How do you organize YOUR planner

[5LittleMonkeys]

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?

[johnandtinagilbert]

in the front pocket, paper full of little bullet boxes I can check off with every subject we have:

Days of the week (across top in columns)

subjects (1st column) boxes for each day.

I use this to quickly have daily meetings just to mark off what I know is finished.

 

In rings:

pouch with general supplies (pens, highlighter, mini staple, paper clips, tissue, etc.)

 

In sleeves:

 

 

1. cover/emergency page - hand written
   
2. annual calendar
   
3. passwords to websites, etc
   
4. "Person to Person" things I need to remember that I loan or need to say
   
5. auto maintenance record
   
6. favorite poems, words of encouragement, etc.
   
7. reminders on personal behavioral goals89
   
8. daily chore and personal routine
   
9. children's daily chores and personal routines
   
10. cleaning zones - areas for daily cleaning beyond general chores
    
11. hot spots - those places where we tend to pile out stuff
    
12. specific chores for each zone (5 pages)
    
13. a spiral notebook for my to do lists
    
14. page with schooling decisions that are different from our usual schedule
    
15. dividers for each day of the month with a double page spread to include all daily subjects I teach and space to write the specific assignments (I created the template from a DonnaYoung idea, tweaked to my pleasure)There is one template for 4 days of the week and a different one for our electives day (currently Wed) when I block teach The Elders.
    
16. Yellow Pages of numbers I frequently need
    
17. White Pages
    
18. Pocket folder of stamps and labels and things I like to include in letters or cards (comics, poetry, pretty shaped paper)
    
19. Homeschool Directory of all the phone numbers of people we have ever co-oped with.
    
20. Remember These Things: Important physical or spiritual things I should always or temporarily remember
    
21. BSA (Boy Scouts of America) - emails with info I will need eventually
    
22. ROM - our sports league - emails with info I will need eventually
    
23. Back pocket with extra planning pages in case something runs over my space (rarely happens)
    

 

Email me and I can send templates if you'd like :)

[AK_Homesteaders]

Is it possible for you to post it so that all of us can get the benefit? Or, could you PM me with it? I've been having the same trouble as the OP. My weakest area is in organizing.

 

:bigear: I'm listening for more suggestions. :)

 

Thank you,

 

Jenny

[JoyfulMama]

I need to switch mine out to a larger notebook - I keep adding more. More reference sheets, more sections. And I don't get rid of "old papers" until we switch school years.

But it gets used. Daily. So that in itself makes me feel like it is useful. I keep thinking I could divide it, and make a reference notebook, but figure then I wouldn't open 2 notebooks.

I have a Calendar Section (each month and week) as well as a Curriculum Section (each subject), which are my most used sections. Then I also have My MISC Section, which has, well, misc tabs for other things that I like to have at my fingertips: websites, memory work, Wish lists, our official paperwork for that year, "looking ahead", field trip log, etc.

I have found that I prefer many of Donna Young's forms, along with a few of my own.

[angela in ohio]

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 have a monthly calendar in the front plus a weekly MOTH-type schedule. The next tab is a page for each week of the school year, made in Excel, where I can plan lessons. The next tab has one to three pages per subject area per student with a list of the general plans for the year, book list, goals, etc. The last tab is resources: book lists, library hours and policies, flyers with art class schedules, etc.

 

I write a separate page for ds, because he doesn't do anything but memory time with the girls. The older two share a few subjects, so I write one page for the two of them per week. I list together subjects at the top and then each individual one.

 

I have created all my own pages in Excel.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Is it possible for you to post it so that all of us can get the benefit? Or, could you PM me with it? I've been having the same trouble as the OP. My weakest area is in organizing.

 

:bigear: I'm listening for more suggestions. :)

 

Thank you,

 

Jenny

I don't know how to post an attachment here, but I can email to you and the others who have pm'd me. In the meantime, anyone know how to post an attachment?

[ScoutTN]

:bigear:

[AudreyTN]

anyone know how to post an attachment?

 

No, but you could sign up for Homeschool Launch and download everything there. (It's linked in my siggy "My Notebook Pages")

[meet me in paris]

We do a 36-week schedule (Sonlight) so I use a large binder with 1-36 tabs. In each week I have the weekly schedule and all the study guides, worksheets, notebooking pages, etc. that go with the week's lessons. The binder is *big*, so I pull out 9 weeks at a time and use a smaller 1" binder for that. Plus, each kid has a 1-36 binder of their own, where they keep their personal schedule sheets and their completed work.

 

I tried the WTM way with subject binders, but it just didn't work for me. This way keeps me sane.

[LoveBaby]

:lurk5:

 

This is so helpful!! I'm just tossing around ideas for my household and homeschool planner right now. I have to do something to get things figured out for this fall.

 

I ordered the homeschool planner from Beall's Learning Games when I ordered my phonogram game and it has some really great pages in it (and in a pretty font!), but now I need to figure out what to use and where to put it!

[Forget-Me-Not]

oops, duplicate post

[Forget-Me-Not]

Email me and I can send templates if you'd like :)

 

Can I just hire you to come organize my life? :tongue_smilie:

[johnandtinagilbert]

Can I just hire you to come organize my life? :tongue_smilie:

Ha! It on my list of "after home schooling" job possibilities :) Until then, I'm treading water over here, even while continuing to be organized! Just keep swimming, ifkwim?!?!?!

[happygrrl]

Well, I am an organization junkie! Sometimes I'd rather plan than do the stuff I planned :glare:.

 

That said, I have 3 planners :D . 1) Household (with menus, expenses, to do list, etc.) 2) Master School Planner (future lists, subject plans, etc.) and 3) I just bought the Well Planned Day to use as a daily school record keeper ( and I love this planner more than I ever thought I could love something someone *else* made).

 

I am about to start planner 4, one that has the church year in it so that I can file appropriate things that i lose every year (lenten menu ideas, crafts for a particular saint, church music,recipe for egg dye, etc.)

 

Off to go plan some stuff.......:auto:

[LoveBaby]

Well, I am an organization junkie! Sometimes I'd rather plan than do the stuff I planned :glare:. Me, too!!!

 

That said, I have 3 planners :D . 1) Household (with menus, expenses, to do list, etc.) 2) Master School Planner (future lists, subject plans, etc.) and 3) I just bought the Well Planned Day to use as a daily school record keeper ( and I love this planner more than I ever thought I could love something someone *else* made).

 

I am about to start planner 4, one that has the church year in it so that I can file appropriate things that i lose every year (lenten menu ideas, crafts for a particular saint, church music,recipe for egg dye, etc.)

 

Off to go plan some stuff.......:auto:

 

Master School Planner is a great idea!! It will give me a place to put my ideas and future lists, but not get in the way of what we are doing right now.

 

The Church Planner is brilliant!!! We just finished the Days of Unleavened Bread, Passover and Night to be Remembered and I couldn't for the life of me find some of my favorite unleavened bread recipies etc. The fall Holy Days will be here before we know it and I'll have the Feast of Tabernacles to prepare for..so that will be a good place to put all of that info.

[Barefoothomeschooler]

We do a 36-week schedule (Sonlight) so I use a large binder with 1-36 tabs. In each week I have the weekly schedule and all the study guides, worksheets, notebooking pages, etc. that go with the week's lessons. The binder is *big*, so I pull out 9 weeks at a time and use a smaller 1" binder for that. Plus, each kid has a 1-36 binder of their own, where they keep their personal schedule sheets and their completed work.

 

I tried the WTM way with subject binders, but it just didn't work for me. This way keeps me sane.

 

 

this is a great idea!! I use Sonlight too, but I love your idea of giving each kids there own 1-36 binder! and what a great use for all those extra Sonlight binders I have hanging around the house!

[johnandtinagilbert]

First, you're all welcome (those I've emailed). I love to plan too and I am also guilty of beautiful plans falling like an avalanche! This year though, I admit, I'm doin' alright!

 

I also have a Home School Planner. I put in things I need to remember so the dividers there are:

Summer

Next Year Grammar Level

Grammar (general)

Next Year Logic

Logic (general)

Next Year High School

HS (general)

Literature (b/c I'll be starting h.s. lit next year and it's a bear!)

[happygrrl]

Master School Planner is a great idea!! It will give me a place to put my ideas and future lists, but not get in the way of what we are doing right now.

 

The Church Planner is brilliant!!! We just finished the Days of Unleavened Bread, Passover and Night to be Remembered and I couldn't for the life of me find some of my favorite unleavened bread recipies etc. The fall Holy Days will be here before we know it and I'll have the Feast of Tabernacles to prepare for..so that will be a good place to put all of that info.

 

See, we think alike! I love having all that "future" school stuff to the side. I have to admit the church planner idea came from the Evlogia blog. But beware- she has 5 church planners! :D (look on the sidebar to the right for cycles of grace notebooks)

[angela in ohio]

We do a 36-week schedule (Sonlight) so I use a large binder with 1-36 tabs. In each week I have the weekly schedule and all the study guides, worksheets, notebooking pages, etc. that go with the week's lessons. The binder is *big*, so I pull out 9 weeks at a time and use a smaller 1" binder for that. Plus, each kid has a 1-36 binder of their own, where they keep their personal schedule sheets and their completed work.

 

I tried the WTM way with subject binders, but it just didn't work for me. This way keeps me sane.

 

I do something similar for subjects that have a lot of paper (writing, history, etc.) We do 42-46 weeks of school each year, so I buy the legal dividers that are 1-25 and 25-50. Behind each week, I put the materials I will need. This is how I plan my IEW, for example, so that I have any handouts, lesson plans, notes, etc. ready each week.

 

I also have a Household/Cleaning Binder and a Kitchen/Food Binder. Now I'm thinking I might need a Church Binder. :D That is a great idea!

[AngelBee]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

[AK_Homesteaders]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

I wondered EXACTLY the same thing. So funny. I'm afraid I'm a hopeless mess. I LOVE to plan, and when I was single and worked outside the home in a professional career, I was the most organized person in the world. But, now that I have a husband and children, I just can't seem to be that way anymore. I drive myself nuts when I'm not organized, which is all the time nowadays. :001_smile:

 

Jenny

[woolybear]

:iagree:

[angela in ohio]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

 

I am not born organized. Well, I'm randomly organized. I have ADD tendencies, so some things in my life are ridiculously hyper-organized, and most things (the important day to day ones like homeschooling, food, laundry, etc.) I would let go. So I had to learn tools, like planners and binders, to help me make life sane. A great resource for learning to accept who you are while still learning to organize is If I'm Diapering the Watermelon, Where'd I Leave the Baby. Amazing book!

[angela in ohio]

I wondered EXACTLY the same thing. So funny. I'm afraid I'm a hopeless mess. I LOVE to plan, and when I was single and worked outside the home in a professional career, I was the most organized person in the world. But, now that I have a husband and children, I just can't seem to be that way anymore. I drive myself nuts when I'm not organized, which is all the time nowadays. :001_smile:

 

Jenny

 

Side Tracked Home Executives is a good book for this. It talks about treating your home like it is your profession. I find that very helpful!

[3browneyedboys4me]

When do you all find the time to ACTUALLY plan! Sheesh! I'm a hopeless failure in this dept! I love to be organized, but I just had little man #4 and I've just given up! I do manage to get school done b/c I use a wkly lesson plan form from donnayoung.org, but half the time, I dont' know what is expected of me (or dc) b/c I just DO NOT have time to prepare anymore ahead of time.

 

any thoughts??

[JoyfulMama]

When do you all find the time to ACTUALLY plan! Sheesh! I'm a hopeless failure in this dept! I love to be organized, but I just had little man #4 and I've just given up! I do manage to get school done b/c I use a wkly lesson plan form from donnayoung.org, but half the time, I dont' know what is expected of me (or dc) b/c I just DO NOT have time to prepare anymore ahead of time.

 

any thoughts??

 

I find the time to do things that are most important to me. I have found that having things organized saves me time.

 

If I don't know what is expected of me, how can my kids know what is expected of them? Why should my children care about completing their chores if I don't model how I complete mine?

 

I have always been a planner (it is sooo much fun!), but actually following through with a routine is something I prefer to rebel against (boring routine). Yet, when I do a routine, or have a rhythm (not a clock schedule) I can honestly say that my days run more smoothly, and I feel like I actually complete things.

[HeidiKC]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

 

I'm wondering the SAME THING!!!

[Giraffe]

Thank God I'm not alone! Back when I was single and professional I could organize the pants off anything. My mother used to recruit me to organize her kitchen, etc. Now that I'm married with a little one, I can't manage to make dinner! ARRGH!

 

I second a PP that recommends Sidetracked Home Executives. It's helping. As are notebooks like the ones y'all are mentioning.

 

Thanks!!

[jillian]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

same here. we don't have lesson plans per se yet since dd is young but i want to get us a bit more "organized" and be able to make the transition easier when dh goes out to sea and when he is home (the back and forth nonsense)

[johnandtinagilbert]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

Totally became...I'm still learning!

[meet me in paris]

Have all of you always been organized or did any of you start out a mess and become organized along the way? :D Trying to see if I have any hope? :lol:

It's a process. Every year I tweak a little more. I'm generally organized (hey, I'm a librarian!) but homeschooling through me for a loop. I feel like I'm finally in a groove after 4 years.

[branycbur]

I was really inspired by this post:

 

http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/file_crate_system/

[Barefoothomeschooler]

here is a link to my planner

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Bahamahomeschooler/214898/ I am a visual learner so those of you like me this will help!

 

If you need pages to fill up those planners check Bahama Blessings at http://www.currclick.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=144

 

I love to see or hear others ideas :grouphug: many minds are much better

[Free Indeed]

I am looking for a Sonlight type schedule. Has anyone already made one to share that I can use? I can make my own, but I would to save time if I could.

[5LittleMonkeys]

When do you all find the time to ACTUALLY plan! Sheesh! I'm a hopeless failure in this dept! I love to be organized, but I just had little man #4 and I've just given up! I do manage to get school done b/c I use a wkly lesson plan form from donnayoung.org, but half the time, I dont' know what is expected of me (or dc) b/c I just DO NOT have time to prepare anymore ahead of time.

 

 

I love to plan almost as much as I love to teach. My problem is I'm always trying to tweak my plans. I love to get ideas from others and try them out. It drives my dh crazy but I enjoy it.

 

My littles go to bed at 9 on school nights and my olders know I am off duty at that time. That's when I plan (not everynight). When my fifth baby came along I had to cut back how much time I spent planning. We had a few earlier bedtimes during those first few months. Even if I could get 30 minutes uninterrupted, I could atleast go over what I needed for the next day. Hubby was good for making sure no one bothered me. (Sometimes I would take everything into our bathroom and sit on the floor...if I was out of sight the dc weren't so tempted to try to distract me.)

 

I get cranky if I'm not organized.:tongue_smilie:

[AK_Homesteaders]

Side Tracked Home Executives is a good book for this. It talks about treating your home like it is your profession. I find that very helpful!

 

Maybe that's what I need. I wasn't an executive, but I'm constantly asking myself why I was able to deal with disorganized people at work all the time but still keep my sanity and keep "my" part of my work world organized, but I can't even come close to that at home. My husband and I are gradually discovering that one of our sons, (he's only 6) is turning into a "control freak" as my husband puts it. He can't stand it if supper is 10 minutes late, or if the desk gets a pile of stuff on it. Right now I'm particularly disorganized, so he's been organizing the bookshelf as far up as he can reach. He totally reorganizes it at least twice a day. Guess this is something he can control, and it keeps him from going nuts amidst my mess. :lol: Oh, I'll be sooooo glad when he's older and can keep me on track. In the mean time I'm going to try to learn from all the wonderful tips here, and take a look at that book. Thanks!

[3browneyedboys4me]

I've been on the donnayoung website most of the morning printing planner pages! I am so excited. I figure if I start now I MIGHT get this done by next year! lol! I am doing everything- menu planning, daily school schedules, house projects- everything! I am so siked b/c I can actually see the reason for this and I think I can make it work!

 

Before- lesson planning just didn't make sense to me. I think b/c I never really stuck with a real schedule and so it just didn't make sense to write it down if I knew we probably weren't going to do it! lol... But, now, my children are older and they really have to get their work done. We need to meet deadlines, etc. So, it's very important to me.

 

Anyway, thanks for this thread. It's given me hope!:D

[angela in ohio]

Another tip: I had to learn the discipline to not change things mid-year. I learned to take great ideas, write them down, and save them for the next year's plans. Otherwise, you are perpetually re-planning, which interferes with the time you need to spend teaching, learning, reading, and loving your family. Unless it is a serious curriculum issue, I just keep notes for the next year's plans. After you have been doing this for a long time, you see that there will always be time to do that great new idea next year, Or you might decide that it was a momentary impulse and be glad you didn't expend the effort to reorganize for it. :001_smile:

[MamaAkins]

in the front pocket, paper full of little bullet boxes I can check off with every subject we have:

Days of the week (across top in columns)

subjects (1st column) boxes for each day.

I use this to quickly have daily meetings just to mark off what I know is finished.

 

In rings:

pouch with general supplies (pens, highlighter, mini staple, paper clips, tissue, etc.)

 

In sleeves:

 

1. cover/emergency page - hand written
   
2. annual calendar
   
3. passwords to websites, etc
   
4. "Person to Person" things I need to remember that I loan or need to say
   
5. auto maintenance record
   
6. favorite poems, words of encouragement, etc.
   
7. reminders on personal behavioral goals89
   
8. daily chore and personal routine
   
9. children's daily chores and personal routines
   
10. cleaning zones - areas for daily cleaning beyond general chores
    
11. hot spots - those places where we tend to pile out stuff
    
12. specific chores for each zone (5 pages)
    
13. a spiral notebook for my to do lists
    
14. page with schooling decisions that are different from our usual schedule
    
15. dividers for each day of the month with a double page spread to include all daily subjects I teach and space to write the specific assignments (I created the template from a DonnaYoung idea, tweaked to my pleasure)There is one template for 4 days of the week and a different one for our electives day (currently Wed) when I block teach The Elders.
    
16. Yellow Pages of numbers I frequently need
    
17. White Pages
    
18. Pocket folder of stamps and labels and things I like to include in letters or cards (comics, poetry, pretty shaped paper)
    
19. Homeschool Directory of all the phone numbers of people we have ever co-oped with.
    
20. Remember These Things: Important physical or spiritual things I should always or temporarily remember
    
21. BSA (Boy Scouts of America) - emails with info I will need eventually
    
22. ROM - our sports league - emails with info I will need eventually
    
23. Back pocket with extra planning pages in case something runs over my space (rarely happens)
    

Email me and I can send templates if you'd like :)

 

Could you email me templates??! My email is MamaAkins3@nc.rr.com

 

Thanks so much!

[AudreyTN]

Or you might decide that it was a momentary impulse and be glad you didn't expend the effort to reorganize for it. :001_smile:

 

Good advice! My dh was out of work for an entire year so (for lack of money) I had to keep on with what I was doing. I learned that A LOT of things I had wanted to do were momentary impulses and could possibly have been wasted money.

[Free Indeed]

I made one yesterday- inspired by this thread. Living Stone Christian Academy had shared their planner that at had at the top "Subjects we do together", then had a list for each child on that same page that has the independent subjects. Then I made each child a weekly assignment sheet for their independent work, but made them on 1 piece of paper so There was less paper and ink money.

[AudreyTN]

I made one yesterday- inspired by this thread. Living Stone Christian Academy had shared their planner that at had at the top "Subjects we do together", then had a list for each child on that same page that has the independent subjects. Then I made each child a weekly assignment sheet for their independent work, but made them on 1 piece of paper so There was less paper and ink money.

 

Glad I could help. :lol:

 

My readers do have a sheet with independent assignments in their folders.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Another tip: I had to learn the discipline to not change things mid-year. I learned to take great ideas, write them down, and save them for the next year's plans. Otherwise, you are perpetually re-planning, which interferes with the time you need to spend teaching, learning, reading, and loving your family. Unless it is a serious curriculum issue, I just keep notes for the next year's plans. After you have been doing this for a long time, you see that there will always be time to do that great new idea next year, Or you might decide that it was a momentary impulse and be glad you didn't expend the effort to reorganize for it. :001_smile:

So true and perfectly worded! That's why I started my home school notebook too...b/c I kept being tempted to jump all around. Instead, now, I finish where we are, then glance at my h.s. notebook and see if we really still need the "great idea" or if we've already taken care of it in a different way. Great post :)

[woolybear]

Another tip: I had to learn the discipline to not change things mid-year. I learned to take great ideas, write them down, and save them for the next year's plans. Otherwise, you are perpetually re-planning, which interferes with the time you need to spend teaching, learning, reading, and loving your family. Unless it is a serious curriculum issue, I just keep notes for the next year's plans. After you have been doing this for a long time, you see that there will always be time to do that great new idea next year, Or you might decide that it was a momentary impulse and be glad you didn't expend the effort to reorganize for it. :001_smile:

 

 

This is wonderful advice. I have just started putting together my Master Planner for just homeschooling. I have a section for ideas and a section for planning for next year. I think I am a slow learner.:001_smile: It has taken me four years to learn this. I think I will print out your post and tape it to the front of my ideas section. Thank you!

 

Woolybear

[AK_Homesteaders]

This is such a useful thread! I have too many irons in the fire at the moment to make up a new planner, but that is top on my list in about two weeks.:auto:

[Amber in AUS]

Great thread.

[Aloha2U]

I posted about my planner a while ago, so there has been a few changes made to it, but not much.

 

HTH!

 

:001_smile: Melissa

[AngelBee]

I am looking for a Sonlight type schedule. Has anyone already made one to share that I can use? I can make my own, but I would to save time if I could.

 

I am working on one. :D

[angela in ohio]

Here is a Sonlight-like schedule I use for K-2: Weekly schedule.