When you’re already spending money for homeschool curriculum, online classes, music lessons, school supplies, etc., you’re likely wondering if using a homeschool planner is something you really need to homeschool successfully. Some of us have a weakness for a good and pretty planner. The question remains, however: do I really NEED a homeschool planner?
The Purpose of a Homeschool Planner
Simply put, a homeschool planner is a tool that’s useful to help you plan and organize various aspects of your homeschool. A typical homeschool planner usually includes the following:
- Monthly and weekly calendars
- Weekly and daily lesson planning pages
- Curriculum planning pages
- Attendance logs
- Goal trackers
- Reading logs
- Grade record sheet
Benefits of Using a Homeschool Planner
Organization
A homeschool planner is helpful for keeping paperwork organized and in one central, easy-to-find location. A planner that contains lesson planning pages helps you prepare for the school year thoughtfully.
While I don’t recommend trying to plan lessons for an entire school year, thinking through plans for a week at a time and having a game plan on paper is helpful for establishing what you want to accomplish in a week.
I always think it’s a bonus to have an idea of learning goals for the week!
Scheduling
If your planner includes calendars, it’s the perfect place to keep track of all the schedules. You can record things like lessons, extracurricular activities, co-op dates, special events, deadlines, etc. With our busy lives as homeschool moms, it’s important to free up that mental space by keeping your schedule on paper.
Goal Setting and Progress Tracking
Many planners will include options for listing goals you have for your homeschool, yourself, and your students throughout the year. These can include anything from reading goals, to learning multiplication facts, to reading a homeschooling book for moms.
Goal setting and progress tracking will help you stay on course throughout the year. It’s affirming and rewarding to establish goals and see them get accomplished over the course of the year.
A homeschool planner will provide the simple tools you need to keep good records.
Record Keeping
This is a big one, especially if you live in a state that requires attendance records and/or grades. If you have high school students like myself, you will want to keep a high school transcript as well.
A homeschool planner will provide the simple tools you need to keep good records. When you see these pages in your planner, it will serve as a reminder that you need to be filling them out. No forgetting!
Practical Tips for Choosing and Using a Homeschool Planner
Make Your Own vs. Buy One
For years, I never purchased an actual homeschool planner because I was worried about spending the money and then not using it. I knew I could get by with just creating the pages I felt were crucial, thus saving money to put towards curriculum. When you’re trying to homeschool on a budget, every little bit counts!
I still feel like creating your own is a viable option, if you like doing it. Get into Canva and make the pages you want/need. If that doesn’t sound like fun for you, however, just purchase a planner, use the pages you want, and leave the rest.
And then go read your book or work out in the garden! There are too many affordable planner options for you to spend hours making one if you despise every minute of it.
Digital vs. Paper
I’m a paper planner person. It has its downsides, I know. You can’t take it with you. It’s not stored safely in a cloud somewhere. Especially when it comes to homeschool planning, I like to pick up a pen and put things on paper.
Call me old-fashioned.
I also like to easily flip through my planner. I don’t need to learn a system or program to understand how to use my paper planner! I’m all for keeping things simple.
Now, I know some people have tried and enjoy the amenities available with digital planners. There is no way for a paper planner to compete with the options you’ll find with a digital planner.
Honestly, I’m not the best person to tell you the pros and cons, because I’ve not tried a digital planner. However, besides the learning curve required, there will also be a subscription fee which is something to consider with your budget.
Using Your Homeschool Planner Consistently
It can be challenging to stay consistent in using your planner. Often, at the beginning of the school year, I’m doing all the weekly plans and logging all the read-alouds. Sometime during the winter, however, I start operating in basic functioning mode.
Include using your planner as part of your morning and nightly routines. In the evening, look over your plan for the next day. What happened during the day that you need to record? Attendance? A book that was finished? A goal that was achieved?
In the morning, review the plan for the day and glance at the schedule. What appointments are happening? Do you need to tweak what you thought was the plan for the day?
Keeping your planner handy (maybe even out and open on your desk or countertop?) can help you make the best use of it.
But don’t feel guilty if you find you don’t need to consult it as much as the year progresses. I find I often develop a routine and our days start running on autopilot.
That’s a good thing!
Is a Homeschool Planner Expensive?
In a nutshell, a homeschool planner doesn’t have to be expensive. I’ve seen homeschool planners in all price ranges. Some are beautifully customized with hand-drawn artwork. Some are just a few basic pages, while others are deluxe and include all the pages you could dream of and more.
I don’t think you can go wrong with an inexpensive planner. Try one out and see how it works for you. Over time, you’ll discover what the essential tools are that YOU need in a homeschool planner.
A Truly Unique Homeschool Planner
If you’re interested in an aesthetically pleasing AND affordable homeschool planner, give my Homeschool Planner a try! It’s available in my Etsy shop, Holistic Mom Creations.
This planner has all the basics, as well as highly specialized pages you probably won’t find in a standard homeschool planner.
My favorite feature is that it also includes pages dedicated to your health and wellness throughout the school year. It’s essentially a homeschool planner and self-care planner all-in-one.
These health and wellness pages include:
- Daily planner page
- Self-care planner page
- Self-care tracker
- Self-care ideas question prompts
- Self-care ideas list
- Personal growth journal
- Daily gratitude journal
- Monthly wellness check-in
- Weekly wellness check-in
- Mom’s reading log
- Physical activity log
- Sleep log
- Weekly meal planner
- Favorite homeschooling quotes worksheet
I printed mine and placed it into a white 1” view binder. I also used white divider pages with erasable tabs to organize each of the 10 sections. While this planner is large (151 total pages), it’s easy to find what I need, especially with the dividers.
This planner is 50% off for a limited time (see shop for details) and you can get an additional 15% off using the code HHMBLOG.
Sample Planner Pages
Curious to see some actual pages from the planner? I know that helps me immensely! You’ll find a sampling of pages at Holistic Mom Creations. However, you can get also get access to six sample pages from this planner when you sign up below.
These pages include:
- homeschooling vision & goals sheet
- academic year-at-a-glance 2024-2025
- weekly planner page
- monthly calendar page
- unit study planner
- supplies and materials checklist
Conclusion
A homeschool planner is a truly valuable tool for homeschool parents. Whether you’re wanting to keep accurate records, create lesson plans, or just log grades easily, a homeschool planner is a worthwhile investment for many homeschool moms.
Do you really need a homeschool planner? The choice is yours! The key is to find a planner that meets your needs.
No two homeschools are alike, and a planner that works for one mom might not work for another. As you experiment with different options, you’ll discover what works well for running your homeschool effectively, and that’s the whole point!
