It’s back-to-school season and in this blog post, I share with you the homeschooling planner I will be using for our first year homeschooling. Mardel’s A Simple Plan Planner is affordable, very well organized, tailored for homeschooling families, and cute!
This post is not sponsored. All opinions are my own and everything shown was bought by me.
I am homeschooling my 3 1/2-year-old this school year. I knew I would never send off my child to preschool even before I became pregnant. In my opinion, they are too little to be separated from their family. I believe I can get her ready for kindergarten at home.
I went to public school kindergarten through high school and I graduated from college. In an ideal world, I would love to homeschool my daughter for as many years as I can. My husband is not on board. He is okay with preschool homeschooling, though. We are taking it year by year at this time. I might do a blog post on why I believe homeschooling is the best option for us later in the future, but no promises.
A Simple Plan For The Homeschooling Family
I looked online for the best homeschooling planner. I was looking for a planner specific for homeschooling parents/families. I found several. Some were too simple for me and others were too expensive.
I’m a planner girl at heart and I am very familiar with planners. I use the Erin Condren Life Planner (referral link) for my regular day to day life planning.
When I found this homeschooling planner on Mardel.com, I immediately knew this was the perfect planner. The layout is so well thought out and when I saw the price, it blew me away! After receiving the planner, I can say that I would have definitely paid more money for it! It was only about $20 and it’s super thick.
It is a 9-1/4 x 11 inches planner and pages are all black and white.
Let’s talk about the cover. It’s beautiful. It can not be personalized and it’s thick paper material. It’s laminated so it can easily be wiped clean. The coil is plastic and keeps the planner together very well.
There is an inside pocket and each section tab has a beautiful floral design.
Welcome page
“A simple Plan is a helpful and elegant planner that is designed to help you have an organized and efficient school year. Do not think that have failed if you do not use every feature in this planner! It is no small achievement to take on the great task of providing your children with a great education and helping them develop positive character. In A Simple Plan, the goal is not to overwhelm you with numerous unnecessary tracking form and information.”
What’s Included:
Calendars, student plans, monthly planning pages, weekly assignment planning, student records, and extras.
What’s not included:
Detailed budget forms, fitness plans, chore charts, report cards, personal information, medical records, family tree, the periodic table of elements, etc.
1st Page
A Simple Plan has encouraging scripture throughout the planner. I don’t consider myself religious, and I still think this planner is great. Even if you’re not Christian, this planner will be a great tool for planning and record keeping.
Children information
Name, birthday, age, and likes.
Planning
2019 and 2020 calendar, holidays, and days to remember.
Left: Student’s weekly schedule, subject, and curriculum
Right: Yearly overview. 4 quarters. 36 weeks.
There are duplicates of each section for 6 students.
Future Planning (only one page)
July 2019- June 2020
Monthly overview
Left: things to accomplish and special activities
Right: websites, reading list, supplies needed
Monthly calendar
Notes and prayer requests on the right side. Bottom right is mini calendar of the previous month and next month.
Weekly assignments
Subject on far left. Monday though Friday. Notes section on right right.
It includes duplicate pages for up to 6 students.
Records
Attendance and curriculum
Page to mark each day the student was present in class or each day that was completed.
Duplicate pages for up to 6 students.
Curriculum tracker
Left: Subject/ grade + curriculum/publisher
Right: Source, price, and notes.
Grading chart
We won’t be using this for pre-school, but I think it’s great that it’s included.
Suggested Reading list
Right: Steps to salvation and my salvation testimony
Suggested scriptures to memorize
Right: extracurricular activities
Notes
There are 5 pages for notes at the end of the planner and one pocket folder too.
Although, I have not yet started using Mardel’s A Simple Plan planner, I can tell it will exceed my expectation with planning and record keeping.
Since preschool is pretty simple, I will be using this planner to record her dance classes, swim classes, and any fun moments or events for my daughter. I will, of course, plan all books we will read and learning actives. I teach a different unit at a time.
It will be nice looking back at this a few years from now and see what books we read, what actives we did, and the places we explored.
Are you a homeschooling family?
What is your favorite planner?
What grade is your child going into this year?
Leave a Reply