(Note: you can download some sample assignment sheets in our "download" section by clicking here).

These are used in place of a teacher's plan book. I have one master sheet per child on the computer. I use the table feature on the word processor to set up my assignment sheet. The title is "Sarah's Assignment Sheet for the Week Ending 2/20/98". I use the date the week ends with because I also use my assignment sheets to keep track of school hours.

Below the title, I make a table which is six columns wide and the number of rows long to allow one row for each subject. The first column has the subjects listed down the table. The second through sixth has the day of the week in the first row and the assignment for each subject on each row following.

Once the master assignment sheet is made, the assignments can be changed each week but the weekdays and subjects will never need to be retyped. I print two copies of the current assignment sheet, one for me and one for the child. I save the new assignments when I exit the program so the hard copies are my long term records. I also save a copy of my assignment files on a floppy disc when I am finished with my school planning for the week in case of any computer mishaps which would wipe out my work.

In the top right hand corner of each assignment sheet, I use another small table to keep track of total year and weekly school hours. This table is two columns by three rows. The first row says, ' 97/98 hours' and is the total hours for the year excluding the week which is just ending. The second row is, 'Hours for week ending ..." Those are the current week's hours. The last row is 'Hours through ..." This will be your total hours up to date. The table feature will do the adding for you when you use the table pull down menu and choose 'quick sum'. This saves me having the to get the calculator out and making calculation mistakes.

Each Friday when I sit down to do my school planning/assignment sheets for the next week I begin by opening the assignment sheets for my three school age children. These are in a file folder so they can be opened simultaneously. I work on the first child's, beginning by copying the week just endings date from the title and pasting it into my hours table rows two and three. Then I take the hours from the third row and copy/paste them into the first row, figure out the hours for the current week putting them in the second row, and finally 'quick sum' in the third row.

Then I move into the actual assignment sheet to change the date and assignments. Some subjects such as piano practicing just say '1/2 hour' in the boxes next to them; others have the actual lesson or page number which must be changed each week. After finishing the three assignment sheets, and printing two copies of each, I back up my school files on the floppy.