Planners, and calendars, and schedules, oh my! Homeschool planning is a big subject in the homeschool world. YouTube videos abound with moms showing off their favorite planner or their favorite system for planning. You can sink a lot of dollars into some of the planners available for sale. Have you seen those moms that bullet journal their planners? I only wish I could be that talented and artsy. Nope, I need streamlined and simple, and maybe you do too. If so, come along and I’ll show you how to make a super simple lesson planner.
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What do you need in a planner?
Like I said, you can shell out big bucks on planners. Some incorporate household management with homeschooling with life planning. If you are a planner kind of person who would use all the pages, you might want to invest in one. I would waste them.
According to Pam Barnhill, a homeschool guru, there are seven “must-haves” for your homeschool planner:
- Your homeschool vision (what education in your home will look like, including subjects of study, what you want your kids to know before leaving home, etc.)
- Goals for each of your kids as students
- A copy of your state’s requirements for homeschooling
- Any legal paperwork you need for homeschooling
- Procedure lists (I’ll describe that more below)
- Homeschool schedules and calendars
- An attendance tracker
Other planners include field trip forms, reading logs, curriculum planning sheets, password keepers, budget trackers, and more.
What do I have in my super simple homeschool planner?
Is it just me, or do I sound like Gollum in “The Hobbit” when he asks, “What has it got in its pocketses?” Nothing in my pocketses, but this is what I keep in my planner. By the way, I use a 3 ring binder (1 1/2″) for my planner.
Pencil case
Inside a 3 holed pencil case, I keep pencils, pens for correcting, highlighters, sticky notes, and sticky flags for marking pages (I get them from the dollar store). It’s nice to have all that on hand when I’m checking kids’ work or writing out their schedules.
Calendars
I like to use a year at a glance calendar that I’ve marked up to show the days of our school year. You can check out my post on how I schedule the year. If you would like a calendar that shows a month at a time, I have an editable calendar in the free resource library. This is an example of the first page of the two page spread for each month.
Attendance forms
In California, tracking attendance is a requirement. I keep it simple (naturally) and use just one form for all my kids. My favorite no-frills attendance tracker is from Sarah Avila’s free planning pages at My Joy Filled Life. Or you could just use another year at a glance calendar and mark the days of attendance (like this one from Calendarpedia.com). It does not have to be fancy, just documented.
Legal documentation
In California, there are different ways to homeschool. One of those ways is to register as a private school. Since we are our own school, we have to file an affidavit every year with the Department of Education. I make sure to include a copy in my binder. You’ll want to check your state for your requirements.
Tabs for each kid
Each of my kids has his/her own tab, unless they are in the same grade. After each tab, I have the following:
– Grade sheets
This is just a place to record grades. This may be shocking, but I only record grades for kids in high school to put on their transcripts. Since I have my younger kids correct their work until everything is correct, they would just get perfect marks anyway.
– Pre-made schedules
Some curriculum includes pre-made schedules that you can either follow strictly or adjust to make it work for you. Master Books include schedules in their books. Some of my kids use their Language Arts program, so I take the schedules out of their books and put them into my binder. This way I have all the kids’ schedules in one place to make it easier for me to lesson plan.
– Lesson Check off sheets for planning
As with Master Books, some books come with their own check-off list. Parents or students can check-off when an assignment has been completed. Hands down, my favorite check offs come from the Evan-Moor Daily series (some of my kids currently use their spelling and reading comprehension daily books). Called “student record sheets,” they are tables that list week numbers as well as the days of the week. It makes it easy for me to see, at a glance, where my kids are in a particular subject (I use them for more than just the Evan Moor books).
If you would like to see what the student record sheets look like, click on the image. When you get to the Evan Moor site, choose “Take a look inside” and click through to page 17.
For books in which I give my kids assignments by page number, I use this check list (which is available in my free resource library)
The numbers on the list correspond to page numbers, You’ll notice that there are three columns per row. This is so you can use the list for more than one subject. I know it’s a small space above the columns, but I’ll abbreviate “H” for handwriting, “M” for math, and so on. If I assign pages 1-5 in a handwriting book, I’ll put check marks in the “H” column for numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
– Answer keys
When possible, I will tear out answer keys and add them to my binder. Again, when I am checking work, it helps to have as many resources in one spot as I can.
Co-op schedules
We belong to a co-op and have multiple schedules for subjects and classes.
Clubs and groups
This section is definitely not as full as it once was. COVID has definitely put a damper on our social lives! Still, I organize a homeschool PE class that will meet this year, in a socially distant way.
Why don’t I use lesson planning sheets in my super simple planner?
I’ll write another post explaining how I actually do my lesson planning. Until then, I wanted to offer some lesson planning sheets that you can use. At one time, I used sheets like these, but have developed a different system that works better for my big family, and for the stage in which my kids are now.
The lesson planning sheets,that are available in the free resource library, are made for either a four or five day school week. Why I didn’t give space for notes on the four day sheets, is a mystery. Anyway, you have 5 different designs to choose from, and you can print out as many as you need. In the resource library, you will download either the four or five day sheets at once (except for the tea cup design for four days, it has its own download, don’t ask why because I don’t know).
Where else can you download free printables for your super simple planner?
The queen of DIY planners is definitely Tina from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschooling. She has a 7 Step Planner with lots of choices for each step.
Earlier, I mentioned Sarah Avila. She has a 45 page download available.
I just saw the adorable pages from The Design Hippo’s Free Homeschool Planner.
You can also get many more freebies on Pinterest. It may be a little overwhelming, but if you have the time, it may be worth your while.
What can you use for a cover?
Tina’s Dynamic Homeschooling Planner offers a lot of different covers. You could also print out any of the mom quotes I have in my resource library. For my cover this year, I made this one (available as an immediate download).
Cute food just makes me smile. When you add chocolate, it’s even better!
Happy Planning my friends!