2026-10-07

Help Your Teen Create a Project Board to Manage Deadlines

In middle and high school, assignments often get longer and more involved as the year goes on. Keeping track of all the deadlines and details can be a challenge for students. That’s where a project board can help.

To make one, all your teen needs is a large sheet of paper or poster board. On it, your student can create a table with two columns.

The next step is to break down a long-term project into individual steps. Have your student work backward from the final product. For example, before your teen can write an outline for a paper, it is necessary to finish the reading. Before that can happen, your teen has to find the source material.

After outlining all the steps, your teen can write them in the left column of the project board. In the right column, have your teen write down a due date for each step. To determine due dates, your teen should start with the date the project is due, then work backward step by step. How long will it take to edit the paper? How long to write the second draft? The first draft?

Post the project board in your teen's study area. It provides a clear map of what your student needs to do next.

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