DD is using a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" 2-pages-per-week TUL student planner. She loves the size (and the fun stickers). Neither of us expected this to be an issue, but it turns out there is not nearly enough room for her to write down her homework in each day’s box. She has a rigorous course load with too much homework and a busy EC schedule. She keeps the EC schedule on her Google calendar too, but life goes smoother when she writes down events in the planner as well. She is filling up every inch on the pages of this planner, writing in the margins, writing over the weekend days. It’s a wonder she hasn’t missed any assignments.
One solution was for her to carry and 8.5" x 11" planner or a page-a-day planner. She is open to carrying a larger size, but the page-a-day makes the planner too thick and heavy. I tried talking her into carrying just two months at a time of a page-a-day, but that didn’t fly. I’m pretty sure she needs a paper planner. Electronics use is somewhat restricted and phones prohibited outside of lunch periods, and the schools limit what apps can be downloaded on the iPads. She can’t rely on electronics or online access.
Any ideas? We’ve browsed the office supply stores and peeked at Amazon’s offerings, but they don’t seem to have anything that much different than what she is already using. Is there a niche brand we overlooked?
There are a lot of honors and AP kids/parents on CC, so maybe some of you have been in this boat and can tell us what worked for you. Thanks in advance.
My D loves this one page/day planner. It goes by academic year so it starts/ends in the summer. She used it from middle school thru grad school. https://www.ataglance.com/ataglance/browse/product?prodId=AY44 It is 5x8 which is a nice size although it is a bit thick.
My kids always chose their own student planners. I would suggest you take your kiddo to the store that sells them, and let her see the options…and choose.
One of my kids uses a smaller planner and has no issues. The other puts everything in his phone.
My kid keeps her ECs on her Google calendar. For school, she has looseleaf paper in the front of a binder, and every day she draws a line, writes the date, then makes note of everything that isn’t done yet. So it might say
Friday 11/9
math worksheets (5! Catch up this weekend)
Gatsby chapters 7-9 quiz 11/15
physics needs another pen color
physics homework due 11/20
history period 5 notes due 11/15
pick up heels from cobbler Monday after school
go to bed early!
Then she crosses through what gets finished and copies the unfinished items to the next day.
She’s gone through a variety of organization methods, and this one seems to result in the fewest last minute panics.
7 years ago, when my daughter started college, (after some turbulent, very disorganized high school years, after which she miraculously got into an excellent college despite all that) my husband and I bought her a planner at the college bookstore at move-in time. Of course it was completely empty when we found it in her bedroom after she moved into her first post-college job.
I’ll definitely be showing these options to DD. @happy1, DD would have totally overlooked that planner because it is so plain, but now I think she can better appreciate it’s space and flexibility. @momofsenior1, we would have overlooked that one too because it doesn’t appear too much different than what she’s got, but looking carefully, it is an inch wider than hers, and that extra space might make all the difference. If nothing else, this teaches both of us to take a closer look at those kinds of details. @allyphoe I will show her your system too. I am not sure if she is carrying a binder or not this year (she always did in the past as she used the SOAR organization system, and I think she still does), if so, your daughter’s system also sounds like a great option.
@thumper1, DD did pick out her own planner at an office supply store. She got it in June and it follows the school year rather than the calendar year. Neither of us expected the one she chose wasn’t going to have enough space. It has been a while since I paid much attention to what she writes in her assignment notebooks, but this year she is setting a lot more of her own schedule and appointments. So every few weeks we have to compare notes. I see her planner isn’t big enough; even she admits it’s not (although she is understandably reluctant to carry the same thick and heavy page-a-day binder I require).
This is a great time of year to make a switch, because there are more and different choices on the shelves for January.
