Homeschool planners are useful if it will help you organize your homeschool year smoothly. I have been homeschooling for 11 years and only bought one homeschool planner. Unfortunately I left most of the pages blank. It was too overwhelming for me to have to write everything we did, all the courses, the activities, and more. Also, there were many things that did not apply to us. So, I decided to make my own homeschool planner and make it in a way that would work for us. I made it very simple.
First, I bought colorful paper, one with flowers around the border for my daughter and another with blocks around the border, for my son. Then, I created a table in Word. The table was simple, four columns: Subject, Resource, Assignment, check box. I would create their weekly schedule on Sunday and then print out five daily lesson plans for the week and have them check off each assignment once they completed it. At the end of the day, if they finished, they’d get a sticker that they chose. Another year, I also added a word of the week with the definition and synonyms. That is all my planner consisted of. You can personalize it in a way that works for you and your child. You can add a page with a calendar or a page with field trips. Whatever you need, you can add on your own.
I kept all my printouts in a binder and at the end of the year I either stapled it altogether or bound it as a workbook.
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Gina Evangelista is a homeschool mom, course creator, certified educator, and positive psychology coach. She has been homeschooling her two children for thirteen years and offers homeschool evaluations, consultations, on-line courses, and homeshool coaching. When she is not working as an educator or coach, she enjoys reading, photography, exercising, and working on creative projects.