Homeschool Planners Q & A

I was asked this week for more info on my homeschool planners. Here is a detailed description of my little systems:

Okay, first of all, I have a "Control Journal" -- similar to Fly Lady. Until I was introduced to the Proclick, I stored everything here. Here is a quick list of what my control journal contained (then):

Tab 1: Chores & More
- A list of all our chores & zones

Tab 2: Budget

Tab 3: Food
- Menu Planner from Donnayoung.org

Tab 4: Faith

Tab 5: Contacts

*New Section:

Tab 1: Teachers Manual
- Monthly dividers
- Monthly Calendars
- Lesson Plan Sheets/Weekly Calendars
- Field Trip Report forms

Tab 2: Curriculum
- Spreadsheet of all my favorite curriculum
- Different info on my favorite curriculum
- Art/Music info

Tab 3: Books
- SEVERAL book lists
- Book inventory

Tab 4-7: 1 per kid

Tab 8: Goals & Inspiration
- Attitude Poem
- 101 Ways to Praise your children
- Individual Goals for kids
- Ideas to add to our homeschooling *like from a book, blog, etc. I read & took notes on
- Training a child in Godliness



Now I have picked apart my Control Journal & have made:

A Lesson Planner for CORE subject (everything other than TOG) using a proclick I ordered from Angi's Amazon Store. I ordered all the spines available - as I made several notebooks with this lovely tool. For my planners & TOG student notebooks I used the 5/8" Spine. This seems to be the largest spine available currently. *I could have used a little larger b/c it is a tight fit. This contains:

Cover Page
My Prayer for today
Our Current Schedule
School Calendar (from Donnayoung.org
Curriculum list
Monthly dividers
-Monthly calendar
-Core weekly lesson plan page (can be found in TLT Files)
*NOTE: Front is Core subjects, Back is Group Work subjects
-Pocket folder with tab: Art/Music
-Pocket folder with tab: Science
--- Scope & sequence for Apologia Botany
Preschool divider
-ABC Dividers
-ABC Ideas
Tyler (2nd grade)
Taylor (5th grade)
Misc. Pocket folder

*NOTE: Originally, when making my planning sheet, I had EVERYTHING on one layout. When starting to bind everything I realized I was going to have to split it up to bind it with the proclick. I am really glad I did b/c they aren't overwhelming (like the control journal). So, in the TLT files sections there are 3 files for my teacher planner: 1 that has everything together, 1 that has just CORE subjects (described above), & 1 just for TOG.



My TOG planner has the following:


TOG Cover I made for Year 2
School Calendar
Year 2 Historical Topics
TOG Year 2 weekly dividers
-TOG Lesson Plan Sheet I made
Divider: Maps
-TOG Map Aids Teacher Answer Maps (In PP)
Divider: Writing Aids
-Writing Level Overview (from The Loom)
-Writing Aids printouts
Divider: Supplements
-Q & A printout from answers RE: Year 2 (from TLT & TOG YR 2 yahoo groups)
-RE: Beautiful Feet topics & lessons to add to any TOG books for more literature activities
-History Supplement Layout
*Originally, I planned on using Truthquest History this year, but God kept pulling me to TOG. I had already organized ALL my "extras" according to TQ contents. I am so glad though b/c it forced me to organize our "stuff." This sheet has:
Main Topic
Sub-topic
Spine books listed
Supplement books listed
Read Alouds
LG Books
UG Books
Activities - Hands-on ideas, audio books, movies, etc.
*We live about 45 minutes from "town" so we are in the car a while when we need to go to town/Enrichment Classes on Fridays. I have collected a lot of educations movies & audiotapes, so this has helped me organize this for topic. Now I won't be skipping over audio & movies & realizing it weeks after we've covered it. All I did was just match these topics up to the TOG topics.

That's all folks!

Okay, now for other ideas & things I have done in the past:

List of Extra Curricular Activities (date/time, child, activity, cost)
Yearly requirements (physical exam, eye exam, dental - child, date, doctor, phone #, doctor visits, Rx)
Notable events
Objectives (child/date, goals, area of concern, resources/comments, achievement/date)
Test Score Records
Lending/Borrowing Record
Project Report
Weekly Log
Journaling
Books read list
Play dates/activities/Appointments
Library list
Games
Craft Planner (materials list)
Field Trip ideas
Reading Log (Day, title, minutes read, pages/chapters read)
To Do Lists: weekly, per unit, daily, etc.
**CORE COPIES OF REPRODUCIBLES FOR YOUR PLANNERS!

I also have made Student Notebooks for TOG & they have their own 3-Ring Binders. I have described a lot of this before, so search the archives if you want more detail or pictures. I plan on posting about the things not yet described soon.

Before I quite I want to include my "working Folder" in this post. I have a little pocket folder that I take EVERY WHERE with me. I pull anything I need for the day out of my control journal or planners & take it with me. It is my TO DO LIST basically. I have all kinds of stuff in here. Today you would find: TOG book list, an outline for a new chore chart that I need to do QUICKLY, our phase into school schedule, reading calendar for Tyler, Rx to fill, blank paper, dentist bill summaries, the Writing Aids printouts I need to add to my planner, Tyler's b-ball pictures I need to mail out, jelly recipe, list of books I saw at a homeschool store, pre-k materials list. YES, even the organized are slightly unorganized! This just keeps all the letter size things I need to do together & prevents me from loosing them! (btw, say a prayer for me b/c I lost something VERY important!)

I hope this helps & isn't too overwhelming.

Tiff