Tips for Setting Up The Organized Homeschool Planner

I received The Organized Homeschool Planner at no cost as part of the launch team. All thoughts are my own. This post contains affiliate links. 

One thing that I have learned on this homeschooling journey is that I have to write down my plans if my daughters and I are going to have a good homeschooling year. For the most part, I know what we are going to do day by day, but writing down a set of goals and being able to look back at what we've accomplished often offers relief when life starts getting a bit overwhelming. 

I haven't always been a fan of homeschool planners because often times they are too bulky.  They tend to have too many forms that I don't need which means too many pages to flip through to get to what I am looking for, but after trial and error with several I have found one that fits this paper planning homeschool mom's criteria-The Organized Homeschool Planner.

Three Reasons I Am Digging The Organized Homeschool Planner

It works for year round homeschool.

Learning goes on all year round in our home.  Summer learning doesn't necessarily look the same as fall, but we still work on a variety of subjects.  The Organized Homeschool Planner is a digital planner which means I can print out all twelve months in put them in any order that I desire.  Our school year starts in August, but most planners start in July.  July is often left blank taking up space because it is the one month that we take completely off. My friend, Erica, starts her new year at various times like this year's academic year started in March. Having a planner that can start when you start is a great perk. No more wasted pages and months because you can print only the months you need when you need them.

The planning pages are editable.

 The Organized Homeschool Planner isn't just another PDF file to be printed as is.  You can actually edit it and type in your plans, and you will still have the option to pencil in anything that wasn't typed in later.  I'll be sharing with you how I set up my planner in a few moments. :)

Less is more in a planner.

The planner doesn't have a bajillion forms which I appreciate.  I don't know about you, but sometimes recommended forms can make feel like I should put time in the thing that they are recommending which might not be a good fit or option for us.  Having less forms keeps me focused on the tasks that have been placed on my heart for my children.  I appreciate the journal pages in The Organized Homeschool Planner for when I need to jot something down that doesn't have a form.  

Now on to how did I set up my planner.  Like I said, it's adaptable to your needs so your setup might be different than mine.

Setting Up The Organized Homeschool Planner

1.  Since the planner is digital, I needed a few extra supplies to make it fit my needs.  I am housing my planner in a 1/2 inch binder because I don't like bulkiness, and I need pockets.  I also am using four pages of card stock as dividers.  I made divider tabs to attach to the card stock.
2. The planner is in color so having colored ink is helpful.  I print out two months at a time depending on if I know the activities we are doing in advance.  I like that I can type in the dates.  In order to do this, I spaced over until I reached the gray box.  
3.  Since I didn't want my planner filled with lots of white space, I resend the calendar pages back through the printer and print the journal and goal setting pages on the blank side.  This works well because I am not printing all the months at once, and I am able to jot down notes and goals related to the particular month.
4. I've given each of my daughters a section of the planner.  In order to plan their days, I print out student planning sheets for each of them each week. I also have their book lists for the year printed.  These pages are placed behind their binder tabs.  I have also chosen to print on the journal and goal pages on the blank sides of the planning pages so that I can jot down goals specifically related to each of my daughters.

I print on both sides of the pages to maximize the use of my planner. 

Setting up The Organized Homeschool Planner was easy peasy.  If I am honest, it was actually fun and has helped me get rejuvenated for the upcoming school year. 

Are you in need of a homeschool planner? Check out The Organized Homeschool Planner; it may be just what you need.