Adding any credit earning course to your student’s schedule also adds a lot of responsibility. Especially in AP or dual enrollment classes, where work is often done on a strict timeline and paced by a teacher, time management is crucial.
Despite its many benefits, homeschooling also causes some unique difficulties with organization. Since classes are often online, or at least meet far less frequently than the typical traditional high school class, it is easy to lose track of your responsibilities and fall behind on work, leading to painful end-of-year catch-up periods.
As a homeschooler soon to enter my senior year, I am all too familiar with these struggles. When I was in tenth grade, I fell behind on my self-paced math curriculum, my lowest priority among many more engaging synchronous classes, requiring me to extend the class into the summer so that I would have time to finish. While this didn’t cause any long-term problems (other than less free time in my summer vacation!), it did motivate me to improve my time management and organization as I went into eleventh grade. Despite juggling fourteen classes in my junior year, including one AP and my first six dual enrollment courses, I kept up with everything far better than the year before.
I want to share what I’ve learned about time management through high school with you and your students, hopefully helping them to stay confident and on track with schoolwork throughout the year. The ability to self-direct your studies is necessary in college and beyond, and especially with the responsibility that comes with earning college credit in high school, it is best to begin as early as possible.
Day-To-Day Advice
For students who struggle with procrastination, putting their work off until the due date, methods for time management on a smaller scale may help. Not all of these techniques work for everyone, but their popularity and prevalence hint that they might be worth a try:
- Pomodoro method
- This technique recommends that you alternate between twenty-five minutes of work and five-minute breaks. Timing their tasks and breaking them into shorter periods may motivate students to concentrate.
- Pros:
- The method teaches good habits with focus and taking breaks.
- The time periods can easily be changed! I personally find the twenty-five minute time too long to keep me motivated, so I often set multiple shorter timers, completing several brief periods one after the other.
- Cons:
- The timer does help to keep some people motivated to do their schoolwork, but it definitely does not work for everyone. Watching your time run out can be stressful, and the constant switches between work and breaks may be annoying for those who prefer to do their homework in longer stretches.
- Daily to-do lists
- Whether they create it online or on paper, your student might benefit from creating a daily to-do list. Looking at accomplishments and seeing what needs to be completed can be very helpful, and I would urge them to give it a try.
- Pros:
- Having a clear place to gather tasks to complete is helpful for many, and it may help to avoid putting schoolwork off until the last minute.
- Cons:
- Creating daily to-do lists is a bit time consuming, so I typically would recommend this method during especially busy times of the year when there is more work than usual to keep track of.
- Eisenhower’s matrix
- This organizational tactic is a variation of the typical to-do list. Instead of simply writing down tasks, you must sort them by their urgency and importance.
- Pros:
- If your student struggles to determine what work should be prioritized, this may be a helpful method to try because its sections clearly indicate what is most important to complete.
- Cons:
- The added complexity might make it difficult to fill out every day.
Larger Scale Advice
Many of the above techniques, while they may be helpful in getting work done each day, will not do much to keep your student organized in the long run. I would recommend coupling them with one or more of the following ways to keep track of work throughout the year:
- Google Classroom/Calendar
- Some students like to write all of their assignments into the Google Classrooms website, a completely free program that helps them to monitor their progress.
- Pros:
- The site automatically syncs with Google Calendar, allowing for reminders when due dates are approaching so that nothing is missed.
- It provides a convenient view of all upcoming work.
- Cons:
- While helpful, it does take a lot of time to set up and update.
- Trello
- Trello is a free task management software that allows you to write down your duties on small cards and move them across a board as they are completed.
- Pros:
- It’s simple to create and update when needed, and there are built-in ways to organize your work through tags and different categories.
- You can set up notifications when due dates are approaching to ensure that work is not missed.
- Cons:
- Customization is somewhat limited.
- Spreadsheets
- Many free spreadsheet templates are available online, offering help with keeping schoolwork and other tasks organized.
- Pros:
- Spreadsheets are very customizable, allowing your student to set it up in the way that works best for them.
- While it is difficult to set up, it won’t require much work to update each day or week.
- Cons:
- Your student has to actually look at the spreadsheet daily to be reminded of upcoming assignments—there is no easy way to set up reminders linked to a spreadsheet.
- Planner/Weekly to-do list
- Making an expanded to-do list with all of your homework for the week is a relatively simple way to see what you have to get done.
- Pros:
- This is the fastest of these methods to keep updated; it just involves writing down every assignment.
- It’s completely on paper rather than through a website or app, meaning that it’s always visible to your student as they work.
- Cons:
- This method may be best for a more motivated or self-directed student since they still have to stay on top of their work and divide it up through the week.
- Mobile apps
- There are a plethora of mobile apps promising help with organizing tasks and motivation to complete assignments. Your student could likely find one that works for them with some further research.
- Pros:
- There’s a huge variety of options to choose from.
- Cons:
- Having to open your phone to check your to-do list or update your tasks is distracting in itself, so this might be counterintuitive when trying to stay focused.
- Many apps require you to pay for a subscription—I might recommend exploring some of the previously described free options first.
How I Stay Organized
Personally, I use an variety of the above methods to keep myself on track. I keep most of my work organized in a paper planner, which has space for all of my schoolwork, activities, and other miscellaneous tasks to be written in each week, along with their respective due dates. Since this schedule is relatively quick to create, I’m never too busy to fill it out. I’ve found that keeping a physical list on the table next to me while I work is most helpful—it’s difficult to procrastinate when reminders of what I have to get done are right next to me!
During busier times of year, I couple my weekly schedule with a shorter daily to-do list, ensuring that I make ample progress on everything each day.
Finally, I sometimes use the Pomodoro method when writing essays and other assignments. While it doesn’t typically keep me motivated for other types of schoolwork, I do find writing as many words as I can before the timer runs out to be a fun challenge,
Of course, these methods are what I find works best for me. While it may take some experimentation, your student will likely find their own blend of organizational techniques that best aid them, and you can help to support them through that process.
How Can You Help Your Student?
While it is of course important to ensure that your student stays on top of their schoolwork, make sure that you are not doing all of their organizational work for them. As previously mentioned, learning how to manage your schedule on your own is an important life skill, and it is one your child should eventually be able to implement with little help.
Throughout high school, I’ve gradually been able to take charge of my own schedule. Back in ninth grade, my mom sat with me after my classes’ weekly work was released, helping me to write down each assignment in my planner and ensuring that I didn’t miss anything. Now, as I enter twelfth grade, I do the same thing alone, showing my parents the complete to-do list but creating it all on my own. This was a very fulfilling process for me, so much so that it’s part of the topic of one of my college essays!
Make sure to help your student stay on track when they need it, but eventually step back so that they don’t miss out on the many benefits of taking charge of their own schedules.
