help me find a student assignment notebook

January 4, 2022 11:47 AM

this is so basic, I can't believe I need help, yet here we are. I need a homework planner for a kid. Why is this hard?

I need a student planner for a high schooler, for the 2021-2022 academic year, that shows

a. week-at-a-glance (so you open it and see the entire week spread on the two pages)
b. the vertical columns represent the days of the week, preferably with columns for sat and sun as well
c. the horizontal lines are seven periods. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. (NOT by hours like a working desk calendar.) Zero period is optional. A space for lunch break would be ideal, as there are often student group meetings at lunch, but that is probably too much to hope for.
d. there is enough space in each resulting rectangle to write 3-4 lines legibly.

That is all we need. The less other stuff there is, the better. If it's bulky or heavy it won't get used.

I have access to various chain office supply stores and online vendors.

Links to specific items much appreciated.

posted by fingersandtoes to Shopping (13 answers total)

Are you willing to print your own pages? You might find something that fits exactly at Teachers Pay Teachers:

This one is editable, for example.

You could print it in whatever size you like, and have it bound at kinkos or the like?
posted by dpx.mfx at 12:01 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

As the child of a teacher I think you're going to have much more success searching for teachers' lesson planners instead of student planners.
posted by phunniemee at 12:02 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

Would you consider an app?

If not, it looks like this ticks a lot of your boxes.

This one is even closer to your requirements.
posted by cooker girl at 12:03 PM on January 4, 2022

I have just been struggling with this myself. At-A-Glance Column-Style Weekly Dayminder / Daytimer has the 2-page weekly view and is roughly the right size, but not by periods.

Dayminder has no time markings for each column, so with a ruler you could make periods and lunchtime pretty easily.

Daytime has hours and half hours marked.

I see them both on Amazon, but everyone's buying planners right now so stock fluctuates a lot.

On preview, seconding that this is one case where printing your own might be a good idea. I've had extremely good luck with https://www.freeprintable.net. Lots of templates are free, and the ones I bought from there were well worth the money. https://www.printableplanners.net/preview/Student_Planner_Daily_Schedule looks like it could easily be edited to do what you want, for example.
posted by Ahniya at 12:06 PM on January 4, 2022

Response by poster: eta: No I can't compromise on any of the requirements or I would have already bought one of the first 20 hits on amazon and saved my question to ask about my itchy piercings.

How does printing out oneself work? I need it bound to stand up to high school backpack use. Can it be ordered bound with covers?
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:07 PM on January 4, 2022

If you don't find something that absolutely thrills you, MeMail me. I make my own planner pages for work and I'm super particular about how they are laid out, and I can probably modify mine to do what you want in about 30 minutes and would be happy to do it. It doesn't take a ton of work to turn it into a big pdf to have printed at Staples etc (which you can also do, of course, if you find one on Etsy etc that suits you), and they'll mail it to you if you don't want to go out.

(My secret is Lucidchart but you can make them in Excel too.)
posted by Lyn Never at 12:10 PM on January 4, 2022 [8 favorites]

Somehow I didn't see that the second planner I linked doesn't have rows for periods. The first one does, though. It really seems like that one hits everything you need. You could easily tear out the pages you don't want.
posted by cooker girl at 12:28 PM on January 4, 2022

You can get projects printed through FedEx, Staples, and other local and chain printers with binding options and no minimums. (Larger online business printing places sometimes have minimums.) It’s usually pretty cheap for b/w and basic options. Like … dollars. And they will ship to you or you likely have a local place you can do pickup at. Some offer design help for a fee as well. (Worked in marketing. Did a lot of fedex and other print orders.)
posted by Crystalinne at 12:55 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you design your own, think about putting a tiny copyright notice so you can Kickstarter it later.
posted by kschang at 1:38 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

You might be able to customize an Agendio planner for this. I've gotten some extremely specific notebooks from them and been happy with the results.
posted by picopebbles at 3:37 PM on January 4, 2022

Best answer: You want the Order Out of Chaos Academic Planner. It covers all of the elements you requested, and you get a few choices of covers in each of the two sizes.

I'm a professional organizer, and my colleague Leslie Josel, who specializes is ADHD coaching and student time management, created this planner years ago. It's won many awards in ADHD and time management circles. It's what my colleagues who work with students recommend.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 4:28 PM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]

I wish I’d know about the Order out of Chaos item mentioned above when we were looking back in August. This year we ended up getting this one, which has worked for my kiddo.
posted by dreamphone at 5:46 PM on January 4, 2022

Best answer: Five Star has a ton of planners like this. These all have the full week, with each day as one column, and multiple rows, with a blank column on the left that you can personalize by period or class, so you can definitely add in a lunch spot.
posted by airplant at 8:56 PM on January 4, 2022