

[SilverMoon]

The key for us is only filling out the individual student's planner one week in advance. I do gobs of individual subject planning in the summer. With science, history, lit and anythinge else that isn't open and go already mapped out it's easy peasy to fill out the next week. If history gets skipped it won't mess up the plans for science and math.

 

To actually answer the question, I've totally had my kids do make-up work on the weekends. If life got in the way and everyone lost a day I'll just bump day 5 to Monday. If a particular kid dawdled or blew off an assignment we treat it like homework.

[Mommy7]

So, Silver Moon, you do a general schedule for the year during the summer and then use that to fill in each week's work as you go through the year? So, you use it as a reference tool? What a great idea! It's so simple and yet, I never thought of that!

 

Now, how do you make sure they did all their work for the day? Do they check something off or you meet with them at the end of the day? I need to have a sure way of keeping them accountable. The obvious thing is to meet with them at the end of the day. But, at the end of the day, I am ready, well, for the day to end, kwim? I have a hard time getting to that. And even if I just spent 15 mins with them...there are 6...so that would be 1 1/2 hours!

[redsquirrel]

As someone mentioned, it depends on why the work didn't get done. Sometimes it isn't my son's fault. For example, his music lesson was changed last week. It went from an expected group lesson to a group lesson, 30 min break and then an individual lesson. That made a big change in scheduled school work and it wasn't his fault. So, some stuff got pushed to next week. However, he voluntarily took on two outside activities that require rehearsals and that is a choice he made. In that case he is going to have to figure out how to make it work.

 

I also learned that for me it is better to plan our school year in chunks. I lesson plan from September to January, for example. Then in January, I sit down to plan out the next 6 or 8 weeks and the first thing I do is make sure we are all caught up. I also stick in a couple 'make up' days here and there.

[SilverMoon]

So, Silver Moon, you do a general schedule for the year during the summer and then use that to fill in each week's work as you go through the year? So, you use it as a reference tool? What a great idea! It's so simple and yet, I never thought of that!

Yes, by individual subjects. Then it is just a reference, making schedule making open and go itself. :)

 

Now, how do you make sure they did all their work for the day? Do they check something off or you meet with them at the end of the day? I need to have a sure way of keeping them accountable. The obvious thing is to meet with them at the end of the day. But, at the end of the day, I am ready, well, for the day to end, kwim? I have a hard time getting to that. And even if I just spent 15 mins with them...there are 6...so that would be 1 1/2 hours!

I currently have 4 fulltime students and a preschooler who insists on her own daily lessons. The older kids draw a line through the assignment when it's completed, and I put an asterisk beside it to show they either have corrections to make or need to discuss it with me. Since I'm so involved with the younger ones I'm usually the one that marks their planner off. If they finish work on their own they just lay it on the planner to get checked. Planners stay in the main room so the student or I can check it anytime. I usually scan it several times a day to check progress.

[Mommy7]

May I ask what your planner looks like? Did you create it yourself or buy it somewhere? I would love a link if you bought it.

 

Thanks so much!

[2_girls_mommy]

The key for us is only filling out the individual student's planner one week in advance. I do gobs of individual subject planning in the summer. With science, history, lit and anythinge else that isn't open and go already mapped out it's easy peasy to fill out the next week. If history gets skipped it won't mess up the plans for science and math.

 

To actually answer the question, I've totally had my kids do make-up work on the weekends. If life got in the way and everyone lost a day I'll just bump day 5 to Monday. If a particular kid dawdled or blew off an assignment we treat it like homework.

 

This is identical to us. I don't fill in MY planner more than a week in advane. I don't know what is going to come much more than that. But I do plan in the summer a general plan (like trying to accomplish 16 math lessons a month to finish most of the book by the end of the year, etc.) and how many chapters of history or whatever we would need to do each month to finish the book, and which months will include science fair, girl scout cookie sales, state fair (we enter a lot and spend a lot of time there) etc... Things that need to be remembered when planning..

 

But absolutely we have homework. My kids need to finish 4 maths a week. They often spend time on Sun. afternoon finishing up the week's work. As for history, when dd is waiting for a book to come in from the library, it is different. She can be reading different things, catching up on the geography portion, or it won't necessarily matter that this one week she didn't write a summary for history. But math and latin have to be kept up.

[SilverMoon]

May I ask what your planner looks like? Did you create it yourself or buy it somewhere? I would love a link if you bought it.

 

Thanks so much!

 

I'm glad it was useful. =) Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to drop links from this gadget I'm surfing on. =P My main plan book is an Elan, that looks exactly like the one R&S sells on the inside (for half the price). You can see inside it at milestonebooks.com. This year my big kids each have their own, and the two grammar stage kids were combined in one. I marked what the preschooler had actually done in that one too. For the summer planning I mostly used the quarterly planning sheets from donnayoung.org and keep them in a binder.

[abrightmom]

The key for us is only filling out the individual student's planner one week in advance. I do gobs of individual subject planning in the summer. With science, history, lit and anythinge else that isn't open and go already mapped out it's easy peasy to fill out the next week. If history gets skipped it won't mess up the plans for science and math.

 

To actually answer the question, I've totally had my kids do make-up work on the weekends. If life got in the way and everyone lost a day I'll just bump day 5 to Monday. If a particular kid dawdled or blew off an assignment we treat it like homework.

 

How do you implement filling out the planners? Fridays? Weekends? As a family or do you take care of it?

[2_girls_mommy]

Interesting about the cheaper planner. I have been using the R&S one for our whole career, and find it very cheap. I will be trying to find the one you are talking about. Thanks!.

Sorry to hijack, but I can OP about ours. I fill out my planner sometime at the beginning of the week, as they are doing their individual work. Math and spelling and english is just do the next thing. So I can sit and fill in the week's math lessons around any field trips or what have for the week. Some things I plan in advance (I might know that we can go to the library on Tues, so I will put that day for dd10 to read for her history summary) and sometimes I just record that it was done after the fact. I know that in a week she needs to do an outline, enter dates on the timeline, practice her memory work, look up and color the maps, read library books on the topic, and write a summary. So does she. So it ultimately doesn't matter which day it gets done. I ask her where she is on that list throughout the week and help guide her through getting it all done. We fill out her planner on Thurs. evening with any tasks that she needs to complete over the weekend that weren't done during the week.

[SilverMoon]

 

 

How do you implement filling out the planners? Fridays? Weekends? As a family or do you take care of it?

I usually work on them on Fridays, as I mark off the last one for each subject and/or between lessons. Any holes get filled in Monday morning. The big kids will do it with me as we go over the assignments and expectations for the week, and I just fill it in for the younger ones.

 

 

 

I meant the R&S planner was half the price of the Elan brand one. :)

[abrightmom]

I usually work on them on Fridays, as I mark off the last one for each subject and/or between lessons. Any holes get filled in Monday morning. The big kids will do it with me as we go over the assignments and expectations for the week, and I just fill it in for the younger ones.

 

 

 

I meant the R&S planner was half the price of the Elan brand one. :)

 

 

Thanks.

 

Do your big kids use the Élan or R&S planners?

[SilverMoon]

R&S this year, but beside the front cover they appear to be exactly the same.

[abrightmom]

R&S this year, but beside the front cover they appear to be exactly the same.

 

:) Thank-you.

[2_girls_mommy]

I thought that was too good to be true :)

[Pen]

I use "do the next thing" plus a length of time per subject per day. I only have one, but would do the same if I had more. The assignment is clear because it is to continue from place left off the day before. For math, currently, there is a page minimum as well as a time allotment. For writing, I will sometimes accept a well done piece of writing that took less time in place of the full time. That rewards good use of time.

 

The time length I decide according to age and what I figure is needed to get a reasonable amount done when it needs to be done. I keep it as short as possible and in exchange expect focus and good work for that time. I try to choose curriculum that lends itself to self learning as much as possible. I started a planner and learning to use it this year is itself a "subject"...the planner is not specifically just for school work, but for other activities, special projects, holidays and chores!

 

I did used to have weekend make-up times, but more recently started a new and improved system which is weekend get ahead times. He can work ahead on any subject or all subjects on weekends (or any other day) and use that time to have off from regular schedule when he wants.

[Cosmos]

Maybe by finishing on Saturday or something?

 

Yes.

 

My ds has a weekly assignment sheet. For some subjects he just works by time, so at the end of the week he's done. But for some subjects I have a goal listed for the week. If he is not done by Friday he is expected to work on it on the weekend.

 

I am flexible about it. Sometimes I see that my goal was unreasonable. But the general expectation is that he will finish on the weekend. And that work must be done before any video games, which are only allowed on the weekend.

 

It has been a good balance for us between accountability and flexibility. He can be flexible within the week, but by the end it needs to be done.

[abacus2]

I have been using the Well Planned Day software to make dealing with this easier. The software is still very much a work in progress and the mobile site didn't do what I needed last I checked, but it has three features which work and have made our school year smoother and more organized. The calendar allows me to view our assignments color-coded by child. There is a report feature which allows me to print a checklist of assignments for my dds. The lesson planning feature allows me to make (non-reusable) plans without assigning them to the calendar before I need them.

 

I start by creating simple lesson plans, choosing the number of lessons and sometimes editing in more detail such as page numbers or lesson titles. If I don't edit in additional details, it defaults to "Growing with Grammar assignment 1, Growing with Grammar assignment 2, Growing with Grammar assignment 3, etc."

 

Then I can assign any number of lessons with any start date I choose. Once I assign a lesson it shows up on the calendar. From the calendar screen I can drag and drop each assignment to a different day if I need to. I can also click on an assignment and click the check box to mark it as completed. Assignments marked as completed show crossed out on the calendar. The calender drag and drop and lesson plan features allow flexibility while the printed weekly lists help keep my kids on track. I make a new printed assignment list every Monday. If the previous week didn't go as planned, sometimes I will move lessons so that things are doubled up to catch up and sometimes they will just see what was Friday's work on their new page for Monday.

[wallingjan]

We use a spreadsheet and she crosses items off as she finishes them. If the week isn't done then no Friday afternoon or Saturday fun stuff until it's done. I do check in daily to make sure she isn't getting behind.

[happypamama]

I make them finish up work if they were wasting time not getting it done during the week. If the week was busy and it was just to much we push it to the next week instead. It really depends on WHY it is not getting done.

 

 

Yes, this.

[RootAnn]

Now, how do you make sure they did all their work for the day? Do they check something off or you meet with them at the end of the day? I need to have a sure way of keeping them accountable. The obvious thing is to meet with them at the end of the day. But, at the end of the day, I am ready, well, for the day to end, kwim? I have a hard time getting to that. And even if I just spent 15 mins with them...there are 6...so that would be 1 1/2 hours!

 

The olders can cross off the stuff they got done on their list. I meet with my oldest once per week to go over the subjects she's working on independently (Latin, Science, History) to see how much she got done & what the quality of her work is looking like. You'll have to develop a system for checking work (when to check, when they have to fix things, rechecking), though.

 

Yes, by individual subjects. Then it is just a reference, making schedule making open and go itself. :)

I do this same type of summer planning - a master sheet (one box is one lesson) per subject per kid(s). My oldest gets the Donna Young free eXcel spreadsheet weekly list. I put things in every weekend, so I know what carries over from the previous week. If she SHOULD have gotten to something & just blew it off, I'll assign it as homework. Most of the time, though, it is my fault if she doesn't get to something. So, it just rolls into the following week. She'll be finishing History & Science over the summer, though, because she wasn't working for the whole time she needed to each day (no matter what I said) in those two subjects.

 

In general, she doesn't have weekend work.

[FriedClams]

My rule-

 

If they didn't get it done due to thier own fault - they do it over the weekend.

If it didn't get done because of me - it slides into the next week.

[Guest ChrisAnn96]

If we get behind one week we just double up on a subject the next week. I try to only double up on 1 subject per day so the work load is dispursed throughout the week.

[Maisy]

This is the daily plan that finally worked for me after several years of trying various methods. I hope the attached link works (it's this week's schedule/plan)!

 

For any unfinsihed daily work I put a red circle around the check-off box so DS knows to start with that the next day before moving on. The last section is my place to list homework (any incomplete work), make notes to myself, pencil in the following week's math (or whatever assignment) if I get so bold as to map out two weeks in a row.

 

I have a master binder that I do my yearly planning in. Most weeks I just transfer assignments from the binder to the planner. Seems like double work, but it really isn't. The child needs a daily plan of his own, and I need to see where we are with regard to our target dates.

 

Anyhoo, on Monday each week I take the completed Assignment Sheet (sometimes I type it; sometimes I print it and write it in) and place it in a sheet protector secured in the brads of his daily folder (so he can see it and keep up with it!). I put any pages I know he's going to need for the week (grammar worksheets, math tests, etc.) in the back pocket. The front pocket is where he keeps all his work that I grade/discuss/return during the week. On Fridays, he corrects anything that hasn't already been corrected and places it in the appropriate binder on his shelf (one for each subject).

 

I could never do dated, bound, spiral binders (and I tried!) because I always seemed behind in at least one or two subjects! This gives me the flexibility to start fresh each week, yet still have my master yearly plan as my guide.

 

I have used this method will all three kiddos at the same time. However, now I'm just using the system for my last little guy.

Jack's Weekly Assignment Sheets 2012-31.doc

Jack's Weekly Assignment Sheets 2012-31.doc

[PeterPan]

I don't know if you ever solved your problem, but the only planners that have worked here have been ones we made ourselves. And no, we don't make a whole year's worth, lol. I make a table and have it work for *1 week*. That's it. That's all I can guarantee. Happily, once you get that first one made, usually the next week's is pretty similar, with just say the page numbers changed. Abbeyej shared some files around here ages ago, and I used them as models for mine. It really just depends on how you work. Shake them up and play with it. Start with something imperfect and then make the checklist a bit better each week as you redo.

 

If you pm me your email, I'll send you a file of one for my dd or help you make something to fit your situation. It does take some time, but it saves SO much time in the long run. That way it fits right off the bat. Then I just make a syllabus for the subject or have piles or something, so I know what to fill into the schedule. This year I'm upping the ante a tad for 9th and going to have her (if it works) fill in her own schedule using the syllabi. We'll see if it works! So it's not like you keep doing it forever. It's a tool.

[PachiSusan]

Yes, I do. It hardly ever gets to Saturday - she'd rather be doing it as home work after dinner.