I bought an appointment calendar for her to use to set up her day. Then she fills out her chores and the other things she needs and wants to do. Filling out the schedule is not a problem. Sticking to it is excruciating.
It is hard to watch her struggle with getting distracted, fretting about being five minutes behind, then catching up only to be sidetracked from the next responsibility and get an hour behind. Then she is too discouraged to check the planner. I had so hoped that learning to use the planner in August would prepare her for using it to keep her daily tasks on track when school starts. Apparently, it will take more than one week for her to get the swing of it. Any tips are most welcome.
Speaking of being off schedule...
I'm almost back to the point in Rick's sweater where I stopped to unravel and start from the casting on again.
It really is going a little faster now that I have more knit stitches than purl stitches. My error was discovered when I had to divided to work the front and back on straight needles. That is now four rows away, and I expect it to go smoothly this time! He may get to wear it before Chirstmas after all.
4 comments:
I don't have real-world experience with kids and schedules, but do you think she's giving herself enough time for tasks and chores? I'm sure she needs to be more realistic about time frame, and she'll also learn how to focus and work through systematically. Maybe she should write various chores/tasks throughout the day/page, rather than have it all written in one chunk on the page?
Hi Gina,
Not allowing enough time is sometimes part of the problem. I think we can address that one easily. Now why didn't I see that!!!
Not concentrating on the task at hand is another.
Is it possible for her to assign things to a part of the day and not a specific hour?
We have chores set for the morning (meaning before school), then there is school work, afternoon chores (after school is done), and then evening chores (meaning after dinner). We don't have specific times scheduled because sometimes things just take longer than expected and we end up playing catch up all day. It's too stressful for me! It took awhile to get the bugs worked out but it has also allowed our dd the opportunity to be more in control of her day.
We do what Kim described. There are certain tasks that need to be done before school and in the evening. They get relief by checking them off (and some things have time limits), but we don't schedule constantly.
You call her the Artist, and sometimes creative people really struggle with a minute by minute or hour by hour type of schedule. It is rather agonizing to not allow the creative process to happen as it happens, but there needs to be an in between to make sure what needs to get done gets done.
And sometimes in order to stick with something, it takes all of their energy, and they lose the joy - because it is so not them.
This is the case with me, too. I know that while I see the need constantly for more structure in my life, an hour by hour plan to me seems like a prison, and it stresses me out to no end. I am cranky with the people who are keeping me from keeping it, and then I just end up throwing it aside.
A list of morning tasks, afternoon tasks, and evening tasks works better for me. I also give my kids a certain amount of freedom in determining what order they want to do their lessons.
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