April Showers bring...

May Planning…

Is anyone else bit by the planning bug this time of year?  It never fails, May arrives and I jump into preparing for the next school year.  Books to buy, curriculum to tweak, and of course… plan books!

For the last several years, I have ordered from Good News Planners.  You can find them here: 

http://catholic.creativecommunications.com/Products/CategoryCenter/CCGNP/GoodNews-Planners.aspx

I have to admit, I never think to change and try a different one.  They really work for us! 

Of course by the picture, you may think I have 6 children – but no they are all for my 2 girls.

Let me explain the method to my madness…

The small one on top is Good News' Jr. High & High School planner. 

 I use this for my personal planner.  This year I also got one for Julia who I think is old enough now to start to organize and keep track of her activities and events.

I have a separate planner for Julia & Hope to keep my lesson plans and goals.  Instead of filling in the entire year’s daily lesson plans, I actually write in as we go - a daily check list.  It helps me keep things organized when I have to write my quarterlies.  Plus it helps me to know what we have accomplished. 

I love that they have a monthly view – where I can write my goals and objectives for the year and then on the weekly sheets, I can write in more detail when we accomplished.  I also like that the subjects are labeled.  I use the last column for Art/PE/Music.

This year I also purchased a planner for each girl.  Julia is getting to the point of doing more research and longer term projects – so I think this could help her manage her time better.  For Hope, I think it will be a good way to reinforce the calendar and be a strong visual when we are working on different topics, keeping track of important days and going on trips.  Plus the Primary planner has a short puzzle or game for each week that is nice. 

So there you have it… 6 plan books, 2 children and one crazy homeschool mom.