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Q&A: The Search for the Perfect Homeschool Planner {Episode 35}
Is there one perfect homeschool planner? Or do different people need different planners depending on their personality?
And what about having multiple planners, or when your kids need access to your plans?
Today, Cait and Kara are talking planners, bullet journals, daily dockets, using your phone and the many ways to plan.
LISTEN TO THE episode here:
Click on the above image to listen to the episode!
Links from this episode
- Alicia Hutchinson Planner
- A Simple Tool to Save Your Homeschool Day | Pam Barnhill
- Brilliant Business Mom Planner
- Creating a Useful Homeschool Lesson Planner (with video) | Alicia Hutchinson, Learning Well Community
- Erin Condren
- FREE Homeschool Bullet Journal Guide | Kara Stephenson Anderson
- Homeschool Bullet Journaling 101 | Kara Stephenson Anderson
- Just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s less: Chatting with Shawna Wingert {Episode 6}
- Learning Well Community Planner
- Mom Agenda
- Mulberry Journal Planner
- Plan Your Year | Pam Barnhill
- Whiteboard calendar
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TELL US: Have you found the perfect planner? SHARE HERE!
I have really loved the Mardel homeschool planner, but before that, I found some great printable pages & used my arc punch to make my own! Lol Because, you’re right, planners are like purses! It’s such an individual thing.
I have been using this Bloom Planner and love it! https://www.amazon.com/bloom-daily-planners-Undated-Academic/dp/B00W1VY9JY/ref=pd_nav_hcs_bia_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7KSNSE1CGJ83Q4JY74PT
It is a teacher edition but there were very few pages that were unusable to me (student info, parent call log, etc)….a little washi tape and I turned those into reading logs, field trip wishlists, etc.
It is spiral bound. Has a full spread month layout and followed by 4 weekly planning spreads. I schedule our life on the month spread and then use the weekly spreads to schedule our school.
There is a page before and after each month to put the months focus/goals and then what went right. Lots of space for notes, lists, etc.
I have a Plum planner that I love. You can customize it. It works great for me!
I have not found the perfect planner but I do use the Plum Paper customizable planner. Similar to Erin Condren, but slightly cheaper and softer designs. I like how I can plan our personal life, my part-time job, meals, and still have space for a listing out homeschool happenings. Definitely not where I plan the /what/ of our homeschool, but activities, deadlines, etc. work well in this format.
For actual homeschool lesson planning, we use Ambleside Online and I modify their terms to fit how our family does year round education.
Excited to read through what others have found!
I have yet to find a homeschool planner that works for me. But for our family life, I use and love Cozi.
I started using this planner last fall and I’m loving it!
https://www.papersource.com/item/2017-2018-Black-Garden-Floral-Planner/3204_014/10000888.html
Thanks for all the great podcasts and ESPECIALLY the show notes!!
I am loving the Hobonichi cousin! I use the weekly spread for must-dos, classes and appointments and the daily pages to journal what we did. (We are eclectic and planning too far into the future has never worked anyways!)
I love my Plum Planner, it is spiral bound, customizable, and they have a homeschool version of their Teacher Planner!
I actually just use an Excel file…It’s easy to shift things round e.g. if you gain a subject/activity, or lose one, you can add/remove a column. I like the fact that I can also copy and paste things into it easily, so if I don’t do something one week, but want to remember it, I can move it to the next week. You can also use different tabs, so you might want e.g. one per child, or one per term/semester, or have a special one for ideas…you get the picture. But I will also use Word if I want to think things through more, before committing to something – and I like being able to copy and paste between the two, as plans come together more.
I love my carpe diem planners. Yes two. Lol the first one stays in my kitchen and has my cleaning schedule, finance stuff, and menu plans. My second one stays on my desk just for homeschooling. It is not spiral bound though. It is an a-5 binder. It comes as a blank slate, you fill in the dates so sometimes I will totally skip days if we’re not schooling then. I’m also going to get a magnetic month at a glance calendar for the fridge for family activities. The only thing missing is cute homeschooling themed stickers, but I’m hoping they start making them!
I searched & searched for my version of a perfect planner… and found it! I love my UPstudio planner! It’s the perfect mix of structure & flexibility. I don’t plan the nitty gritty of our homeschool here, but it definitely helps me keep our lives organized a little better.
I had tried a Plum Paper the year before & it was nice too – just didn’t work as well as the UPstudio one has for me. 🙂 Thanks for posting on this topic! So fun!