The Print & Go Student Planner to Help Your Child Build Good Habits

Does your student need a little help with time management, priority setting and habit building? Check out the Print & Go Student Planner, a digital, print-yourself solution.

You have the best of intentions when it comes to motherhood. You want the very best of the best for your kids. 

But sometimes it’s hard. 

And as they enter the high school and college years, motherhood becomes harder than it ever has been. Yes, yes, it does. 

It’s not because they’re teenagers. Teenagers are fantastic!

No, the reason that it’s hard is because in high school and college, the decisions our kids make can have a long lasting effect on their futures. Childish mistakes in 5th grade can usually be overcome in a few years.

Mistakes in high school and college can sting… far into the future.

While we can’t control our kids or their futures, we can do our best to set them up for success, especially where habit-building, system-developing, and priority-setting are concerned.

I believe that the young adult who knows what his priorities are and knows how to build systems and habits around those priorities will be better poised for whatever the future holds.

It goes hand in hand with learning how to learn. If a child knows how to learn, then nothing will stand in his way.

Likewise, if he knows how to plan and prioritize, he will be better equipped for adulting.

After a couple of years simmering it in my head, I finally did it! I put together a planner that will work for my kids, middle school through college, to develop better habits.

The Print & Go Student Planner

I’m super excited to introduce you to the Print & Go Student Planner. 

While similar to the classic Print & Go Planner, this digital, print-yourself, planner has some fun new features.

Like a priority/habit-building framework…

After having read both How to Fail at Practically Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams and Atomic Habits by James Clear, I was motivated to help my kids work on good habit- and system- building.

Two big takeaways from those books:

1. We shouldn’t fear failure. It’s an opportunity to learn — and eventually win.
2. Small motions toward improvement add up over time. 

There are so many things that I look back on in life and just shake my head, wishing I’d had the forethought to create better systems for my life.

Granted, some of this understanding comes with age and experience, but I trust that my kids (and yours!) are pretty smart cookies and that with the right encouragement and sense of camaraderie, they can be forward thinking people.

If they know how to plan, they can plan — and accomplish — amazing things!

How am I teaching my kids to plan and build good habits?

First, the two books above are required reading for my high schoolers. Both are easy, fun reads that I own both in Kindle and paper. (That’s how good they are.) 

Second, I’ve set up a planner that will help them build good systems and habits. Let’s take a peek, shall we?

Setting Priorities and Building Good Habits

At the front of the planner is the framework I mentioned above as well as a Priorities & Habits for the Year planning page where your student can identify an area of interest (education, faith, travel, etc.) and brainstorm specific habits that they think will serve them in the future.

Monthly Priorities at a Glance

At the beginning of each month is a Priority at a Glance page, where students can list the habits and systems they’re working on in order to make progress in those areas. 

It’s important for someone who wants to grow in a certain area to keep those priorities in the forefront and revisit small ways that they can improve.

Each month your student will have an opportunity to review and reset.

Monthly Calendars

Of course, a planner wouldn’t really be complete without a calendar. There are monthly calendars (July 2022 to June 2023) for planning purposes.

These calendars do double-duty as habit trackers. Assign a symbol (star, checkmark, circle, etc.) to whichever habits you’re working on building. Draw that symbol on the calendar space of every day that you effectively perform that habit.

Habit tracking is a great way to reinforce those positive habits!

I know many people use Google calendar or some other web-based calendar, but I find that having a paper calendar to reference is always helpful in my planning and to access when I’m away from the internet.

Plus, most of my kids don’t have phones.

Weekly To Do/Remember Page

Each week there’s a Remember page. It’s a great spot to jot down priority and habit reminders as well as to-do lists for the day and week. 

I recommend using post-it notes (3×3 and 3×5) for the day and week sections, so that you can start fresh each day as well as not run out of room for the week. A fresh post-it note does wonders in removing visual clutter and confusion.

The ample notes section is there to use as your student sees fit. It will also hold a 4×8 (or 3.8×7.8) post-it note if you want more space. This larger size is not widely available in teen-friendly designs.

Weekly Time Blocking

Time Blocking or Time Budgeting is a fantastic way to make good use of the days. 

The planner includes weekly time blocking worksheets for every week of the school year. The days start at 4 am and end at midnight, not because I think anyone in their right mind keeps those hours, but to accommodate early risers as well as night owls.

If your student doesn’t have an hour-by-hour schedule, like in the case of homeschoolers without a set schedule, this page can be adapted as a weekly assignment sheet.

End of the Year Reflection Page

At the end of the year there’s an opportunity to review the year including space to record the habits and priorities your student wanted to improve back in the fall as well as to reflect on how that turned out.

Like the classic Print & Go Planner, this Student Planner is simple and streamlined. The design is black and white on purpose: the student can add the colors he or she desires using post-it’s and markers. 

Some weeks we’re blue and some weeks we’re sunshine yellow. It all depends on the week.

The 2022-23 version of the Print & Go Student Planner is now available for purchase!

I can’t wait to see how your student adapts it to his or her academic life.