I haven’t set up too much new this year. A lot of what I will keep in my planner are pages that I’ve used variations of over the years. I now have a scope and sequence, a daily schedule outline, and all the schoolwork printed for the next few weeks.
Next, is time to set up my planner. Actually, by the time you’re reading this, I will have already started the school year.
Here are the pages I’m placing in my binder and how I am using them:
Weekly Outline
There are a number of ways you could use this page. I will be using it for at least the first couple of weeks as a sort of journaling page. This will help me track our accomplishments on a weekly basis. I’ll be using the left side to list different subjects I want to cover each week, so it will act as a checklist of sorts throughout the week. I intend to fill it out at the end of each day. I’ve placed a spot at the bottom to add any notes or ideas to improve next week’s lessons.
I doubt I will need this practice through the whole school year, but this will help me troubleshoot and tweak for the first few weeks. And I love looking back on these.
Weekly Hours Log
We do reverse planning on a day to day basis. Since I already know what the goals are for each week/day I can use this as a way to keep my records from day to day.
I use each column for one of my students and where they do group studies is written across all three (as if there’s no division). The left column is for writing in the date, and how many hours were completed by the end of the day.
I posted a slightly different color version of this page earlier this year (before ultimately reverting back to my standard method). You can see that one here:
Weekly Checklist
This one is placed in a magnetic dry erase sleeve and used for my students to reference each day throughout the week. It’s blank, so you can use it however you like, but I’ve placed every subject for the entire week on the left side and put an x on the days they don’t have to complete it.
To Do List
A pretty basic concept at face value, but I think this will be one that I reference the most. I decided to fill mine in with everything mama needs to do. My scope and sequence already had a time suggestion on it from when I wrote down all of our goals. This gave me a rough idea to work with when it came to teaching responsibilities and chores around the house. I’ve left my filled out version in the pdf so you can see how I am using it, but there’s also a blank one for you to fill out on your own. One tip of you decide to do an hourly layout like this: Don’t cram it too tight! It may seem like a pretty full list, but I know that most of these slots will take way less time than I’ve allotted for them. The ones I have starred (*) are the ones I know I have to be available to teach.
Full-Year Hours Log
The week number, days, and totals for the year on one sheet. After six weeks of homeschool I will go through my weekly hours logs and fill in the blanks on this sheet using that info. This helps me see how many hours are completed/left and gives me a more condensed record to give the state should I need it.
I allowed for 45 weeks so that I can log academic hours that inevitably will take place during break weeks and downtimes.
Reading Log
I will have a page of reading logs running for each student. When they’ve completed a title, I will write it down as completed. They’re always thrilled at the end of the year at looking over how much literature we covered!
Year-at-a-Glance
I almost forgot this part! This was the fastest way I could find a year at a glance for the months I wanted. I simply screen-shotted my phone’s calendar, so you’ll have to forgive the red circle.
I will go over this page with a highlighter and pen, numbering each academic week and highlighting weeks off. Since we take six weeks on, one week off, this page is key to a smooth year.
Here’s the Download
Click the “download” button below:
Home School On A Dime 