I’m wondering who uses a lesson planner how you use it and why? I like the idea, at the same time, I’m thinking I’m going thru daily lessons why use a planner? If I had it all laid out in a planner and we had to spend more time on a lesson or went faster, than all the time I took to put lessons in a planner is wasted. Am I looking at this wrong?
I keep a planner but I use it to record what we’ve actually done, after the fact, than to plan things we’re going to do. I usually just do the next lesson in our books so each day I write down what each child did, including each subject and any extras such as art, sports or church activities. So we end up having a record and I don’t have the problem of erasing or re-writing plans if things don’t go as planned or we miss a day.
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oh ok, that makes sense. Do you do other record keeping as far as grades etc in there as well? Maybe your state does not require that…
I use monthly block calendar pages that I print free from the internet. I outline the school year and what subjects are taught with what other subjects for each day, with holidays and standing doctors’ appointments written in INK. Then I mark off what we accomplish as we accomplish it. Several of the subjects we study are only a day or two a week, or are companion subjects that I like keeping together for ease of understanding and learning. I have found that this way we know what we have accomplished, what the next teaching day will bring and what is needed for it. By the by, I keep my pages in the plastic sleeve protectors that are so handy for 3 ring binders.
And we do plan a 9 month school term, but in reality, because of missed days due to hospitalizations, more doctors’ appointments and morning long sessions for blood draws, our education is year round.
The grades I keep are, at this point, with 4th and 5th grade students, only spelling test grades. Our state does not require that type of information even in high school, but transcripts are a fact of life for high school so then I will be keeping grades and transcript information.
No, I don’t record grades in there. You’re right, my state doesn’t require it. Things I do keep grades for, such as math, I usually record in the test booklet (MUS). I am a bit more laid back than most, so I’m sure you’ll get some more helpful posts. 
Thank you ladies for your help.
I know this is an older post, but I thought I’d answer for anyone else searching in the future.
I don’t plan ahead anymore. Instead, here’s how we do it. I print off one of the blank student planners from homeschoolcreations.net ($10 and reusable each year). I think Erica has one in her shop, also. Instead of writing the subjects down the side, my kids write in times, 8:00, 9:00, etc. As they complete each subject, they write what they did in the correct time box. This has been a wonderful way for them to practice time management. They can see just how long each subject takes on average. They also write in any extracurriculars, chores, or events to help them manage their time. In addition to the planner, I have a section for grades and attendance. I use the printable grade sheets (not the spreadsheet) from fivejs.com (free) for their grades section and I use our cover school’s attendance record sheet for the attendance section. I place dividers between the sections and have it all spiral bound at Staples for around $4 each. They record their own attendance first thing every morning, and any time I grade something they add it to their grade book. The only record keeping I do now is to make report cards at the end of each semester using the grades recorded in their planners.
With all of that said, when I did plan ahead I had a way of doing it so that I didn’t have to worry about my plans getting all messed up. Basically for each subject I created a chart in a word document with four columns and as many rows as I could fit on a page. One column was for the school day number (day 3, day 145, etc.) all the way through the number of school days I needed for that subject to be completed by the end of the year. So for math I’d need all 175 days. But for logic I might only need half that number. The second column was for typing in the actual lesson beside each numbered day. The third column was for the date it was completed. We only wrote the date of when it was completed even if we spent more than one day on it. The fourth column was a place to put a grade if that lesson was graded. It looked something like this.
Day 100 Math test chapter 6 2-16-19 97
Day 101 Math chapter 7 lesson 1 2-17-19
I’d make one of these charts for every single subject and then have them spiral bound. I’d also add tabs for each section so it was easy to flip to the exact spot for each subject. This way was a great way of doing it. At the top of each subject page I’d put the number of days they had to work on that subject each week. So math would say 5 days a week but logic might only say two days a week.
The main reasons I switched were so my kids could get more practice managing their own time and to take some work off of me. It literally only takes them seconds to write down what they did in each subject versus me spending hours per kid typing up all of the lessons for each subject.
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