The School Day This Year

Many things about our school day worked great last year. The biggest thing was the lack of a specific schedule. I used a dry erase board to list the day’s activities, but they could happen at any time. Each day started with my son doing the same morning work: read for 30 minutes, copy the day’s plans into his agenda, watch CNN Student News and write a response to one of the stories.

When my son wanted to, he would have everything done with time to spare before his friends came home. When he was pokey, then he would still be working until bedtime. He learned a lot about time management and the downside of procrastination!

Here’s how the weekly plans look this year:

He’s getting the whole week’s plan at once. That way, hopefully, he’ll be motivated to work ahead as he has time. If he finishes his week’s work early – he can have the rest of the week off!

We’re also keeping the morning work, but it’s not written down this year as something to do. He has to remember on his own. I’ve also added homework assignments that he has to do on his own. They’ll be written down each week, but no time will be set aside to work on them during “school” time.

Maybe, with giving him more control, time management will become a habit for him.