05 September 2012

Planning the Academic Year with your Filofax

Students, and parents of students, how are you using your Filofax to plan this academic year?

I recently had a post on this topic on Plannerisms, but I want to specifically ask the Philofaxy crowd how you are using your Filofax to plan this academic year.

The school year has only just begun and already it feels like a manic whirl of events to schedule, projects to prepare for, and activities to organize.  This year not only are both my kids in school, but my husband is on his own academic schedule as a lecturer so I have his lecturing and holidays schedule to factor in as well.

How are you keeping it all straight? Which diary format(s) are you using? Have you created a specific tabbed section? What other tips do you have for keeping yourself and everyone else organized this school year?

29 comments:

  1. I wish I'd started using my Filofax to coordinate my PhD course. My job was very full on with 100 hour weeks slowly becomin the norm. I was always struggling to keep up with where I was and what the next steps were, when essays were due, which people I needed to speak to, etc.
    Looking back I would have had a dedicated A5 for the studies, an kept it as a separate binder, with an academic diary or week on one page. Having a separate binder would have allowed a very creative use of tabs as well. I'm in the last few months now so a bit late for me, but looking back, that's how I would have approached it. Maybe I'll use one on the next PhD ;)

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  2. I'm a full-time mum and part-time psychology masters student so time is very precious! I use a single A5 binder - a beautiful imperial purple Finchley - for home and study and use the Filofax week-to-view Time Management inserts to help co-ordinate things. I work on a weekly task list rather than a daily task list as my days don't always run to plan so it works really well for me.

    I have more information including pictures here > http://mishmashmuddle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/inside-my-a5-imperial-purple-finchley.html

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  3. As a mum of five children this post really interests me keeping track of the holidays etc for two different schools, the older two can manage their own timetables, PE days etc now that they are in High School but I keep a note in my Filofax of PE days, swimming days etc for the little ones and i'm going to create a section to keep track of any homework and home reading they get.

    I'd love to go back to college, maybe next year and if I do my Filofax will be an important factor in managing college and home!!!

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  4. I use the pages from the Family Life Book by Organised Mum in my A5 Filofax. It has a column for every family member (consisiting of myself, BF, 4 kids), plus a column for meal planning. Here I can keep track of BF's irregular and ever-changing work schedule, my own appointments and all the activities and dates from my kids (3 in Elementary and 1 in Middle School). In addition I use 2PPD for detailed planning (including my work). It works brilliantly for me!

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    1. industrious housewife - this seems to be a similar set-up / blogpost (from yesterday's web finds)

      http://deligted.blogspot.nl/2012/08/all-stars-guest-post-essentials-to-plan_31.html

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    2. That is indeed the same set up, Judith=Jotje!

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    3. Haha LOL, that'll teach me to use my full and nick name at the same time! And that's why my Twitter name reads Judith/Jotje ...
      That said, I will do a more detailed blogpost on my current A5 Filofax setup in the near future ...!

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  5. As a postgraduate-student I'm using my Filofax for everything at University. I have a Filo in Personal size and it works very well for me. I made a own UNI-section, where I keep track of all courses and classes and a W2P-calendar. I also use a monthly planner to have an overview of everything that is going on - due dates, holidays, and so on. On Filomaniac we were talking about this topic too and so I decides to start my own blog about planning for university using a Filofax (a german blog). So I startet to create my own system that works for university planning. It took a while - most of my undergraduate time - but now I found the perfect system for me.

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  6. My 11 year old got the Pocket Breast Cancer Organiser at the weekend. Half price here in Ireland at €19 and they threw in a WO2P 2013 insert as well. She is keeping track of school, PE days, field trips, and now wants to do her homework there as well, even though she does get a homework journal from school. So far she is very happy with it and seems to be doing some journalling in a separate notebook. Not bad for a kid who struggles to read.

    I have Malden Personal for work and home and I do note after school activities, any odd type school days, hubbys shift rota and work appointments for myself. We have to co-ordinate with our in-frequent childminding (due to hubbys shift rota) and I note the days we will be needing her as well.

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  7. I'm just going into my final year at uni and use an A5 Finsbury. I use the week to view column format in one tab, a second tab for exam dates & results, and a third tab for my dissertation. You can see pictures here.

    I ordered a Domino Snake filofax in the German sale though, so I'm playing around with the idea of putting more uni stuff in and having two filofaxes on the go. I'm not back to uni until the 16th so I have a (very) little time left!

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  8. I use my Personal Filofax as my 'one true Filofax' and have a sub-section for my MA thesis to do lists and overview. In addition I have a notebook as a 'thesis journal'. As I have no regular due dates, etc. I use the Philofaxy day planner inserts to track my work, uni, and home/life tasks to make sure everything gets the attention it needs. I'll have to do a specific blog post on this topic, but I've a few references to my method in this post: http://postgradmama.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/my-new-filofax/

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  9. I use my A5 Chameleon with its 2012/13 Dodo Acad-Pad diary insert that shows a week to two pages with plenty of planning space on the left hand side for notes etc. and 5 boxes per day/ columns per week. There's a timetable insert at the front which has my son's school timetable in it so I can quickly see if (in his new 6th form life, just started) he is keeping up with what he is supposed to be doing! Early days so far - you have to be a bit clandestine with teenagers - they're supposed to be managing their own work/study etc!

    We've a few left in stock if you're interested - see here for more details on the formats - which includes an A5 suitable for Filofax now too! Use code 12PR for a 10% one time discount :)

    http://www.dodopad.com/shop/mid-year-academic-diaries-calendars/filofax-compatible-organisers

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  10. I'm doing a Post Grad at the same at a full on job. I use one Personal sized Ff for both business and studies.

    I keep my study timetable in a year planner - lectures and essay deadlines. I use a week to view with notes and use the notes page as a weekly to-do list. I have a separate project page for my MSc and my legal PG. I have to fit my studies around my job, but when an essay deadline is looming, I try to organise meetings so that I can leave the office on time.

    I even organise my work lunchtimes to do some research online!

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    Replies
    1. CB, do you have a post about your setup for this?

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  11. I'm a teacher so this post is really interesting for me. I moved into an A5 towards the end of the last school year and found that it worked brilliantly for me, so I have stuck with this size for the new school year.

    I'm currently using my A5 Chameleon with a Dodo Acad-Pad. I'm trying to move to a 'One Life, One Filofax' mode of organisation so the Dodo Pad is brilliant as I can have seperate columns for work related stuff and personal/home stuff.

    I've been using this set up for around a week now and it is working fantastically and the Dodo AcadPad really brightens my day :-).

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  12. I'm a teacher, too, and has moved into an A5 Holborn Zip for the last months of the last school year. I'm using selfmade diaries and inserts for lists (shown in several posts on my blog "Filo-Manie". The set-up is still perfect for me!
    Everything concerning meetings and conferences is saved in another A5 FF, Lady Tamlyn's lovely Vintage Pink Malden [ ;-)) ].
    Privately I'm using the Compact size, currently my georgeous brown Regency. It holds a monthly view (without tabs) as well as a W2P diary. (My actual set-up is shown on the " Filo-Manie", too.)
    On school days I have the pleasure to use at least three of my lovely FF... which makes me happy erveryday... :-))

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  13. I use Pocket sized WO2P. I write the deadlines in the daily spaces and flag them with a different colour for each unit.

    I spotted a black Filofax (or a similar organiser) used by Joan Watson in Elementary! However Sherlock doesn't comment on how the organiser gives him clues about her character.

    http://s15.postimage.org/qkyzppgyz/elementary_organizer.jpg

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  14. I just started grad school. I am using a personal Filofax with 2ppd Franklin Covey inserts. My classes are all online, so the assignments go by week. I put a checklist of the week's assignments on the day that they're assigned, and a list of what's due on the due date. I'm using a sticky tab to mark the first uncompleted class checklist. I also put due dates for all my big assignments on the monthly pages. I can only fit 2 months of 2ppd in my Holborn with everything else I want to keep in there, so I have the rest of the year in my Finchley. That way I can write things down for the future with ease.

    I also have a section for school. It has one page which sums up all my classes for the semester (with professor contact info and assignment lists), and then I have a page for each class with more info.

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  15. Great topic! I use one pocket Filofax daily but it's pretty full. I'm using this week before I start college proper to work out how to set up my new Personal size Filofax so I really needed the ideas. The Dodo AcadPad looks great but no Personal size :( Which lead me to thinking maybe I should get an A5 for college....I think my hubby would kill me if I bought yet another Filofax though LOL!

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  16. Can anyone help? I'm a student and am trying to find a timetable layout for my weekly college timetable. Just wondering if anyone knows if philofaxy did one or not? I can't locate one.

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    1. Hi
      What size would you like? Personal or A5?

      Look for 5 day Timetable if you want Personal on the Files page..

      Steve

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  17. I'm back at university for my second year next Friday and have just bought my first Filofax (Personal Swift) which came with a week on two pages diary which is working well for me at the moment, but I think if I were much busier I would need one of the two days per page diaries as the weekend space is quite limited. It's main use is just going to be a diary, so I've covered the A-Z dividers and I use them to divide the months up so I can jump to a specific date quickly. I've got a few university things in there too like packing lists, course overviews plus a few addresses and to-do lists, but I'm mainly using it for diary purposes as I have 19 hours of lectures, two societies plus being on the committee for both of them, singing and an attempted social life to keep on track with!

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    1. I got a Personal Swift this year for this exact reason. Its hard to keep track! I would love to see how your layout if you had a blog.

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  18. I'm trying to get myself settled into using a Filofax with my next module with the Open University, which is starting in a couple of weeks. I've been playing with making my own templates, but I'm not very good at it! I love the weekly time management diary offered here (amazing!), but the OU week starts on a Saturday, and try as I might, I can't get Word and Excel to play nice to create this with the source files :( Is there a tutorial for Excel noobs who are terrified by spreadsheets?

    I also hope to have sections for assignments and reading and so forth, but I don't want to make it too structured, since I know that this can be a major trigger for my anxiety and panic problems. If I try to 'get organised' I get overwhelmed.

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  19. I'm the Librarian Assistant at an International School and the Filofax has worked great for me this week. I have three bosses: Library Director (who's also in charge of the High School and Middle School Area), Primary School Librarian and EC-K Librarian (yes the 3 to 5 year olds have a library of their own ^^). What I did was give a colour to each of one of my bosses. So in the diary section I write with the right colour for each boss and then I have 3 parts with blank pages for each boss as well.

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