Because at most (secondary) schools, homework, test dates and grades are communicated to students and parents by teachers in an online environment such as Magister or Somtoday, a paper school diary for your child may seem a bit old-fashioned or even unnecessary. However, we see that the paper school diary is still a standard part of the school equipment for many students every school year, and that is not without reason!
Read this blog to find out why you should purchase a paper school diary for your child.
Helps to find necessary structure
Using a paper school diary contributes to the structured organization of your own school tasks in one clear tool. At some schools, the assigned homework and study work can be shared in multiple ways, via online environments such as Magister, during class, or in a study guide. By bringing all tasks and deadlines together in one place in the school diary, you create much more overview.
The agenda will be a familiar support for your child throughout the school year, this helps your child to keep track of all the homework assignments, study work, etc. As a parent, it also gives you peace of mind when you know that your child is not “alone” in this way. If your child learns to use a school agenda properly and all the school work is noted down, a paper school agenda offers a clear overview and a good support. Because your child has all the important moments of each reading week on paper in front of him, it is immediately clear what needs to be prepared, made or handed in and when.
What you write sticks
By writing down all assigned homework, speeches and test moments, your child will be less likely to forget these important things. Because these important things are actually physically written in the paper agenda by your child, he/she is directly more actively aware of these tasks than when they are typed in a telephone or computer. By writing the assigned schoolwork by hand in the school agenda, your child will be able to remember this much more easily than when he/she reads it from a computer screen.
In addition, writing down schoolwork increases the sense of usefulness and necessity to actually carry out the tasks that have been written down. Now that the study and homework are recorded in the school diary, your child (un)consciously sets himself the goal of working on these tasks and the chance that homework will be forgotten is many times smaller.
No distractions and more efficient use of time
A paper school diary has the great advantage over a digital administration of homework that it offers no distractions. By consulting the paper school diary for the assigned homework, instead of taking the phone or laptop, your child will no longer be distracted by notifications or messages that cause them to check social media or send an app. With a paper school diary, your child is really able to focus on the schoolwork to be done, without all the distractions of the digital world. Without the time that is lost to distractions, your child will use his or her own time more efficiently.
In addition, a well-maintained agenda, which is continuously supplemented and revised, will further contribute to optimizing the time your child spends at school. If your child learns to plan efficiently, there will be more time for other (more fun) things. Because your child can see at a glance in the agenda which homework assignments or which tests need to be prepared, it is possible to distribute the work and study work as well as possible over the week. In addition, unpleasant surprises are prevented with good school planning. Your child will no longer find out on the evening before an important test that there is still a lot of study work to be done, which causes a lot of unnecessary frustration and stress at home. Because your child is informed about a test moment in time with the help of a clear paper agenda, the study work can be done more easily when he/she has the time for it.
Important for the development of one's own planning skills
A paper school diary helps your child develop their own planning skills. Children who are making the transition from group 8 to the first year of secondary school in particular still need to work on their planning skills. Because your child is actively organizing the time that needs to be spent on schoolwork when writing down their schoolwork, your child will develop much more insight into how to best organize their own time. It is not only important for your child to be able to plan well at primary or secondary school, but also when following a possible further education and adult life, being able to oversee your appointments, deadlines and to-do's is an indispensable skill.
In addition, using a school diary contributes to the development of your child's independence and sense of responsibility. Because your child manages his/her own time and learns to set priorities when writing down and planning his/her own school tasks, your child will better realize that he/she also plays a major role in the course of his/her own school career. In addition, when making a schedule for schoolwork, your child must learn to make responsible choices about how to spend his/her time. Because there is only a limited amount of time available, your child must learn to make choices and set priorities.
Phone ban at school makes a school diary essential
Not only does a paper school diary help your child remember schoolwork and develop their own planning skills, but with the introduction of the ban on phones at school, a paper school diary has actually become essential. Since January 1, 2024, the use of mobile phones has no longer been permitted in secondary schools, and as of the 2024-2025 school year, mobile phones will also no longer be welcome in primary schools and special education. Your child will no longer be able to check the timetable or view the schedule for the rest of the day on his/her phone. With a paper school diary, your child will once again be able to view the class schedule and view the assigned homework, for example.
Also convinced that your child should use a paper school diary? Then view our extensive range of school diaries via the link below:
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