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Best homeschool organizer / planner


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I like Google Docs and spiral notebooks.  I am mostly a pen and paper kind of girl, so notebooks are my main go-to.  I like being able to customize every detail as I go.

Edited by Amie
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The best printed and bound store-bought planner that I have found is from Mardel.  They make one called "A Simple Plan" which is made to be used for up to 6 students.  It has assignment pages that run from July through the following June.  Each month of assignment pages is separated from the others by tabs.  There are additional planning pages and student record pages.  It costs about $20, which is a great price compared to other similar planners.  You can order it online--be sure to look for a coupon code--you can usually get 20% off of an item which will just about cover shipping.  Mardel.com has pictures of the inside of the planner so you can see if it will work for your needs.  Best wishes!

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Love LOVE LOVE Homeschool Planet.  Worth every single penny.  I've tried every type of planner you can think of.  I love that I can replicate and plan out the entire year, yet easily tweak and make changes and bump things when needed.  I can even link to websites directly in the assignments.  They are really responsive to questions and are always updating and making things better.  It far outweighs any other planner I've ever found!

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Paper and pencil. Preferribly graph paper because I draw lots of tables. Then I might put this into OneNote or simply make a syllabus in a word processing file. But the physical pencil and paper work is helpful for me. Every digital planning and tracking program I have tried has made me feel either overwhelmed with possibilities (too many steps, too many options, unclear organization) or limited because it can't do what I want it to. I'm picky I guess.

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I ordered Mardel's A Simple Plan for next year. It looks nice, but it is super thick. I have always used A Well Planned Day, but I just couldn't support them this year, especially when I heard that the paper misprinted and they wouldn't make it right for their customers. I love how that one feels in my hands, though, and the size of it.

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Homeschool Tracker is great but did not work correct on our Belgian / French computer.

The only way to make it work is put the settings of your computer on USA standards.

That means that ALL your programs will use that, and your azerty keyboard will function as a qwerty keyboard...

 

I'm not sure they have fixed it since then.

It does work on a Dutch computer.

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Trello!

 

I've always used OneNote, but I added Trello this year and it's FANTASTIC! It's free, and works beautifully across all our tablets, phones and computers. I have a board set up for planning, and separate boards for each kid.

 

I've tried most of the electronic planners out there, including Homeschool Tracker and Homeschool Planet, and didn't care for any of them. Trello is perfect for us.

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This year I'm using a mix of my own for actual planning, and Homeschool Tracker for scheduling (with paper scheulers, I end up re-writing things I already wrote or having to arrow back to another day, as we school year round as days off just appear, we don't get much notice for them, lol.

 

Basically my full life system (as homeschool intermingles with it everywhere) is:

 

-File Crate System (set up like Dawns, clipart and sayings on outer sheet have been customised for me (by me, lol), inside folders contain pieces for that week like bills, tickets, etc, PLUS a set of sheets I use each week that I printed out like a Meal Planner (full daily including all snacks) & Hubbys full todo list  - saves me nagging at him about it, I also use whatsapp to send him the list daily, and I update and change it. (both of which go on fridge), the end week of each month also contains a monthly planner sheet which I fill out from my planner selected pieces and this also goes on the fridge, so my family know what is coming up for the month. There is also a weekly schedule agendy and a week to view sheets, but I think I might be incorporating those back into my planner. There is also the homelearning inner sheet like Dawn has, but I am not using that full right now, I'll see how I am with it in another few months, I'm not really getting time to sit down and feel out my week, as its crazy hectic here right now.

 

-Homeschool Tracker Online. This schedules all the lessons out for me, but doesn't have the actual lesson plans on them. Its just too hectic to re-write things, so HST allows me to push things, and add new days off for medical appointments etc (I have two kids with t1 diabetes, a SN son, I have CFS and other dramas, and my husband has back problems, so murphys law and all that, lol).

 

-Binders. - I have binders for the Kids with daily dividers (1-5) and 6 binders each containing 6 weeks of lesson stuff. So each week, I pull out the stuff behind that weeks divider and divide it behind the day dividers in the smaller binders.

 

-My binder. This contains a quote I really like at the front and the sections are"

*Lessons - Which contain the lessons/curricula I've actually made up myself and plans for that, so I know what to do for those subjects, plus things like Harmony Fine Arts plans and the current months daily writing from Schoolhouse Teachers etc.

*Days 1-5 (as above)

*Schedules - Which contain at a glance calendars for me, big month to a view layouts so that every month I can lay out my ideal month (not that it neccessarily goes that way, but I like to see the larger overall goal to aspire too ;) And daily routines/chores/cleaning zones etc.

*Checklists. This has my supplies lists and subject checklists, at hte end of the week I can tick all the lessons done for each subject just so I can keep an eye on things and make sure nothing is flying under the radar. It has has a Rea the bible in a year checklist.

*Curricula - Has my current curriculum and resources list, future curriculum, and a wishlist.

*Notes - Long Slender notes & Todo Lists.

I also have a legal pad at the back of the binder.

 

*A5 Schedule Book - I made this myself as I couldnt find anything close to what I wanted (pretty & functional 15 minute schedule/appointment book.) It has a gussied up cover, some silly pictures of my family, A really long pull out Year planner from Frankling Covey, and the meat of the book is my 15m schduler that goes from 6:30am to 11:30pm, it has four coloumns, to a view, two colums to a page, the last coloumn on the right hand side is blank, for me to jot notes needed for that day., at the back I have a flip out (on cardstock) Mothers-Rule of Life schedule plan for the day, I look to that in the morning and then plan out my day accordingly. At the back I have a pouch to put pieces needed for that week, and HST plans etc.

 

Lastly

*Moleskine - I use a Large Softcover Moleskine, and use it like a Bullet Journal, with calendars and tasks list for each month in the front, ongoing to do list, and special pages for projects etc.

 

So each piece contains some sort of planning/organizing for school purposes.

 

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Trello!

 

I've always used OneNote, but I added Trello this year and it's FANTASTIC! It's free, and works beautifully across all our tablets, phones and computers. I have a board set up for planning, and separate boards for each kid.

 

I've tried most of the electronic planners out there, including Homeschool Tracker and Homeschool Planet, and didn't care for any of them. Trello is perfect for us.

I've been interested in using Trello but I can't figure out how to do repeating tasks.

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Trello!

 

I've always used OneNote, but I added Trello this year and it's FANTASTIC! It's free, and works beautifully across all our tablets, phones and computers. I have a board set up for planning, and separate boards for each kid.

 

I've tried most of the electronic planners out there, including Homeschool Tracker and Homeschool Planet, and didn't care for any of them. Trello is perfect for us.

SkateLeft: where do you grade your assignments? I love Trello too but hate entering things in Trello AND Excel / HP.

Edited by dori123
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