My spiral notebook! I really tried to keep a planner. The cute pages, pretty paper and colored markers pulled me in. But, I just couldn’t ‘plan’ in it. I prefer writing my to do’s, lesson ideas and lists in my spiral notebook, on a blank sheet of paper. Something about designated squares to write wasn’t doing it for me.
I have come so close to splurging on an Erin Condren teacher planner but keep talking myself out of it. They are just so pretty! I would love a homeschool version.
I create my own planner each year. I prefer an 8.5x11 size. Also, I like everything to match and coordinate and that’s a big deal to me. Additionally, when I purchase a planner it either has too many documents or not enough of the ones I need. By customizing it myself I get exactly what I want. I am thinking of possibly doing this for other homeschool moms.
The @HomeschoolCreations has a very nice planner, you can take a look at it http://homeschoolcreations.com/Homeschool-Planner.html I find it very nice but didn’t use it yet. Also, there is her new daily pocket to do list, it’s very good for keeping track of moms items during the day http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2015/03/daily-to-do-list-daily-docket-printable/
I have a Franklin Covey (which took me forever to decide on), that I absolutely love. The only reason why I love it is because I have invested in stickers and mutli-colored pens (for color-coding family and scouts, etc.). This works perfectly for me for a day to day planner (and I have found loads of inspiration on Pinterest!). However, I have not found a school planner that I love so I’m using a clipboard with pages that I’ve created myself…
When I taught in public school I LOVED my Erin Condren planner! And I want a homeschool one. I’ve emailed the company about it…maybe if more of do that, they’ll finally come out with one!
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I have been using Tina’s dynamic homeschool website and made my own planner, which was awesome. Made it all colorful because that’s something I personally like to see. But making your own is that best because each one of us is unique and are different.
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I love our WPD planner!! It has school and home stuff all on one page so I can see it all!! I used Erica’s last year and loved it, but really wanted to have everything all in one spot. Plus, I love the inspirational quotes and daily reading suggestions that WPD has. I already ordered mine for next year!! 
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I love our planner from mardel.com. It has enough space for 5-6 kids I believe. It’s pretty and super functional. I’ll definitely be ordering one again for the next school year.
Thanks for the sweet words. 
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I have tried a few different planners, but I ended up making me own as well.
I print mine at home. It all depends on home many pages you need and the rate of the office supply store. Our supply store is around 40 cents per colored page. Which to me, is too expensive. I do watch for deals though.
Planners - three at our house:
They are simple free calendar pages that abound on the internet. 81/2 by 11 size.
They both have separate pages for each month and the best thing is the date squares are
BIG enough to write several items inside.
Two planners are the school year - done before school starts in the fall which lists the years’
assignments day by day for each of my sons. Those are copied - one set is filed with the
permanent school records we keep, the other is put in a page protector for each boy to use and
cross off as completed throughout the year.
The other planner is firmly and magnetically adhered to the door of the refrigerator - and hopefully written on ONLY in pencil. That planner lists doctors’ appointments, fun scheduled stuff, and my husband’s and my work schedule.
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I make my own. I have several components:
1, a yearly calendar that I use to plan out our year–start and end of our year, known vacation days (Thanksgiving week, Christmas time etc…), and a rough count of our days with some built in room to take days off as needed. I download this from either Donna Young or Dynamic2Moms (they have a different name now…I’m forgetting it at the moment!)
2, a weekly page which is a combination table-schedule/journal where I can easily see at a glance everything we are going to do for that week. (Subjects are also numbered to match my workbox system.) For subjects that need to be planned ahead, I write in ahead of time what we’re doing (for example, if I want to make sure to coordinate something). For subjects where I am just “doing the next thing,” I simply write in what we did on that day. I like the flexibility of being able to take an extra study day without having to rewrite plans.
3, a teacher binder with tab-dividers for each subject. Here is where daily/yearly plans go. My plans might include:
-a place to record grades
-a copy of the TOC from a curriculum so I can track where we are–sometimes I pencil in dates by which I want to reach a certain point, so I can easily know if we are on track or not. Sometimes I also use this to pencil in movies or activities that coordinate, so I can remember these throughout the year. Other times I make up my own chart listing readings or activities I want to coordinate.
-a listing of books we will read, in order of introduction, with the approximate week we will start the book (especially for read-alouds and readers/literature–this helps me again to know if we are ahead or behind. I also have optional books listed if we get ahead)
-small answer keys (if it’s just a packet, I 3-whole punch and put it in my binder. If it’s large, I keep it in my teacher box.)
-any other additional resources needed for each subject (for example, in my Bible tab, I keep track of books of the Bible we have read in previous years so I can vary our readings).
I find it easiest to keep my to-do list, meal ideas etc… separate, so I don’t include it in my planner.
My system developed over the years–I think sometimes you don’t know what you want until you try it and see what works.
A friend of mine has a paper that she divides into sections to write down school ideas, meal ideas, shopping, chores, and calls to make. Kind of a more detailed “to-do” list, and then she works from that to update binders/resources she has for each of those areas (ie, she has a meal-planning binder and also shopping info in there, a master chore list, a school binder etc…) It’s kind of like the note-card system that some use, only she finds it helpful to have a single page to work off of for the week.
Start with one part–what do you want your system to do for you for school or for meals? You could experiment on a notebook and map out what you would like–then look for something like that or make up a simple form in MS Word or another program. Try it out for awhile, see how it works, ammend as necessary–then work on another component of your organizational system.
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That would be awesome! I use my Erin Condren, and love it, but it would be great to have a homeschool specific one. I also use HOD, so I’m going to get on the yahoo group now, and download yours. Thank you for making that available!
I’m pretty sure we are going to be using sonlight in the fall. I’m curious to know if I will need an extra planner. Does anyone know if the IG has extra space to include math, etc?
The planning and record keeping are the things that I’m most nervous about.
@NicoleB Yes, Sonlight does leave extra spaces at the bottom of each IG to add in other subjects. They also provide a blank IG page (looks like the regular page with all the boxes) in the appendix that you can photocopy and use for other subjects. I typically use the extra full page copy and write in my extra subjects. I use a different color paper and just place it behind the Sonlight IG for whatever week it applies to.
I have never used an extra planner because it is so convenient to keep everything together in the Sonlight IG binder.
Also, regarding record keeping, some people put a check mark in each box as they finish the work but I like to write the date that I did it.
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Thank you. That’s help alot!
I came across this freebie today. This is basically all I do. One page lesson plans, no fussy planner. http://www.classroomtestedresources.com/2015/04/one-page-lesson-plansand-freebie.html
Maybe it was all those years doing lesson plans as a teacher. Lesson plans that I had to turn in to the principal. Yuck! Never again!
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