Student Planners

I've begun preparations for the next school year. One of the things I want my older kids to work on this year is being responsible for their assignments without my having to give reminders. I want them to grow in independence and responsibility.

To help them do this, I set out to design and print a planner and weekly assignment sheets for them. But late last night I got an email from CurrClick and found that another mother has already done all that work.

[Do you know about CurrClick?

If you're a home school mom, then you need to know about CurrClick. This site offers curriculum that is available for immediate download.

I've used CurrClick a few times. I bought a lapbooking project for the summer olympics last year. It was a lot of fun! Hannah loves horses, so I downloaded a curriculum called All About Horses for her. I've also downloaded some handwriting exercises to use during the summer.

One neat thing about CurrClick is that when a book you ordered is updated, then you are notified and can download the updated version for free.]

I found some colorful and thorough student planners for boys and girls. Not only does this planner have daily assignment sheets, the weekly planner page includes small charts for chores, attitude, hygiene, Bible reading, scripture memory work, book reading, and prayers.

There are pages for specific character traits. For instance, one trait we want Hannah to grow in is responsibility. There is space for her to write about responsibility, what it means, space for drawing an illustration of that trait in action, scriptures that encourage responsibility, and a section for writing what she did to grow in that area each day of the week.

Behind the character pages, I found "My Money Management." These pages can be used to teach children how to be aware of where their money goes. They can keep up with their allowance and gifts, how much they earned, how much they spent, how much they saved, how much they tithed and gave away, etc.. They can record what they did with money in a week, month, and year. There is also a chart for events and items they want to save up for. For example, Benjamin really wants a guitar. This chart will help him figure how much money, time, and work it will take for him to save enough money to buy it.

This bundle also includes certificates for various things you may want to use to recognize your child's hard work.

I don't get anything from CurrClick for mentioning these planners. I just found them last night, purchased them, downloaded and printed them out for my kids to use this year. I simply like them and want to share with those mom's who read my blog. CurrClick is running a special on these planners right now. You can buy both for $6.50.

You can preview these books before you purchase.
For boys
For girls

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Can I just tell you about my day?

We did some chores around the house.

We went to Books-A-Million for their "Family Fun Camp." The email from BAM said that today's activities would include games like Bingo, charades, and a coloring contest. None of that was going on at our BAM. The employees, who were totally unprepared for children, decided to have one of their own read to all the children. Unfortunately, she read like she had never read a book to children in her whole life. It was awful. And when she realized that she was a terrible reader, she apologized and said, "We're not the library!"

First of all, they advertised games and a coloring contest. How unfair of me to expect games and a coloring contest!

Secondly, it would have been better if they had been honest. They should have told us they didn't plan to do any "Family Fun Camps" at this store.

Unfortunately, they still got some of our money because, well, it IS a bookstore. And many of their books are so cheap right now.

We returned to the Casa de Wiggins for some lunch. While I made burritos and tacos, Karl started reading an abridged Oliver Twist to the kids.

After lunch, I went in search of games for us to play. I think I must have given away my old Disney Trivial Pursuit game when I became too old to enjoy playing it. Karl said, "That was short-sighted." I guess I never thought I'd have children.

Instead of a game, I pulled out a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. It's a photo of Venice, Italy. I wish I could just jump into the picture. The kids and I worked on it for a little while.

The kids washed the car.

I read a book: Freedom and Boundaries: A Pastoral Primer on the Role of Women in the Churchby Kevin DeYoung. A difficult topic made accessible to the layperson. Get one for your church's library.

Karl and I made some home made ice cream.

We picked some vegetables from our garden.

Karl watered the garden while I washed and prepped the veggies.

We ate dinner and watched HP & The Sorcerer's Stone. My children are so excited about The Half-Blood Prince coming out next week. Karl and I haven't decided yet if we'll let the kids see it without our seeing it first. Considering the content of the book, I am rather surprised that it's only rated PG. Maybe they left out all the "snogging." Worse than the snogging is the Tom Riddle story line; he is twisted and evil. That settles it. I definitely want to preview the movie first.

All in all, today was another blessed day. I'm going to put away some dishes and go to bed.

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