Each year, many schools around the country arm their students with a very vital tool that will help them stay organized throughout the school year and be more successful. This tool is a planner. Online companies, like Meridian Student Planners, for example, have helpful supplies and tools that can help children stay organized and keep track of all activities that they have going on. This valuable asset can help them not only succeed in the current school year, but also give them vital life lessons moving forward on the importance of time and assignment management. But the first step to making this tool work positively for them is to form a habit around making entries each day and referring to it for upcoming events, such as tests or tournaments.
Here are six tips to help your child use planners more effectively.
1. Make it available.
This may seem obvious, but many children forget to bring theirs to school each day. By making it available, your child has more opportunity to write stuff down.
2. Write assignments as quickly as they come in.
Encourage your child to write assignments as they come in. This will be particularly important, starting day one. Check it when they get home to make sure they are doing this daily.
3. Add reminders.
When big projects are due, don’t let them sneak up on your child. Have them put reminders a week ahead of time that a project is coming up so that they can start working on it early.
4. Make it colorful.
By using a color coding system and highlighters, planning can be more fun and more effective. For example, use yellow for upcoming events, pink for due dates and green for extracurricular activities.
5. Use it for non-academics too.
To teach your child how to properly balance their schedule, have them use it for non-academic activities too. These can include sporting events, family functions or birthday parties.
6. Use sticky notes.
If there is extra information about a particular date, put it on a sticky note and add it in to the date of the event. These can also be used to flag an important project so that there is a constant reminder to not delay.
These tools are great ways to prepare your child for the real world. By learning organization and time management skills early on, they are better equipped to do well in their professional and personal lives later on in life.
Organization happens to be one of John’s favorite things to write about. If you’d like to find out more about Meridian student planners, please visit http://www.meridianplanners.com/