I like to use a large calendar to map out yearly plans. Let’s start with the obvious - the natural ebb and flow of our lives. All families have different traditions, different responsibilities. Do you always take the month of December off from school and activities? If so, mark it down on your huge planning guide. Do you always get together with extended family for a week over Thanksgiving? Always take vacation the first two weeks of August? Always spend a month in medical missions in the summer? Always volunteer for Boy Scout camp in June? Whatever it is, write it down.

Now let’s look at events that are rather predictable. When does your daughter’s orchestra normally schedule concerts? When are your state and regional debate tournament usually held? Does your family take part in the Christmas play every year at church? If there is a foreseeable yearly event, write it down.

Then there are predictable tests. The PSAT test is always in late October. AP tests are always the first few weeks in May. SAT and SAT Subject tests fall on the same months every year. It is important that your student be well rested and prepared for these tests, so plan to take them during times when you can ensure that will happen. More realistically, you will have to eliminate activities that fall around the test dates in order to make sure your child performs at an optimal level.

Then there are the once in a lifetime things we know are coming that need to be penciled in and planned around. The senior year is full of them. If your child is a musician, there is almost always a recital the spring of the senior year. While your college applications will ideally be done by early fall, most people are still struggling to get them out by the January 1 deadlines. You had just as well plan ahead and schedule a light month for November and December to get the job finished. Likewise, you will likely be spending April weekends visiting colleges after admissions decisions hit. No sense in planning anything there.

What normally happens when all this gets written down is an initial panic. There are not enough months to squeeze in everything you have down. That is normal. Walk away from your plan and do something to clear your mind. When you are calm again, we have to look at things very realistically. You will have to move some things around or eliminate them entirely. You might find that an activity that has worked well for two years, needs to be greatly reduced or eliminated the junior year. This sifting and sorting is critical to our student’s health and well being. I cannot emphasize the importance of this skill enough, both for the parent and the student. Choose to learn it early in the freshman year so you have it perfected by crunch time in the junior year.

Now we have a big picture of what the year looks like. We can see at a glance what months are overloaded and where we need to make adjustments. We can see what months are slow and plan for a big leadership project when our energies will not be needed for important classes and tests. We start with general commitments and move to specific dates.

THE MONTHLY CALENDAR

Print off blank calendar pages for each month of the coming year. Here you will plan the fine details of your life. Obviously, as soon as you have specific dates, they get penciled in. However, these planning pages are for much more than is found in your Day Timer. If your student has a major test at the end of the year, back out as many months as necessary and start writing down practice tests and essays. For example, if he plans to take the SAT test in November of his junior year, have him take a diagnostic test late in his sophomore year. Encourage him to evaluate it carefully and determine where his weak points are. He can study and hire a tutor to get up to speed, then take another practice test run. Has he improved? If not, encourage him to buckle down and work harder. Take another test. Once all the holes have been filled in, you can schedule one or two tests a month as needed. Perhaps your student needs more work on the math section. You might schedule one math section practice test each week until it comes easily. They should also be practicing a SAT essay one to two times a week for several months before the test.

It is very important to map out each month in a day-to-day fashion. Plan ahead of time where you will squeeze in essay practice, meeting with a tutor, taking full-blown tests. If you don’t plan ahead, test preparation will never happen and test day will find your student unprepared.