Get yourself organised this year so you don't forget your child's classes or extra music/swimming/taekwondo lesson. - Photo
It’s a tough job coordinating the whole family’s time so that everything runs like clockwork and you don’t scramble at the last minute because you forgot that violin class has be rescheduled to Tuesday this week and that swimming is now on Sundays.
There is only so much one person can do, so we say, rope the whole family in!
Common family schedule
Create a central family schedule that lets you know at a glance what everyone is up to at any time. Choose a place where everyone congregates every day - it can be the kitchen, somewhere near the fridge or in the dining room. Put up a big white board or wall calendar and pencil in all the activities, classes, parties, birthdays, plays and such that family members are involved in.
Use colour stickers to code all the activities - birthdays are in blue, classes are in red, play dates are in yellow, and more. This way, at a glance, you will know what’s going on. This website has a lot of ideas about how to set up a family schedule: www.tipjunkie.com/organize/family-schedule/
Another option is to go electronic, but that would mean every person in the household has an electronic device to access the schedule. If this is not possible, at least the adults have an electronic version of the whiteboard/calendar at home. Make sure the electronic calendar you choose allows auto updates. This means if one person changes the detail on the calendar, it is automatically updated on everyone’s device. The plus point about having an electronic schedule is that you can set up alerts to remind you.
Google calendar is an excellent freeware that is available to everyone with a Google or Gmail account. All that’s needed to access it is a smartphone, computer or tablet with Wifi connection. Check this link on a quick tutorial on how to use the Google calendar to organise the whole family: www.samsung.com/us/article/how-to-organize-family-plans-with-google-calendar
Workbox system
This is something home schooling parents usually use to organise their kids' schoolwork, and we don’t see why it cannot be adapted for everyone. The idea is to organise your kids’ homework into workboxes, which can be in the form of box files or drawers. You can easily get drawers from any stationery store or bookshop. Each box holds a subject or assignment for the day. The boxes are numbered, so the kids know to do it in order.
Say, on average, your child has five to six sets of homework a week. Set up a system where she knows to check the drawers for work. If your child goes to school, you may not be able to put the work in the drawers in advance, as you would have to wait for her to come back from school to check her homework. In this case, you could have a drawer for each subject that she has in school, with a checklist in the drawer. Every day after school, she will go to the individual checklists and tick them off as she finishes the homework for that subject. This is also a way for you to add on any supplementary exercises you want her to do for a subject. Place extra worksheets or reading materials in the relevant drawers, and add that onto the checklist.
You could also use accordian files for this system, with the only limitation being you cannot put in extra workbooks.
This system helps the child start to work independently, and have a sense of responsibility about schoolwork. In the beginning, you may have to monitor to some degree, but as your child gets older, it’ll become easier for her and you won’t have to spend precious time nagging her to do homework.
For more information about the actual workbox system, go to www.workboxsystem.com. This informative website show how it works in reality: www.squidoo.com/workboxes.
Cut down on trips
Often, a lot of a parent’s time is spent on the road, ferrying kids to this lesson and that activity. Figure out a way to cut down on these trips. If you can afford it, arrange for the teachers to make house calls. It’ll probably cost an average of RM10 to RM20 extra per lesson, depending on the distance between the teacher’s house to yours. But think about the hours that will shave off your time.
Instead of driving for half an hour to send her to an hour-long piano lesson, and then driving back for another half an hour, you will only have to make sure your child is ready for the lesson five minutes before the teacher comes. That’s an hour’s time saved per week! You don’t have to make all lesson teachers do house calls, but if you could check a couple off the list, that’ll ease up your time a lot.
Another way to cut down on your driving time is carpooling. If you have other kids in the neighbourhood going for the same lessons, enquire whether it is possible to take turns to send and fetch them. Of course, safety is your priority, and you want to be absolutely sure that the person you’re entrusting your child to is reliable and trustworthy.
It’s everyone’s responsibility
For a family to run like a well-oiled machine, it should be everyone’s responsibility to ensure that happens. This is a great way to get the kids involved in the family, and to take ownership of their own schedule.
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