Organizing Your School Year

We all know that a well-organized school year is important. If the year is planned in advance, it facilitates the day-to-day school work; and students are able to easily complete their textbooks by the end of the school year. During my elementary school years, my mother would prepare the books for me (as follows); but, as I became a junior high and high school student, she began to let me plan my own schedule.

Dividing Textbooks into Daily Lessons

My mother would divide the number of pages by how many school days we would have (180 days). Then she would write on the top of each page (in pencil) the date when it was to be completed.
For instance, if I had a textbook that was 540 pages long, then I would need to do three pages a day. Mom would write on each page of the book the dates on which the lesson (three pages) was to be completed. Use our handy assignment-maker to figure daily lessons.
When using textbooks that had actual sets/lessons in them (like Saxon math), she would write the dates in the table of contents.
She dated the tests at the same time and wrote the test number on the date in my textbook that I should take the test.

With most of my subjects she would start out with more pages in the beginning of the year when the work is easier (and I was fresh and eager to learn!); then starting about half way through the year she would begin reducing the number of pages as the problems became harder (and I became more tired!). So, I would end the year (when spring fever hit) doing about half the number of pages than at the beginning.

Recording my daily assignments this way made it easier for me to study independently and made keeping a log much easier for Mom.

Use one of the following spreadsheets to easily calculate daily assignments in multiple textbooks.

Dividing Textbooks into Weekly Lessons

Starting in junior-high, my mother began letting me carry the responsibility of figuring my own schedule, writing the dates in my books, and keeping my own log. I enjoyed planning my year!

During this time, I decided to figure my work by the week (36 weeks in a school year) and write it in the book's table of contents along with my test dates. By the end of the week I would need to have completed the portion indicated in my table of contents. handy weekly assignment-maker
Instead of taking all of my books out every day and having to re-adjust and re-focus on each new subject, I began spending whole days on one or two of my subjects and do the entire week's assignment in one day. I found that there is much time wasted as students switch gears when they change from subject to subject. Studying this way I was able to conserve my time and completely understand the subjects I was studying. I would not recommend using this method with younger children, though, because younger children do need the repetition each day. Here is a sample of my schedule:
- Monday I would do my entire week's work in math and history.
- Tuesday I did English and science.
- Wednesday was for the easier subjects such as art, foreign language, and literature.
- Thursday I spent doing physical education, music, home economics.
- Friday we delegated as our "day out" and ran errands or did other special classes outside the home.
  I also read the Bible as literature each day.
I enjoyed learning this way because I wouldn't have to spend time five days a week trying to remember where I was the previous day; also, it enabled me to be disciplined and spend quality time on my homework. It was much easier to focus without the constant shifting to different subjects in one day.

Use one of the following spreadsheets to easily calculate weekly assignments in multiple textbooks.

Organizing your school year

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