Peace of mind and organization live side by side in the homeschool world. Goals are important but easily lost if not written down and followed. Through the years I have flip-flopped between not keeping track of anything to having a daily checklist. Despite my wishy-washy organizational skills, my children thrived. However, during the years with no planning, I grew frustrated. Take my advice and give planning the ole college try. I suggest trying a free planner before buying an expensive one that may not fit your needs. You have nothing to lose!
Five J’s
Joy over at Five J’s [1] has several helpful resources for planning out your year. Here are a Weekly Assignment Planner [2] and a gradebook for free download [3]. You’ll definitely want to print out anything that Joy made herself – she is an excellent graphic designer!!
Homeschool Skedtrack
Homeschool Skedtrack [4] is a free online lesson planner, scheduler, and tracking system rolled into one. One of the main features is their automated scheduling of activities. If you miss an activity, Skedtrack frees you from the headache of rescheduling everything. I think this is something worth paying for, but it is FREE! It meets so many needs in one place. You can keep track of high school transcripts, courses, grades (by automated calculations!) and so many other things. You really need to check it out if online planning is for you.
Donna Young
Donna Young [5] doesn’t just give you printable forms, she has numerous tips and advice on how to plan, how to use a planner, and how to assemble her free planner pages to make it useful to you. I have mentioned DonnaYoung.org [6] several times now in this series of How to Homeschool for Free [7]. This site has an incredible array of forms and other necessary things for the home school family. I love Donna Young! I use it all the time, year-round for more than my homeschool needs.
Highland Heritage HomeSchool
Highland Heritage HomeSchool [8] has two sections where you can find planning forms. The first is the teacher planning section [8]. It has schedules, calendars, attendance, grade logs, report cards, conference records, co-op planners, lap book rubrics, and many more things for your planner. Print the ones you will use and leave the rest. The second section you will find useful is the Student Portfolio [9] forms. It has checklists of things you can plan to assess and record in the student folders. I also found a student self-evaluation form that I think I might use for my kids.
The Homeschool Mom
The Homeschool Mom [10] is a go-to for any homeschooling mom for advice and help. The planning pages are thoroughly comprised and will meet the needs of many home school moms. It is free for personal use. Weekly planner and menu planner pages include FlyLady compatible weekly and menu planner pages, Calendars, High School Course Planner, Chore chart, Weekly Planner page for use with Weekly Assignment page, or Unschooling Record Keeper, Assignment Sheet, Reading List, and several more choices for your planning pleasure.
New Beginnings
New Beginnings [11] has a free curriculum planner. The moms here will show you 7 steps to customizing your planner to suit your needs. It includes Lesson Plan Pages for ALL your children, Calendars, Attendance Charts, Class Schedule, and Teacher Schedule. Again, print the things you need and don’t bother with the rest. I like how the moms here don’t make you feel like you have to do it their way. Personalization is important and they tell you how to do it and make it work for you.
Homeschool Tracker
Homeschool Tracker [12] is Microsoft Windows-based planning and organizing software designed to track your lesson planning and records. It allows you to keep track of field trips, grades, assignments, and attendance. You can even generate report cards and a few more things. Their Homeschool Tracker Basic Edition [13] is free, and they offer more advanced options with reasonably priced membership at $8 per month, or $65 annually. It will not work on Mac computers unless you have Windows Parallel.
Happy Planning!
***Be sure to join our How To Homeschool For Free Support Group [14] for daily encouragement and more great resources for your homeschooling journey!***