Getting Comfortable with Deadlines

One essential skill homeschoolers don’t always get to practice: Turning work in on time.

The middle grades are an ideal time to get kids into the habit of working on a deadline. Open-ended projects open up possibilities in ways that due dates never could, so you don’t want to put everything on the calendar — but for high school and college, kids need the experience of turning in projects and papers on a deadline, and middle school is a developmentally appropriate time to work on this skill. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, though! Here are a few ways to make due dates a non-miserable part of your homeschool routine.

The final paper advent calendar

Revision may be more important than your first draft, but it can be tempting to put off writing a big paper until the night before it’s due, leaving no time for meaningful revision. One strategy we use is the revision countdown calendar — like those candy calendars that count down to to a holiday, this idea maps out a 14-day revision plan with a to-do envelope to open each day. You might include things like check spelling, revise introduction, and add new evidence, but I like to slip in a few fun things, like go for ice cream, too, so that the calendar feels exciting.

The due date evite

I love this strategy because it gives kids control of their final due date. Instead of assigning a deadline, let kids choose their own deadline, and — at least 10 days before — send you an evite to celebrate their final project. It may be helpful to give students a window (“you need to turn this in before the end of May”). The great thing about this is that evites will remind you that events are coming up, so you don’t have to nag or remind them that their deadline is coming. 

Revision dice

Make your own set of dice to help you through the revision process: Roll to add a quote, make a reference to another book, add a counterargument, etc. When your student wraps a project, she rolls the dice the first three times, using her roll to improve her paper before she turns it in for the final time.

Make Deadline Day a party

If you’re just getting started with due dates, you might plan three or four “deadline days” each year, major due dates where students have to submit their work. (Plan a fun celebration, like a trip to the movies to correspond.) Kids won’t always succeed at hitting the mark, especially in the beginning, so don’t cancel the party — you don’t want them to associate projects with punishment — but make a point to talk about what went wrong and to make a follow-up deadline for kids to meet. 

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