Your Homeschool Planner - How to Use it As a Home Organization Tool

How can a Homeschool Planner help you?

Many homeschool families would agree that being organized will help to determine the peacefulness and smooth running of a home. Whilst not all things are under our control, actively putting routines and systems in place help us prioritize our lives and pursue our goals.

The first three habits which Stephen Covey addresses in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", are

Be Proactive
Begin with the end in mind
Put First Things First
Although I will not be addressing these habits in detail, it is amazing how a Homeschool Planner allows you to puts these habits into action.

Proactive people will use their initiative to find solutions and methods to solve problems. They respond positively to the situations they are in, use the situations to build character and actively seek to work on a solution. Being proactive as a homeschooling family is to address the foreseeable problem of having a bunch of unruly, bored children in your home with you for 24 hours a day. A reactive person would tend to accept the situation, believing there is nothing they can do about it, and in fact become passive and do nothing.

The second habit of beginning with the end in mind, is also another favorite of my homeschool and life philosophy. When a person knows where they are headed and what long term goals they are pursuing, it is much easier to keep focused. The homeschooling family should have an idea of where they want to lead their children - making it easier to develop short term (yearly, term by term) goals once the long term (big picture) goals have been discussed and agreed upon.

Once you have the end in mind, it is easier to prioritize in your life and Put First Things First.

So, how does a Homeschool Planner help the homeschooling family become more effective?

A Homeschool Planner is as unique as each family. It is not a strict 15 minute timetabled account of a homeschooling family, driven by a over-conscientious mother. It is a written expression which reflects your home. Whether you homeschool by a schedule, in unit studies, in a natural learning approach, using your own eclectic family philosophy, it is a place which allows you to journal, record experiences, add comments, write in assignment charts, keep track of personal and family events, as well as helping you run your household in regards to chores, menus and groceries. A Homeschool Planner can be as simple as your require. But, I believe that the time you spend now in organizing your own Homeschool Planner will be the time you save every week the whole year through.

A Homeschool Planner is a place where you can begin to write your goals. It is also a place where you can organize parts of your daily household and homeschooling life to reflect the big picture goals and the priorities. Speaking from my own personal experience, I need to write down my thoughts and allocate space in my day to enable myself to keep my priorities in balance.

If you already have a Planner, here are some steps to guide you in using your planner.

Use It! Get into the habit of using your planner on a daily basis. Add information to your monthly calendar to see the month-at-a-glance.
Choose a day (Friday or Saturday) on which you organize the following week and do this every week:


Weekly Appointments Page.
Open to the Weekly Appointment Page of your planner. What week are you in? - for cleaning zones and meals? Enter the Zone area to the block at the top of the Weekly Appointment Page.- e.g. Zone: Bathroom, Laundry, Outdoor;
Add the date to the top of the Weekly Appointments Page.
Refer to your Weekly Meal Chart and add the meals to the Menu Column on your page.
Print out your grocery list or bring your planner with you shopping for that week's menus.

Add to the To Do List as something important comes to mind.
Add any appointments (doctors, sports, music lessons etc) to the week - check your monthly calendar.


Weekly Assignment Charts
Sit in a place where you can access all the children's books or curriculum which you use.
Fill in the weekly assignment chart for each child. List pages of workbooks/ reading assignments/ activities/ topic being studied and so on.
If your children are marking off their work in your planner, explain how the planner works and where you want them to tick off their work. Some planners have a small box on the side for this. You may want them to check it off or colour in the box when work is completed.
Photocopy the weekly assignment chart for each child if you want them to work off and mark their own copy.


Journal and Comments Page
Add to your journal and comments page as needed. Remember this is a good way to keep a family learning diary; It helps you to record the strengths and weaknesses of each child and allows you to plan what you may concentrate on
in the months to come.

Other pages you may like to include in your planner are Goal Pages/ Address Lists / To Do Pages and Monthly and Yearly Calendars.

A Homeschool Planner should be as complete as possible, to eliminate the need for other diaries and organizers. It should be a tool for you to help you prioritize your life and pursue your homeschooling goals.