the school year is in full swing! everyone in my household was so excited the first day of school – we all got up really early and ate a huge breakfast, followed by taking our “first day of school” pictures in our new school clothes and backpacks full of freshly sharpened pencils and a new box of crayons. when the school day was over, stories were told of new teachers and old & new friends, what they did at recess, who they sat beside at lunch, and everything in between. life was blissful.
then the papers started coming home. tons of them. crammed into those little backpacks. and then came the homework binders. and reminders of this event, and that assembly, and so-and-so’s birthday, and after school clubs, and reading assignments, and reminders to bring this, and don’t forget that! and the list goes on, and on, and on….
wow. kids have a lot going on.
we were writing all of their dates on my own calendar but it soon became apparent that they needed their own space to plan out their days (my calendar is cluttered enough as it is!). so i made a kid’s version of a planner that i use all the time for my kids to use. but, it’s not just a planner in the sense that all they do is plan out their day…there’s a lot more to it than that….
(disclosure: this kids school planner kit is available in my etsy shop. it’s been so helpful i wanted to share it here on the blog to let you all know how it’s used.)
this planner has 3 components: a daily planner, a weekly planner, and a monthly planner. they can use any or all of these. here’s how they work:
1. daily planner pages
the daily planner pages are only 1/2 a sheet big, so 5.5″x4.25″. since they’re daily pages and you may be printing more of them, it’s nice to be able to get 2 on a page. just print it twice, double-sided, and it comes out perfectly and ready for you to cut in half.
on the front, it has a place to write in the date, fill in a detailed schedule for school, activities, fun things, etc. on the bottom is a place to write in, “one good thing i did today…”, encouraging kids to actively seek out an opportunity to do some good each and every day.
on the back, there is a place to write a journal entry. having a place built-in for them to write about their day not only encourages the development of their writing skills but gives them something to look back on a year (or more!) from now and remember back on who their friends were, what they liked to do, etc.
2. weekly planner pages
this is my favorite part of the entire set. there’s so much fun stuff going on here!
the weekly pages are 8.5″x11″ and include a place for your child to check off things they need to make sure to do in the morning before school/at the beginning of each day such as:
-make bed
-eat breakfast
-brush teeth
-pack lunch
(these are all blank for the weekend.) it then gives a place for them to write in a quick synopsis of the things they need to do that day, before giving them their check list for the evening.
-do homework
-tidy room
-read a book
after they’ve done everything for the day, they can give the day a rating between 1-5 stars by coloring in any number of a group of stars. i love this part because we all know how kids will sometimes come home from school and after asking them, “how was your day?!” they respond with a “fine” or “okay.” just seeing how they rate their day lets me know if there’s something more i need to try and get out of them or help them with. and then there’s a place for them to write their favorite part about the day. it’s like a super condensed journal entry – i love reading what their favorite part of the day was!
in addition, the weekly planner pages have an extra place to write in weekly to-do’s, goals for the week, and a place to put a sticker at the end of the week for a job well done!! (you provide the stickers :))
3. monthly planner pages
last, but not least, in these planner pages for kids is a monthly calendar. it includes a place for them to write in the month and year, and places for them to write in all the days of the month. this one is especially great if you have something fun coming up like a school trip, a family outing, or a birthday party.
all 3 of these planner pages (daily, weekly, & monthly) are sold together as a downloadable, printable kit in my shop and comes in the 5 different color/pattern sets you see above. so you can have it all!! pick and choose, or mix it up, it’s all up to you. and another great thing about them is that there is no specific date assigned to anything – you can start today, tomorrow, next month, whenever, and still be printing them out years from now to use.
they’ve been so helpful in keeping a little bit of sanity in our lives – when a new date or assignment or special event comes home on a paper in their backpack, it gets immediately put into their calendar. it’s so much easier to keep track of that way! and homework is getting done (gotta check it off that list!), and memories are being recorded, and we are just loving life!
if you’ve got elementary-aged kids in school, this just might be the thing for you! (or for them…you know what i mean.)
happy planning!
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