My Planner – What I planned for the year, the week, what we actually did this week, and who has a birthday today!
My planner. It certainly is one of my 5 most invaluable items for homeschooling! My sister gave me a brief tutorial on using Microsoft’s Publisher, and it changed my life. To have some order and the ability to plan in our weeks, I created 2 pages which I printed in black and white. A page of ‘To Do This Week’ and, knowing that not all plans come to pass, I also created one called ‘Done This Week’. I need a record of things we have actually accomplished in a week for my end of year report, and having this in my planner which I update almost daily makes that annual job a lot easier.
One day I asked some other homeschoolers what they suggested for planners, and they unanimously recommended one which I bought. The pages were in color and it drew me to want to use it, but I just couldn’t flow with it. My husband has always said that education costs money, and my own education as a homeschooling parent is not exempt from that. I set aside the pretty planner, apologized for the $20 loss, and set out to create my own. Around that time we got a color printer, so I created a simple planner with my original 2 pages and a couple of others, in color. Because I had created it, it was made for me in a way that made sense to me.
From front to back my six-month planners contain the following:
- A year at a glance calendar
- A perpetual, editable birthday calendar
- An outline of what I plan to cover for this year
- The 6 months. Each month has:
- a month at a glance calendar
- a page to write plans for the month
- the ‘To Do’ and ‘Done’ pages that were my original planner
- a page for highlights of things done
- Field trip log
- Books read log
- Movies log
- Notes
- ideas for next year
On the covers, I have taken to putting photos of my family that were taken on some of our field trips as a reminder of what we’re doing and why, with things to make me smile. And it’s all in color, which makes the smile broader as it appeals to both my eyes and my heart, and invites me to open the book and record the journey of our lives as homeschoolers.
What pages do you like most in your planner?
