Many of you are in planning mode for the upcoming school year. I was never a great planner, and this will be the first year in 13 that I don’t have to worry with homeschool planning, but I’m not so far out that I don’t remember how important this task is for most homeschool moms. If you have discovered it is time to be more organized – whether for high school courses, electives, credits, and transcripts or just to keep all of your students on task – I hope you will find these recommendations helpful.
As I’ve already mentioned, I was never the best homeschool mom planner, but the desire to be one was always there, and to that end, I have purchased, reviewed, and attempted to use several planners. Most of the time, I end up using them as more of a journal than a planner, but I think I have a good idea of what works well in a homeschool planner.
So, today, I’m sharing the Top Five planners I have taken a look at, beginning with the one I used most for Ben’s high school years, followed by the one Ben used for his own personal planner. The next 2 are others I have used and found very useful as well in our earlier homeschool years. And finally, I’ve included my own unit study planner – Delightful Planning – because, well, I wrote it and if you are a delight-directed and/or unit study kinda homeschool mom, I think you’ll enjoy this tool.
So here we go . . .
A Simple Plan Homeschool Planner
$22.99
This is the planner I used for homeschooling high school. I first discovered it about 5 years ago, but for a couple of years, it sold out before I had a chance to buy one. I had the opportunity to spend some time in 2015 with the creator of this planner, and one of the first things I said to her was, “you need to print more planners!” It seems she listened, because for the past 4 years I was able to purchase one before they sold out!
What I love most is that the design is simple and straight-forward. It has everything I need; I don’t need to add anything to make it work for me.
Features for this 12-month planner include:
- 12 month dated planner July 2020 through June 2021 – plan and record for up to 6 students
- Secure spiral coil – Heavyweight cover – Wide tab dividers
- Beautiful resource for organizing, planning, scheduling, and record-keeping
- This 12-month planner offers you the flexibility of planning and organizing your school year however that looks for your family
A Simple Plan Student Planner
$14.99
This was Ben’s main planner for his high school years. I’d suggest getting one for each of your middle and high school students It’s available in either Grow Where You Are Planted or Camping Is Fun designs.
I love that this planner follows along with the parent planner I mentioned above, plus the extras you’ll notice below sold me immediately.
Features for this 12-month planner include:
- Large spiral coil – Heavyweight cover – Wide labeled tab dividers – Large spaces to write-in and decorate
- Reflects the Teacher Planner – Secure pages – Deep pockets on the inside of both front & back covers – Thick paper for no ink bleed through
- Calendars include: Yearly, Monthly, and Weekly – Semester planning pages with space for goals and notes – Monthly planning pages – Weekly and Daily assignments checklist and space for memory work and notes
- Full notes pages – Future planning pages – Steps to salvation – and suggested scriptures to memorize
The bottom line is that teaching your students to use A Simple Plan Student Planner promotes life-long skills and helps keep your homeschool organized and simple!
The Ultimate Homeschool Planner
$39.88
This is my 2nd choice pick in planners. I used it to record much of our homeschool work during Ben’s middle school years. If you want a planner that is very functional as well as really, really beautiful, you’ll love this one. Calendar pages are undated; one of my favorite features of this planner.
Description:
Count your blessings while charting your family’s homeschool journey with this gorgeous day planner from best-selling author Debra Bell. The Ultimate Homeschool Planner will help you prayerfully prioritize your family’s lessons, assignments, and activities as well as academic and personal growth goals for each of your children. Includes teaching helps, record-keeping, and pages to document God’s faithfulness throughout the year.
Smart Mama Digital Planner
$29
If you prefer a digital planner, you’ll want to check out this one from The Old Schoolhouse. I will admit to not having seen this new version of the former “Schoolhouse Planners.” But I used the original planner several years ago. In fact, I lead the team that developed one of the earlier models. I feel certain that you won’t be disappointed with this new version, but once I have a chance to take a look at it, I’ll come back and give it a better review.
Looking for more than just a planner to help you with the upcoming year? Become a SchoolhouseTeachers.com member today and receive access to 450+ courses plus the SmartMama Planner at no extra cost so you can stay organized all year long!
Delightful Planning
$15.99
I would be remiss if I did not include my own little planner, right? Delightful Planning is not your usual homeschool planner, but I am going to include it on this list anyway. Delightful Planning is a unit study planner created to help you add delight-directed learning to your homeschool, no matter what homeschool method you follow. There are ideas for a full-on delight-directed homeschool OR for adding weekly, monthly or seasonal delightful learning.
