Curriculum Planner Must-Haves

Whether you choose to call it a curriculum planner or homeschool planner, it is a necessary organizing tool when you homeschool.  Oh sure, I have tried spread sheets, online trackers and all kinds of techie things, but I always come back to plain paper and pencil.

Every since I created my first curriculum planner and stopped trying to be something I am not by using the latest technology or gadget that is out because I thought it would be more “convenient”,  my must-haves for a curriculum planner became very clear.

I have always claimed that there is something about the physical act of writing out our day that helps me to remember where I am going and what we are doing.  I don’t have to wait for something to charge or boot up before I use it and for me my curriculum planner feels real personal when I add pictures of our past field trips and other activities we have been involved in.  It becomes a journal of our journey.

Basics, but Essentials of a Curriculum Planner

So I thought I would share a few of my must-haves because as you can see from the picture below, I kind of poke fun at myself for things that I missed each year.  And too you will notice that I don’t have every year here because it took me a few years to figure some stuff out.

As far as the basics or essentials, here is my list:

• I need the school year someplace on it.  You will see in picture number 1, I was so impressed that I could do a calendar over a picture that I forget the school year.
• Talking about calendar, I know that I want multiple calendar years in my curriculum planner AND I also want a place to plan my year.  Those are two very different calendars.  One is for noting dates and the other one gives you room to plan.
• I need undated pages.  It took me several years to figure that one out.  Did I tell you one year I wrote out EVERY lesson plan for the whole year? It took me months to do and guess what? In the first week of school, the boys got sick and I was behind already. I created stress by dating each page before I got to it.  Talk about tears.  Now, all my planner pages are numbered for organization, but not dated.  In homeschool, we have the flexibility to skip a day or two and then pick back up with our curriculum planner.  I hope you learn from my mistakes.
• My last basic essential is that I need multiple sections to add to my planner depending on the season of homeschooling that I am in.  I need one that has objectives and one that has more tracking if I want to hold myself more accountable one year and I needed forms for both preschool and high school depending on where I was in my journey.

But I know too that is not all I want in my curriculum planner.  The other set of must-haves has to do with design.

Once I figured that I wanted the function to stay flexible and for it to not just be a generic blank planner, I focused on the beauty of it.

Look at what I have now in my must-haves for design.

• I want something unique each year that is NOT one huge download where all the pages are the same.  Where is the fun and creativity in that?   I must have it with a twist each year or eclectic looking so that each year it retains a unique quality.   That is why I create new curriculum planner covers each year.
• This next one is a biggie for me and that is it has to have color.  If I spend a couple of hundred dollars on curriculum for my kids, I think I can splurge pay a few extra cents and have my curriculum planner in a color that I like looking at each day.
• Then of course coil binding is the way to go so that it lays completely flat so I can write on it and adding a sturdy front and back cover keeps it durable during the whole year.

Then of course I always keep a bag of pretties handy when I need them.

Figuring out my list of must-haves didn’t take one year or even just a couple.  It has taken years to fine tune a tool so that it becomes something I cannot possible school without.

You would think some of these things would be just a given that I  would have it in my planner, but it’s easier said than done once you start designing.

I love my pictures of my old planners so I can laugh at myself, but it also reminds me of why I love my planner and more special to me is the fact that I can share what I love with you too.

Hugs and love ya,