Electronic calendar for assignments

[swimmermom3]

This is Sailor Dude's senior year of high school and one of our goals is to master using an electronic calendar to keep track of his assignments, extracurricular activities, college app. deadlines, etc. He tries to keep too much in his head and I think that college without mastering some type of organizational system will be very tough. I'd like to have a shared calendar where I can add his assignments that come from my classes.

 

What is the easiest to work with: Outlook or Google?  My own knowledge of both is fairly primitive, so I will be working on this as well.  If you know of some terrific tutorials, please link those as well. Thanks. 

[klmama]

I haven't worked with Outlook, just Google calendar.  It's helpful.  He needs to understand that if he makes a change to the start time of an event, the end time will automatically change, too, unless he moves it back to where it should be.  (A 7:00-9:00 event moved to 6:30 will show as 6:30-8:30 instead of going to 9:00.)   The calendars print up nicely, if he wants one posted to his wall or in his binder.

[SkateLeft]

Everyone in our family uses Google calendar, and we all have calendars that are shared with each other. I can't manage without my Google calendar! My teens know that if they need me to know something, it needs to be on my calendar. We use Android phones and tablets too, so our Google calendars are always easily accessible.

 

A side benefit to getting the kids accustomed to using the calendar was that when my oldest first went off to college, her academic calendar was still shared with me, so I could see her posting deadlines and assignments. It was very reassuring!

[Brenda in MA]

I'm with Sharon.  We use google calendar as a family, and we can all see each other's appointments/classes, which is helpful if we need to contact each other, we can see what would be a good time to call.

 

My son and I each have one shared calendar for appointments, and a second one for personal stuff that is not shared.  He keeps his school assignments on the unshared one.  When he was home, I could look over his shoulder and see what he had planned, but now that he is away, I can't see his assignments planned out.  He likes it better that way, which is fine with me.

 

We both started using this his senior year of high school, and I think it was good to have that year for both of us to get the hang of using it before he left for college.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

 

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I prefer calendars that are resident on my computer and that will sync with a smart phone rather than internet based.  Most can import/export info from public calendars like google so one could import a school or class schedule if published.  Among other benefits I like that they are available off line as well.