This Might Just Be The One!

This second semester is starting off well so far. I'm a little shocked and keep looking over my shoulder to see if a train is coming to wreck it all! I shouldn't feel that way though. I'm all prayed up about it and know that is the ONLY reason it's going smoothly. That and the fact that I have got to get my head out of the dirt and focus! So when I came across this beauty I thought to myself, "Self, This Might Just Be The One!!" A perfect planner for this homeschooling mama of four!

However, when it comes to homeschooling I don't believe with one ounce of my being that there is a perfect planner. Every single mom that I know always has questions as to how to plan their days and weeks of homeschooling. I read about it every day, and with 4 kids I've been asked how I do it many many times. I always stumble to answer that question because I'm not sure how I do it either!! Our schedule has slowed down greatly in the past few months, but I know that very soon it will get busy as bees on a warm Spring day!!

So let me tell you about this gem that I found, at Wal-Mart of all places. Not sure why I was even looking at planners cause I was pretty happy with the one I was using. Except for the fact that I had to tweek each month and week to reflect all the non-related homeschooling tasks that we have going on. What I'm using now is also a big chunk of a book and I am not comfortable carrying it with me when I need to. There were only two left and they were this shiny hot pink. I had looked at this same layout before in a smaller version but decided there just wasn't enough room for me. I don't write that small and when I look at the big picture, I want to see the flight plan of the brood when the busy season gets here.

   

The Day-timer website shows a purple and a green planner as well and there may have been a blue, which makes sense because the months are divided up into one color per quarter using the pink, purple, green, and blue. I was able to find the same colors in removable tabs and put the first letter of each month on the monthly calendar, using the coordinating colors for each quarter. There is something about putting together a planner that helps me to get my mind in the game. Maybe I'm a little OCD as well because coordinating colors makes me feel like the world is going to be ok! 

Here is the view for a blank slate each week. Look at the possibilities in which you could keep track of the many aspects of your life on this! You know you are a planner junkie when you see this and your heart skips a beat! 

Now feast your eyes on the filled in version that is specific to a homeschooling family. Well, mine at least. As you can see I have added subjects to the first shaded column which I believe was intended for Mom. I use the spaces above the grids for my area instead. I do not list all subjects everyday, but there is plenty of room to list the core subjects each day if I so desired. Being the first of the 2nd Semester, I didn't plan for each subject everyday to give more time for review and getting back into the routine again. I'll explain in an upcoming post more about how I'm approaching our current grade levels.

Believe me when I tell you that these pages do not reflect what is coming in the Spring with sports and all the activities that we hope to be doing with our support group. I'll have to add times for sports practices for 3 of the kids, piano lessons and classes on Wednesday for one, as well as fill up Saturday with game times for the 3 sports. Whew! I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting though.............

When you look at these pictures above you can see page numbers and notes on lessons. No, I did not pre-plan these page numbers and write them in before the work was done. I have for years tried to write out what my kids will be doing months from now, only to end up re-doing EVERYTHING I had written out in my planner, or completely wasting the space. I whittled it down to writing out only a couple of weeks, only to have to re-do those plans as well! Thank God someone invented the eraser and white-out. 

I guess our life is just too pliable like play-doh. Push in too hard on one side of the ball and you've changed the entire shape and look of it. That use to make me go red with frustration, but wisdom has taught me that it's all good and I need to chill out. My kids are learning and I see it everyday. 

I'll be talking more about that in the future as well.

I always felt jealous of the journal approach of homeschool planning that I would read about on other blogs, and now I know why. Because that is the method for me! I no longer plan ahead, I write down what they have done each day. That way the next time I open their book to see where they are at, all I have to do it look at the last thing I wrote down.

 When I plan a subject, however, I do go over it and make notes on a large sticky note and post it inside or outside the book to help me remember what needs to be done and when. Now, having said all this and giving you a glimpse into how I plan for lessons, I want you to realize that all this TAKES TIME and a little creative thinking on your part.. I've preached those words too many times to count to my friends and to myself. In my mind, Sunday was the perfect day to plan for next weeks lessons. And each Sunday I would crash or get distracted with hanging with the family or my crochet projects. Do you have a day that you always want to do your planning but it ALWAYS BACKFIRES?! If you do, trash the notion of that day being your planning day and pick another one.

Some families tend to do better flying by the seat of their pants and that is perfectly fine if it works. On the other hand, if you are thinking that maybe you need to start writing things down and keeping track of your family's chaos, I highly recommend this planner. Give me a month though and I'll give you an update on how it is working / or not working to contain our chaos. 

And yes, I've put this in a category of habits. If you want to feel like you have it all under control (don't laugh), then a habit this must become.