homeschool

Gorgeous 7 Step Free Homeschool Planner You Build

June 28, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Build your gorgeous 7 step free homeschool planner for your homeschool planner. With 7 easy steps you’ll not only be organized, but have a unique hard working tool.

When you create a planner for your homeschool, you’re making it unique to your needs. Planners which are prepared for classroom use are not set up to use for a family.

Plus, when you purchase one giant put together planner, you’re not hand picking the forms you need this year.

For example, your needs change each year. You may have elementary aged students and high school students.

Your needs are different for each student.

So, having an unnecessary form in your planner hinders your organizational efforts. Worst are forms which have tons of useless blanks with no guidance.

My homeschool planner it built by you with my guidance.

Gorgeous 7 Step Free Homeschool Planner You Build Yourself

I’ve been creating and sharing how I put together my planner for 10 years. I can help get you on the road to organization. With my 7 Step DIY Homeschool Planner, I have OVER 600 free pages for you to go through.

However, I do not make it stressful for you. Instead, I guide you STEP BY STEP for each step. You decide what you need and don’t need this year.

After you set up your planner a few times, you can go through this process quickly.

7 Step DIY Free Homeschool Planner

First, look at the 7 steps. Then, I’ll share how to best to grab the homeschool forms you need at each step.

Step 1. Choose a Pretty Front/Back Cover

Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers

Step 3. Choose Goals/Objectives

Step 4. Choose Lesson Planning Pages Right For You!

Step 5a. Choose Unique forms JUST for You!

Step 5b. Choose MORE Unique Forms JUST for You!

Step 5c. Choose MORE MORE Unique Forms Just for You!

Step 6. Personalize It

Step 7. Bind it! Love it!

Next, I have over 30+ free front or back covers. The beauty of choosing the forms is that each year you create what you like.

I don’t encourage matchy-matchy pages. There is nothing striking about a planner where ALL the pages match. Nothing.

Our homeschool journey is a wild one and your finished project should reflect YOUR personality.

Another important section is the calendar section. I create 3 different types of calendars each year. Look at each type of calendar.

One is a colorful reference calendar to place throughout your planner in several places
The second calendar I prepare is a Scheduling or Planning calendar. Read my post How a Homeschool Planning Calendar is Superior to a Regular Calendar to use it.
And the third one is a beautiful 2 page per month calendar which has ample room for writing your appointments.

Custom Homeschool Planner

The next step is 3 and you’ll want a variety of goal setting pages in your homeschool planner. Goals are the very foundation of your homeschool.

Whether you have general goals or specific goals, you’ll find a form on Step 3. Choose Goals/Objectives.

Also, when you can get to Step 4. Choose Lesson Planning Pages Right For You take your time. The lesson planning pages or templates are the largest part of your planner.

Be sure you’re printing both sides of your paper. I use regular all purpose bright white paper.

Do not print using cardstock. There is no way you can bind it because it will be too thick and big.

And I do not use any special printer. I’ve been using my favorite which is a mobile printer for years.

In addition, another section where you’ll spend most of your time is Step 5. You’ll notice I have 3 pages for Step 5.

There are numerous unique forms like attendance, student schedules, reading logs, field trips trackers, high school planning, and readiness checklist to name a very few of the forms.

DIY Homeschool Planner

Lastly, for Steps 6 and 7, I go over the best ways to add extra storage to your planner and how to bind it.

However, there are others solid reasons to build a diy homeschool planner.

It is an undated planner. Dated planners can make you feel behind when you need to skip a day to take care of life. Using an undated planner you simply pick up where you left off and adjust to life. Make the school schedule fit your life.
Another huge advantage is that it can be used for multiple ages. Instead of planners which contain numerous columns, it suits family with multiple kids.
And I mentioned it before, but I’m mentioning it again. It is to be printed on both sides. Do not waste paper.
Finally, one of the most important is to coil bind it. I do not encourage notebooks because the rings get in the way of writing. Too, something else I’ve learned along the way. Some homeschoolers want perfection in their planner.

An unorganized person is one who constantly wants to keep adding to a system instead of utilizing one that is close to what she needs.

Organization is about sticking to a system not constantly adding more work for yourself.

Look at these other homeschool planner products that I know you’ll love!

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN BUILDING YOUR 7 STEP DIY HOMESCHOOL PLANNER

4 PRE-Homeschool Year Planning Pages (and tips to use them)

June 27, 2022 | 5 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I’m share some of my favorite homeschool planning pages for my homeschool planner.

When creating my unique 7 Step Homeschool Planner, I never dreamed that it would be the best tool I’ve used through the years. I’m sharing tips about what I do BEFORE I begin my year and 4 pre-homeschool year planning pages you may have missed.

Tip ONE/ Planning doesn’t begin when your school year begins.
It begins 8 to 6 weeks BEFORE your school year. (Use the PRE-Homeschool Year Checklist.)

It seems like stating the obvious when I say that planning doesn’t begin when your school begins. Knowing that I’ve still found myself short on time for planning our schedule.

You need just as much time to decide which months you’ll school and which months or weeks you’ll take off as you do time to make curriculum choices.

When it’s your first day of school, you want to be ready and rested to teach without having to focus on planning.

One tidbit we can learn from public school is to do like a public school teacher does. She comes back to school a few weeks earlier than the kids.

This allows her quiet time to plan and to set up things in her teacher space. That’s a great tip for us as home educators. Plan while you’re not formally teaching.

Though I make notes all throughout the year on what I want to change, I put pen to paper about 8 to 6 weeks before school on my pre-homeschool year planning page. I find this gives me time to change my mind.

4 PRE-Homeschool Year Planning Pages (and tips to use them)

Curriculum Planner Pages

Here are a few of the things I’ve jotted down on my page.

when to throw away or sell old curriculum
when to have my mind made up about new curriculum purchases
when to check out co-op classes or field trips in my area
when to buy supplies to coincide with back to school sales
when to choose unit study themes as well as when to finalize my choices
if I need to update a study area
buy new art, paper supplies or atlases

Just a side note, I also use it and write in it before I bind my planner.

The document I grab to do this is the Pre-Homeschool Planning Checklist.

Something else I do is to put a clean unused page at the BACK of my current planner.

Then, as I think of what I need to do before the next school year, I jot them down and have it ready to go for the next year.

You’ll love having your thoughts, notes, and ideas of what you need to do weeks leading up to the start of your year. It’s the only way I’ve been able to keep organized too.

Tip TWO/ Plan your year when you’re free of teaching.
(Use the School Year Round Planning Schedule, which I update each year.)

Whether you decide to school year round or have a complete stop in the summer, you need to plan your next school year when you take your longer break.

Too, remember just because you may choose not to homeschool year round doesn’t mean you don’t plan that way. Homeschooling and planning should be two separate tasks that are not necessarily done at the same time.

Sometimes you need to separate the mommy and teacher hat and this is one time when you can. Plus, I enjoy planning and savor it more so when I don’t have to focus on the needs of the kids.

With a clear mind, I can plan our year and not while something may come up during our year.

When originally creating this schedule, I made it for a full 12 months. Begin planning on it where you need to.

I keep it 12 months too because life changes when you’re homeschooling. For example, one year you may actually school year round and other years you may choose not to.

This schedule is flexible for the time you begin planning.

The two documents I grab for this are the 5 years of holiday pages and the School Year Round Planning Schedule for the current year.

The holiday reference page helps me to mark them on my schedule.

I keep the School Year Round Planning Schedule each year on Step 5a.

Actually, I print several copies of this form for many reasons. I use one for a draft and I may scratch up and scratch out a copy until I find a workable homeschool schedule. Then I print out another one and make it all neat, clean, and purd-y for my new planner.

As you can see above, I’ve already started working on this next year’s schedule to determine when I want to start. This year, we’re not taking much time off during summer because we will be moving into a new home at the end of August. I adjusted our schedule and take off time accordingly, but have still kept myself accountable.

Adjust your schedule to your life, but highlight the weeks you want to school. By doing this each year, your keep it real. What I mean by this is that you actually keep yourself accountable to see how much you’re actually learning.

We don’t need any state agency looking over our shoulder as homeschool teachers. Most of the time, we school way longer than a public school year anyway.

Here is another side note, but it matters the type of highlighter you use. I don’t like nasty black smudged prints on my brand new planner.

I have a pen and highlighter addiction which I’ll save for another post, but the one time tested highlighter for me is the Sandford Highlighter Kit – 4 Colors Dry Pencil Non-Bleed.

It’s a dry lead pencil and doesn’t smudge or smear as I highlight. I’ve tried many that claim to be smear or smudge proof by I’ve learned that they are not. The Sandford has been my for-sure-doesn’t-make-a-mess highlighter. It says it’s actually a Bible highlighter. That’s probably why it really works.

Homeschool Planning Means Letting Go!

Tip THREE/ Renew your vision AND release the guilt.

Lastly, it’s not only important to set realistic goals, but to learn from past mistakes.

A mistake we always seem to make is over planning. We tend to think we can do more than what we end up doing. We can be hard on ourselves for that.

Equally important is to learn from past mistakes and to put down what we want to do less of next year as a reminder to not repeat the same mistakes. We need to let go of guilt because we understand that we’re doing more than we realize.

This page I use is about looking at my overall goal for the year. It’s not about planning objectives like my objective planning page. Objectives are measured goals.

The page I use is my school year goals page. The top of the page is to reinforce what you want more of and the bottom part is what you want do less.

Look at these other homeschool planner products that I know you’ll love!

Getting ready for a new school year can be equally exciting and exhausting. I try to keep it fun by planning when I’m excited about it. Do you?

I think you’ll love these other tips.

How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Lesson Planning Pages THIS Year,
7 Step Free Homeschool Planner – Top 5 Questions Asked Are Answered and finally begin building your 7 Step Free Homeschool Planner. You’ll never go back to buying one huge download or pdf with one theme and one color choice.

4 PRE-Homeschool Year Planning Pages (and how to use them).You need just as much time to decide which months you’ll school and which months or weeks you’ll take off as you do time to make curriculum choices. When it’s your first day of school, you want to be ready and rested to teach without having to focus on planning. Click here to grab these four AWESOME and free homeschool planning forms!

Hugs and love ya,

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

How a Homeschool Planning Calendar is Superior to a Regular Calendar

June 24, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Once you learn the differences between a homeschool planning calendar and regular calendar there is no going back. When creating my Homeschool Planner, my planning calendar is one of the first things I print.

It’s ready way before my year starts or I print my planner.

What exactly is a planning calendar?

How a Homeschool Planning Calendar is Superior to a Regular Calendar

It is a calendar which communicates the dates you and your children will count as official school days; it’s a visual of which dates you plan to have off during the year.

In addition, your family can see your in-teacher dates, (yes I have them) vacation times, and end of the school year date. Noting winter breaks and summer breaks are equally important.

Additionally, if you live in a state where you have record keeping, you notate reporting periods. If you must report to a proctor, you add report card dates.

Planning Your Year Homeschool

As you can see, it’s VERY different than just a regular calendar. A regular calendar is not for planning, it’s just for reference.

By using a schedule you are getting these benefits:

freedom because you see a plan for how to fit in learning
setting the pace of the year to suit your family
planning for rest periods which suit your family
keeping family time a priority by planning vacations
making time for you the teacher by shading in your workdays
seeing a visual of the year keeps your goals realistic and within reach

From this list, you see that making school fit you and your family is what is important.

Although some feel that planning like this is confining, they miss the point.

It has quite the opposite effect. Freedom comes from controlling what you can and letting go when you can’t.

After all, it’s not the schedule or plan that is a mistake. It’s the part where some think a schedule can’t be changed or moved around.

There is no doubt about it — this quote may be overused and I whole heartedly agree. It’s timeless for a reason.

“If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail” — Benjamin Franklin

It’s that simple. There are many reasons that I’ve homeschooled, worked, and been able to run a site/ blog.

The best one is no secret and that is I planned every year.

Everything has a place. Oh, don’t think by any stretch that I maintained everything in stone. I didn’t and still don’t. I have many days where I’m frazzled, but I have way more where I’m fulfilled.

However, I never allowed a planning schedule to make me feel like I was hemmed in.

Tracking Your Homeschool Year

Next, there is another feature on the homeschool schedule which I add and is important. The feature is a part to help you track your days and weeks you homeschool.

Even if you don’t need to record keep, tracking days and weeks is an extremely visual way to track your success.

Hear my heart when I say you can be constantly barraged either by self-doubt or from others if you’re doing enough. That was my initial mindset when I started creating these forms more than 10 years ago.

How to Plan Your Homeschool Year

Little did I know the feature of tracking days and weeks would keep me positive. You don’t worry if you’re doing enough because you see your progress daily and weekly.

So, look exactly at how I planned and use the form every year. I’m using one of my schedules from a previous year.

First, look at how my form is set up. By the way, after I update it each year, I keep the updated version at Step 5a. Choose Unique Forms JUST for You.

Further, here are the flexible ways you can use it:

Because there are 12 months, you can begin and end with the months you want. If you don’t school year-round, no problem. Again, just pick up at the month you’re starting and plan to when you want stop. The point is the form is very flexible.
After the month where you kept track (look at picture below) of the days you homeschooled, note them on the line provided. Add the days as you go along so you have the total at the end.
Use the key at the bottom of the form to use different color highlighters or symbols for dates you want to track.
In addition, highlight holidays you celebrate. Everyone does not celebrate the same holidays, so I don’t include U.S. holidays. The form is there for you to note the important days to your family.

Now, look below at how my hardworking and highly useful no fluff schedule works.

Notice these 5 important points in how to use it.

Use one color to shade or outline the days you plan to school.
Then use another to plan the days you won’t school.
Also circle or add in teacher days for you. I didn’t include any here because I wanted to focus on showing you how to track school days.
Count the days cumulatively. This way you know EXACTLY where you are at in your school year. For example, 180 days is a typical school year. Some schools follow 130 or 160. Knowing how many days you school in a 12-month period is empowering.
Likewise, seeing my flex days or days not planned shows me how much time I have to move around.

Also, if you’ll notice on my form, I took off almost the whole month of April. Here in Texas, it’s plain insane to try to do too much during the hot summer months.

More Homeschooling Year Around Tips

Instead, we enjoy the cooler days of spring and finish up my year in the summer; I still have time in June to flex with.

Don’t homeschool another year without this awesome form.

Go grab the Planning Schedule for the CURRENT School Year. Option 3

What do you think? Can you use this form?

Look at these other planning topics:

Also check out my Planner page on my Amazon Shop for gorgeous accessory options.
3 Beautiful and Free Homeschool Planner Covers
How to Choose the Perfect Homeschool Planner for Multiple Students
31 Popular and Free Homeschool Planner Printables
Homeschool Weekly Planner vs Homeschool Daily Planner: Which Is Really Better?
A Unique Flexible and Beautiful Preschool Homeschool Planner
How to Create A Homeschool Lesson Plan in 7 Easy Steps

Homeschool Weekly Planner vs Homeschool Daily Planner: Which Is Really Better?

June 21, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether a homeschool weekly planner or a homeschool daily planner is best for you depends on your circumstances. Building a perfect homeschool planner doesn’t have to take a lot of time either.

Today, I’m sharing the pros and cons of choosing a homeschool weekly planner vs a homeschool daily planner. They both have slight advantages and things you’ll want to consider. I’m pointing out these subtle differences and sharing which layout I prefer.

Homeschool Weekly Planner vs Homeschool Daily Planner: Which Is Really Better?

Besides, whether you choose a weekly or daily planner you’ve already set yourself up for success.

You set yourself up for success because you’re managing your time from the start more efficiently.

And managing your time with any planner is better than just leaving priorities to chance or a whim.

3 Benefits of Using a Homeschool Paper Planner

Take a look at 3 more benefits of using a homeschool paper planner.

1. Handwriting engages the hand brain connection.

As educators, we know the benefits of the hand and brain connection for our children.

However, the positive effects of helping us to recall is no less for us as parents.

2. Your creativity is boosted.

Then, when I write down my lesson plans or jot ideas, I’ve found that my thoughts linger.

Creativity flows because handwriting takes longer. I’ve heard it said that handwriting can be calming; I’ve found this true for me too.

And if you love the crafty creative side of a planner like adding stickers, pictures and other decorative items, your planner rocks.

3. As I write, my focus is sharper and does not become distracted by flashing lights on an app or device.

In other words, my paper homeschool planner becomes a unique tool which reflects my overflowing thoughts and unique writing style.

As you can see, whichever choice you make, your homeschool printable planner becomes a hard-working tool.

Pros of a Weekly Homeschool Planner

Let’s jump into some of the advantages of the weekly homeschool planner.

One of the best things about a weekly planner is that you get a bird’s eye-view of your week.

Look at my Editable Weekly General Planning Page and 3 reasons why you may want to use it.

This form can be used in many ways:

For example, you don’t need a lot of room to write when you have younger kids. You just need a framework to follow your child’s interest
In addition, when teens are doing more of their own planning, you need a framework for them. Most teens want full control over their schedule. A weekly glance page keeps you on the same page with your teen because you jot down clear guidelines. But the best part is that a teen can choose any way to accomplish his goals and won’t feel hemmed in.
If you’re a big picture first person, then you may want to use the weekly planner.

Additionally, use a weekly planner if you want a thinner planner.

If you’re planning generally and don’t need detailed lists or lesson plans, you may find the weekly planner is perfect for you.

In my experience I find that families who only have one child do not want a lot of room to write. So, a weekly planner may be the perfect fit their family.

Cons of a Homeschool Weekly Planner

Next, one of the biggest cons for me of a weekly planner page is that there is not much room to write.

Although being streamlined appeals to me on some level, the lack of room to write is a huge turn off for me.

Especially when you have multiple children, it’s hard to jot down exactly what my objective is for each day.

And because my planner becomes an expression of my thoughts and goals for my kids, room to write lesson plans, my musings, and ideas for future studies are important to me.

Pros of a Homeschool Daily Planner

Next, look at the advantages of a daily homeschool planner.

The advantage I love the most and the reason I use a daily planner over a weekly planner is that there is a lot of room to write.

Below, look at one of my many editable lesson planning pages. This one is from my Colorful Undated Dynamic Daily Homeschool Planner.

Because each day is a two-page spread and I have many editable boxes, your daily lesson planning pages can be formatted to suit your planning style. Especially if you have a large family, this option may be better for you.

I have some families who use one side of the page for half their children and the other side for the other half. This way they can see what all their kids are doing each day.

Another way to use this type of page is more of a traditionally way. Use the left-hand side of the page for student’s names and fill in the subjects covered from left to right.

Compared to the weekly planner, daily planners have specific pages for specific tasks.

For instance, look at these various and specific pages to pair in your homeschool daily planner. These are just a sampling of the over 400 pages I have here on my site Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Cons of a Daily Homeschool Planner

Finally, look at the cons of a daily homeschool planner.

One of the biggest drawbacks can be a large planner. If you print front and back which is what I suggest on my 7 Step DIY Homeschool Planner this greatly reduces the size of your final planner.

One more drawback for you may be that you don’t need as much detail as the pages provide. If that is the case, a homeschool weekly planner may be a better fit.

Don’t fret if you choose the wrong type of planner in the beginning. Switching and finding your perfect set up is part of the homeschooling journey.

Look at these other homeschool planner products that I know you’ll love!

Tell me, which type of planner do you prefer — a weekly or daily homeschool planner?

For more ideas on homeschool planners, look at these posts:

31 Popular and Free Homeschool Planner Printables

June 20, 2022 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you’re looking for free homeschool planner printables or a complete homeschool planner, you’re sure to find one here.

A DIY planner consists of many sections like a front cover, back cover, lesson planning pages, attendance forms, evaluation forms, grading forms, calendars, and schedules.

However, what makes your planner unique are the various printables you use.

31 Popular and Free Homeschool Planner Printables

Forms which are not only beautiful but easy to use helps to keep your day organized.

So, look at the sections below for a hardworking planner.

front and back covers
inside pages
numerous lesson planning pages
attendances pages
evaluation pages
grading scales
high school forms
teacher and student schedules
field trip forms and

MANY more forms to make it perfect.

Why Coil Bind Makes the BEST Binder

Also, because I believe your planner is best when homemade, you need to know why coil bind works best.

One of the best reasons to use coil is that your planner lays flat.

When writing you want the planner to be as flat as possible.

I see some pictures with notebooks and while I love notebooks, they don’t even make it in my top choices.

Why? There are three huge reasons I don’t like or use notebooks.

First, the O rings get in the way of writing.
Second, the planner cannot bend back. That is important if you print only a semester planner and want to use part of the paper for a pad to write on.
Third is that a notebook binder encourages you to keep organizing.

Organizing is about accepting a system and making it work. It’s not about constant change through the year and never using your planner. Adding or deleting pages adds to the stress. Using what you’ve created and making it work albeit not perfect is how organized people roll.

In addition, coil uses very little space on the margin for the coil to go through.

Did I mention how many different colors coils come in?

Some colors are beautiful, but most office supplies business will have basic white or transparent which are always my top choices.