Organization and discipline go a long way in achieving any goal but when you are educating your child from home, you need a great homeschool planner. Putting your homeschooling plans in writing only makes the process more reliable and effective. It allows you to stay on track. Both online and paper-based planners have become so popular these days that you should be able to find one that works for you.
While organizers can help with a variety of projects, they are immensely helpful with homeschooling. Whether you are working or a stay-at-home parent, you can benefit greatly from having a steady and organized manner of providing education to their children. Here are three top options for online and paper homeschool planners that will help parents with homeschooling goals.
Online Homeschool Planners
Homeschool Transcripts
This is a virtual planner and as the name itself implies, this planner is designed for homeschool scheduling. There are two versions, Homeschool Planner and Homeschool Planner Plus, which come in transcript templates. It has the options for creating homeschooling plans either based on time or by subjects. There is also a ten-point scale with +/- options. The biggest advantage of this planner is that it is free and expandable to cover all years of a student’s education. In addition to transcripts, there are also options of report cards and records of tracking assignments, as well as the amount of time spent on study. The information recorded is also printable and is compatible with Open Office and Excel 2003+.
Homeschool Planet
This is another online planner, which is great for planning schedules of any kind, but excellent for homeschooling plans. Homeschool Planet can keep a track of how many school days you have scheduled including any holidays. There is also the feature of automatic calculation of final grade, where you can have weighted grading depending on different subjects or test types. The categories are also customizable. You can also add to-do lists and reading lists. And if you urgently need some material, you can also send a text directly from the planner through the instant messaging feature for family members.
Homeschool Minder
This virtual homeschooling planner is available for a free trial for a month, without needing to provide any credit card details beforehand. Homeschool Minder’s interface is interactive and has a grade book feature for the planner. It includes a lesson planner along with student records and reports. You can also use this planner for multiple kids at no extra expense. You can look at your lesson plans online or save them in a PDF. You can have everything available online as well as securely backed up in the cloud, including attendance summary, skill sets of different children, field trips plans, and daily reading lists,
Paper-Based Homeschool Planners
The Well Planned Day
This is one of the paper planner options and has a spiral-bound design especially for children. A Well Planned Day has room for contacts as well as sections available for home management as well as meal planning. There are also articles and tips on organization and homeschooling schedule planning. Main subjects are labeled down the side, and they can also be relabeled if the need arises. This planner allows you to organize homeschooling for as much as four children.
A Simple Plan
This is another paper planner and comes with a design focused on homeschooling, unlike general planners. A Simple Plan has a 12-month planning room for as many as six homeschooled children at the same time. There are also yearly overview pages that set the bigger picture up for review, along with grading charts, reading lists, and attendance tracker. Since some people prefer to have homeschooling schedules that also account for the religious side of education, this planner also includes a prayer request section.
Home Education Planner
While this is a paper planner, it comes with a technological advantage. The Home Education Planner is a PDF download, which means that you get to print the planner just according to your needs. There are 40 different types of pages that you might need for your homeschooling planner – including monthly pages, social event planning pages, book lists, field activity pages, meeting plans, daily activities, subject notes, inspirational quotes and so much more. It is designed based on the Charlotte Mason based homeschooling approach. If you are already following this model of homeschooling, there are additional advantages of having this planner.
Final word
These planners are ready-made options for homeschooling and therefore incorporate several features of planners that parents of homeschooled children might need. While you can always design a homeschooling planner yourself, especially when you are starting out it is crucial to invest in a good online or paper homeschooling planner.