Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.

This military adage has proved itself time and again over the years.  School deadlines, personal goals, work responsibilities…these days it’s my philosophy for how to run a household without losing my mind in the process.  I probably ought to cross-stitch it on a sampler to help maintain my laser-like focus (ha!).

T-man recently handed me a perfect example of this motto in action.

He’s in fifth grade.  It’s his last year in elementary school, and fifth grade is designed to be a transition year to middle school.  They use a block schedule and the students change classes, so the kids have three teachers handling instruction for their core subjects.  It gives students a chance to practice organizational skills, adapting to different teaching styles, and the general concept of a middle school schedule.  It definitely gives T-man’s school day a different feel.

There are several experiences that are unique to fifth grade in our elementary school, one of which is the Science Fair.

Now seems like a good time to mention that I’m not exactly a science person.  As an educated woman I feel a bit ridiculous saying that…I mean, it’s elementary school science, right?!  But I’m a writing/creative/language arts kind of girl, and I’ve found that my brain simply isn’t wired for quickly grasping scientific concepts.  Guess I’ve got a lot of work to do before they hit the upper grades, huh?

Anyway, fifth grade brings with it the Science Fair.  In the past this looked like a fairly simple event – one December evening you’d find the gym filled with project boards detailing student-run experiments with their outcomes.  Pretty straightforward, right?

Well, last week T-man brought home his Science Fair guide, an oddly thick packet describing the science project process.  I was busy thinking What’s the big deal?  Do an experiment, put it on the board, turn it in.  Done and done.  (Look, I told you I wasn’t a science person.  Don’t judge.)  Then I started looking through the paperwork.

My first reaction was a big old KUDOS to the science teacher.  I don’t know if she’s aware of the 6 Ps adage above, but no one could accuse her of setting her students adrift without guidance for their work.  The Science Fair guide is an incredibly detailed outline of the procedures and deadlines for completing the projects.  Seriously, if a kid doesn’t do this assignment correctly it’s nobody’s fault but his own.

My second reaction was HOLY CRAP, LOOK AT THIS THING!!  There are five phases to the project – five! – all with multiple deadlines.  I read through it twice, rubbed my forehead, then gently asked T-man if he’d be open to a planning calendar like the one I’d made for his black belt training.  Thank the good Lord up above, he actually looked happy that I’d made the offer.

While preparing for his black belt test I learned that the concept of “I need to be ready by such-and-such date” didn’t really work.  T-man’s visual, like me, so he needed to actually see the target date and then work backward to plan his training.  Without that calendar it would have been nearly impossible for T-man to complete everything required to earn his black belt.  (You can check out pics of that here if you’re so inclined.)

This is where I extol the virtues of Mac’s Numbers program.  There’s a calendar option, which came in really handy for creating easy reference sheets for September, October, and November’s science project due dates.  Add the tasks leading up to each date so T-man doesn’t get buried and voilà – we have a plan.

Now we’ve got a handy-dandy science project calendar posted in the kitchen for easy reference so (ideally) T-man will be able to monitor his own progress on the project.  The next step?  Teaching him to create his own planner.  But I have a feeling we’ve got a ways to go before tackling that.

“Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.”  Well, I’ve done all I can to help with the first part.  Now the rest is up to him.