I've never found a homeschool journal out there that's perfect for my family's needs. I guess this is because no two families homeschool in quite the same way. I'm not surprised by this. But I'd like to know if there's anyone here who prints their journals, and if so, what's the most cost-effective way? I know how to design a custom journal/planner. And I know what to put in it. I just don't know what the most economical way to print it is. Any ideas?

I just discoverd Homeschool Skedtrack, and I need more info about it. I would appreciate your opinion (pros and cons) if you are user. Thanks in advance!

What are my options (if any lol) for a 7 day, with timeslots, planner?

Forgive me if I am jumping the gun, but it looks like Franklin Covey is set to release Student Planners in a couple of weeks and they look amazing! I was searching for student planners and found this website, http://premier.us/tools-planning/products-students/planners/product-line/foundations I contacted Franklin Covey and they said they'll be out in a couple of weeks priced at $12.95 per planner. They are interactive between parent/ teacher and student and have some great principles and precepts involved. Just wanted to share, because I am geeking out, and don't want to geek alone :) - Mommaklee

I created a homeschool planner, (a file you print and bind yourself). But my customers are wanting a printed planner as well, and the quotes I'm getting are around $90! I've checked local printing companies, fedex, office max, and more. I can't imagine it is that much to print and bind this thing! It is 69 pages double sided (so 138 total) and a simple spiral binding. Suggestions?

I like designing my own pen/paper planners because nothing available atm serves my needs well. I'm linking a recent one I made as a way to give back to this great community. Features: 1. choose either color pages or B/W (or grayscale). 2. has grids and space to write subjects/ plan for up to 3 kids 3. Mon-Fri planning in landscape format 4. Circle for writing week# 5. Clouds for writing dates/ an event or 2 as a reminder for that day 6. Space on footer of page 1 for reading list/ notes 7. Space on page 2 for anything that needs recording, like a summary of your week or plans for the next week or science supply lists or if you are sometimes unschooly like we are, a record of bunny trails and so on. Please download the pdf (you'll need Adobe Reader or some other pdf reader) to print. Then set printer to the landscape setting. You might have to tweak the fit to 100% or "fit to area" depending on your printer's settings (sorry, I won't be able to help with specific printer models). Print one page first then the next if you are intending to use it double-sided. I apologize that at this time, I am not able to make this planner editable. If someone knows how to do this for free, please let me know! I hope this is useful to someone who likes pen/pencil and paper planning!

I am trying to decide what planning software I want to use for this next year. I have HST+ already, it can be cumbersome, but doable. Just wondering if I am missing anything with the new Well Planned Day software. Have all the problems been worked out or is it even useful at this point? I have also been trying out Skedtrack and it seems pretty simple, although I wish it had a few more functions. I cannot figure out what the resources tab is for, can someone explain that. If you put a book in that tab does it link to anything else or can you schedule it? I only have one student's lessons to enter, so I don't need a lot of functions in a planner. I mainly want to be able to see a monthly calendar with assignments that are easy to automatically schedule, move around assignments if needed, print reports so I have an assignment sheet for my child, and possibly put in literature we are reading and assign chapters on certain days.

My oldest has a difficult time getting through his day. We talked some more and figured out what he needs. It seems so obvious now :glare: Is there a planner which has the daily schedule with hours listed down the left sheet and the Daily assignments with those listed down the right sheet or vise versa? It seems like planners are either one or the other or they have two separate sections. It may sound dumb, but he will not shift back and forth between sections. If not, I will make him something. I just don't have a printer currently because ALL THE NON-BREATHING THINGS are rapidly dying around me. It would be so nice if I could just order it.

I kinda went with the flow last year and we were able to get a lot done, but this year I want to be more organized. I have one of those teacher planner's and used it some last year. My kids are gone for the week and I HAVE to get our fall semester organized so we can start school soon. So what do you use to write down for plans for the day/week/semester?

I like to do things online or work with docs on my pc. Does anyone have links to online schedules to use for HS. I'd like to input our daily and weekly schedule online if possible. Thanks!

I'm working on making a new planner for this coming year. I would LOVE some ideas! Most of the ones I see are better suited to single children, or the weekly planners have boxes to small to put much info in. This year I'll be planning for kids in gr 4, 2, 1 and pre K. We all do circle time together in the morning. That covers a wide range of subjects for everyone. Then there is work specific to each child later in the day. I do use HST+ to record everything, but I don't like any of the print outs I've seen so far. I mainly use it to keep track of what is finished, but I like a paper planner to sketch out and plan what I hope to do. Maybe it's time to move from a weekly planner to a daily planner....

I just ran across this resource on the Homeschool Classifieds website and thought of those of you on the boards that are looking for templates for your planner. They have a weekly assignment sheet, one-page and multi-page calendars, sequential weeks of numbered days lesson plan page, Bible reading chart, etc. Just very simple, but I thought it might be useful to some. Blessings, Lucinda

My homeschool planner needs a makeover and that is my project for this month. Please tell me what yours looks like and maybe I will get some good ideas to copy. :001_smile: Here is what I have planned so far. I have been using a one inch binder and I have 2 sheet weekly planner I print for each of my boys. I got the original from the Donna Young website but adjusted it to fit for me. I just adjusted it again to get both my boys on it and using just one binder instead of one for each. We are combining a lot of stuff next year and I want everything in one place. I plan to make those planning sheets a "at-a-glance" and then I am just putting notebooking paper behind each week to have details for everything and too keep notes for things needed for our state laws. Not fancy, but should work fine. I love to organize so I would love to hear how everyone else does theirs.

I am overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches for HSing out there, many of them found thanks to WTMers. My browser bookmark list is a mile long of free curriculum, vintage books, online tutorials and other things to check out. I have magazine articles cut out from HS magazines and stuffed into folders. I have science kits stuffed into cupboards for future use (they were on clearance). I have all these.. and I sit down and do the same old with DS. I really want to do better next year! Now, part of it is recognizing that Rome wasn't built in a day, and my DS isn't going to be able to do those science kits, or art projects for awhile. But I don't want to go past a topic, and then kick myself when I realize I had some great find stashed away. So here's a plea for help: How do you all keep track of what you want to do, and when you want to use it?

Please share your favorite homeschool planner that you use and reuse yearly. Also why do you use it and love it so much. I am looking for a good planner that will help me plan, organize and set goals for my two children(4 and 11) for this new upcoming year in homeschooling. thanks:001_smile::001_smile::001_smile:

I'm am very unorganized and I haven't even started yet. What information do I need to keep track of and what are some easy ways to do that? I'm in NM by the way and my oldest will be starting K next year. Do I need anything official until highschool? Thanks!

I use a big 3 ring notebook to keep lesson plans, schedules, book lists, wish lists, etc. in but I can't seem to get it organized just right. I'd like some new ideas for organizing it. If you keep a master notebook how do you organize it? Tell me your specific tab headings. If you have templates that you love where did you get them. Also, when writing out your daily or weekly lesson plans do you write a separate plan for each dc or all together?

I'm contemplating returning to the use of a computer based record keeping program. When my boys were quite a bit younger, I used Homeschool Easy Records which was handy, easy to use, but had a couple of glitches. When renewing my HSLDA subscription last year (?) I received a free version of Homeschool Minder. I just got around to loading it this evening. While it seems to be decent, I can see that it has some glitches (although the upgrade might solve the problems). I am a bit leery of it because when I tried to activate the program I kept getting an error message. Of course it comes with the advice that if one has trouble activating one should call their help line. But it's a bit offputting to have this happen...makes me worry that there are other glitches. Someone on the high school board recommended Homeschool Tracker. The website looks good, the price is decent, but what are its drawbacks? I really like simple...I don't want a lot of fluff or extraneous applications. The past few years I've used a paper system that works well. Every weekend I would take about an hour and go through the boys' baskets (they keep all their school stuff in a basket) and make a schedule for the next week. Sometimes I would do a couple of weeks at a time. But the younger 3 boys (and particularly the last 2) are fairly close in age and I can see the time coming with ds#2 graduates and I will have to scour through lots of paperwork to find what I need for his transcripts, applications, etc. So...any opinions? Any other options that I didn't mention?