Do you bullet journal for homeschooling?

[athomeontheprairie]

I use a bullet journal for everything else in my life. But I'm kinda stuck on how to do it for school?

Do you do this?

Do you do long term planning?

How do you set it up?

 

Mostly just thinking out loud here:

Calendars at the front with special dates, field trips, reminders to pick up (school) stuff. Time to pause regular lessons to do a special unit study (if needed to match a field trip, for example.) Somehow I'd like to include where I want each kid to be in each subject by the end of the month (or the end of the quarter) so that I can at least see if we are on target.

 

Weeklies would need to include items I need to order/pick up or print from the library.

Daily pages for what needs to happen across all subjects.

 

 

Do you use this method for homeschooling? What do you like? What would you add?

[Mrs. A]

I do and I love it. I use a two page spread to lay out the week with checklists for each kid below plus a check list for our morning time subjects. I use the rest of the space for notes etc.

 

I also used my bujo to plan for this year and it worked well. I had a page for each kid plus one for morning time, with book lists that I edited as I went through the planning process. Once I finalized each list I copied it out onto a new page and earmarked it so I could refer back throughout the year.

[Jess4879]

I do and I love it. I use a two page spread to lay out the week with checklists for each kid below plus a check list for our morning time subjects. I use the rest of the space for notes etc.

 

I also used my bujo to plan for this year and it worked well. I had a page for each kid plus one for morning time, with book lists that I edited as I went through the planning process. Once I finalized each list I copied it out onto a new page and earmarked it so I could refer back throughout the year.

 

This sounds great!  I need you to do one for me.  LOL 

[Mrs. A]

I'll have to see if I can figure out how top upload pictures later :)

[athomeontheprairie]

I'll have to see if I can figure out how top upload pictures later :)

I hope you do! I'd like to see them

[Guest]

I did all last year.

 

I kept a reading log for everyone.

Ditto Audiobook log and documentary log.

I kept a place to jot down random ideas throughout the day...like "DS2 struggled with phonogram ae; look into xyz" or "how do fish gills work?"

I had big spaces for daily plans, and anything that did not get done that day, I just moved it down to the next day.

I had a list of goals for the year for each student.

 

I didn't do one this year because we're scheduling school differently, plus I just don't feel like it any more. But last year involved a convoluted move, a newborn and extended illnesses and having prrof that I was still doing my job well in my hand was very conducive to my peace of mind!

[Petrichor]

I keep a spreadsheet on my computer, one document for my one kid. One page for daily schedule (ie. math at 9:45, english at 10:30), one page for pacing guides/lesson plans for each subject, and one page for my insane ideas about planning for future school years (things that will, no doubt be tossed in a few months when I change my mind.)

 

You could do something like that, one page in your journal for each subject per kid, labelled weeks 1-40 or however many weeks you have in your school year. Maybe color code or invent new bullets for each kid, unless you want to do separate journals for each kid.

 

I like to plan school pacing for whole year at once so I know how much space for flexibility we actually have. I don't think I would be able to do it on only a monthly basis like bullet journals suggest for regular life.

 

Of course, it must be said that I don't bullet journal. I got a planner for this year (used nothing last year) but after reading their website thoroughly, I am considering starting one. For "regular life" anyways.

 

[carriede]

I don't call it bullet journaling, but it's a similar concept. I have a cheap, spiral bound notebook that I write all my big picture planning in. I like to plan my school year during the summer (I do tweak when necessary).

 

My notebook is a messy place. One set of pages is a detailed, year long lesson plan for science. The next page is short notes comparing writing curricula. Next is a weekly routine for history. It's basically my homeschool brain dump intermixed with specific schedules and lesson plans. I have the pages I want to refer to tabbed with a post it note.

 

As for weekly planning, I have blank weekly schedule printouts that I use for DS7 and DD5. So our detailed weekly plans are NOT in my notebook. I have a 3-ring binder where I file those away as the year goes on.

 

I do have pages in my notebook with titles like Books Read Aloud and Field Trips, but I'm really bad about going back and filling those in. Now I try to jot those down on the kids' weekly pages as we go.

 

I'm all about the hybrid. ;)

[Mrs. A]

Ok. I think I did this right. It's very basic - our curriculum is all do the next thing, so I just list what I want us to do each day and make sure it gets checked off. This week is very quiet but some weeks I have all kinds of notes and things that I write down. It's versatile and easy to adjust so it works for me. 

[Peaceseeker]

I use bullet journaling for long term resource planning. I have a page for each kid for each year of school for each subject. When I find a new interesting resource I write it in my journal to reference later. I am always on the hunt for new resources and ideas so this was a way to keep track of all the great ideas I have for the future!

 

I use a regular planner for my weekly/monthly homeschool plans but I can see how a bullet journal would work for that as well.

[CadenceSophia]

I do, but not incredibly consistently..  I use a 2 page spread for each week (columns), and use the first initial of each child involved in the lesson/activity/book. I also use pages in between to make notes of lessons I'd like to do that need actual planning, like for BSFU and I organize those notes (somewhat) onto index-by-subject pages I created in the front of the journal. So all Science notes are then referenced back onto the science page etc.  I ONLY use this book for planning and school work though, as anything that affects my calendar would be prioritized into my real bullet journal. I COULD see doing all the homeschool planning in your actual bullet journal, as is supposed to be the proper use of a bullet journal. Defeats the purpose if you have lots of them, yk? :)  But I wanted to be able to hand this off to DH or anyone if needed and not have my personal life mixed in. 

[Ausmumof3]

I did last year but it was very basic. I just wrote out the night before what they needed to do the next day in their journals. When they ticked everything off school was done. It's stupidly simple but it did make them more independent and wiling to work if they could see exactly what they had to do instead of me always adding one more thing.