Free Charlotte Mason Weekly Planner for Elementary Ages

I’ve used a bazillion planners over the years.  You, too?

I needed something to keep me on task with our Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling for my elementary son. Something that “forced” me to remember things like poetry recitation, the narration of various subjects, and memory verse practice.

picture of homeschool planning pages on pink background with a little bird

The Perfect Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Planner

I needed a planner that allowed me to jot down quickly the basics for the week. One that helped me make definite plans for our poem of the week, artist study, memory verse, and other Charlotte Mason-inspired activities.

When Pinterest and Google searches didn’t come to the rescue, I decided it was time to create my own “perfect” planner. It’s nothing fancy, but the simple pages worked perfectly for us.

Elementary Charlotte Mason Weekly Planner

Keeping Track of Daily Homeschooling Subjects

Each week is noted on a simple two-page spread. The left page includes boxes for jotting down daily lesson plans for each subject. Within the boxes are abbreviated notes to circle when and if particular activities are completed.

Free Charlotte Mason homeschooling weekly planner for elementary grades

For example: In the top row boxes I jot down our main Bible reading or activity each day of the week. At the bottom of those boxes you can see an “m” and a “t”. On the days we practice our weekly memory verse, I circle the “m” in the box. On the days we complete our Bible timeline, I circle the “t.” 

Using this super-quick method, I’m able to keep memory and timeline goals in the forefront of my mind and make easy notations as a record of our week. Plus, I can see at a glance whether we’re meeting particular goals I have for each subject.

*The key to what each of the letters means is on the 2nd page below.

Planning for Each Week’s Charlotte Mason-Inspired Flair

On the right side of the two-page weekly planner is where I note that week’s focus for various subjects. As you know, much of a Charlotte Mason education is done outside of textbooks. I found myself running in circles trying to keep up with some things.

For instance, we like to memorize a Bible verse and (at least attempt) to memorize a poem each week. I found myself juggling poetry books, memory verse notecards, and even scrap paper notes far too often. Instead of meeting for morning time to work on memory tasks, I would be scattered. Trying to locate or even remember which memory verse or poem we were supposed to be working on doesn’t make for an organized day.

Free Charlotte Mason homeschooling weekly planner for elementary grades

So, the second page of the weekly planner was designed specifically to give me an easy place to write each week’s focus. It includes large boxes for the memory verse, poem, and several other things that are important to my homeschool.

When planning for the week ahead, I write the memory verse directly on this page. Sometimes I might actually write out the entire verse. Other times, I might simply write the book and verse numbers. Either way, when we’ve practiced the verse, I circle the “m” in the appropriate Bible box(es) on the other planning page. In this way, I always know that week’s verse right away and easily keep track of how often we work on it throughout the week.

Charlotte Mason Weekly Planning Pages Work Together Beautifully

I love that I am able to purposely plan the weekly focus for so many Charlotte Mason-inspired things. Memory work, copywork, geography, art and artist study, and music and composer study are included. It’s so much easier to remember to do something when it’s front and center in the planner.

Plus, I’m able to be purposeful in planning to cover the entire scope of something over time. Let me explain. If I’m willy-nilly in “just doing geography”, I may spend way too much time learning the 50 states and never get around to teaching mapping skills. By defining the weekly geography goal (and having all the previous weekly goals written in the planner), I can easily plot a varied and thorough plan. That way, we cover a lot of geography throughout the school year.

As I’ve already mentioned, making quick circles within the daily boxes for each subject is such a time saver, too. When one of the weekly focus tasks is finished, it’s so easy to make a notation. Even better, the circles are great visuals to inform whether your week is on target or not.

Tracking Read-Aloud Books and Habit Training

The habit training note is mostly for me.  To keep the habit of the week (or month) front and center in my mind so I stay on top of helping my little man build good habits.

This simple plan has worked SO well for us. All I have to do is copy the pages front and back, hole punch them, and stick them in a three-ring binder – and I’m set for the year!

Download the Charlotte Mason Planner

Free Elementary Charlotte Mason Planner

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Our {Typical} Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Week

A sample elementary schedule for a Charlotte Mason style homeschool.

Our weekly schedule (you know, the one where real life takes over) is ever-changing, so there is no set-in-stone schedule at our house.  This, however, is what the perfect 2nd grade week looks like.

I’m trying to move Eli into some more independent learning time, as you can see.  While I’m working with his big brother and we’re still in “school mode” during the day, I expect him to complete the independent activities.

I have posted our 2nd grade curriculum choices on this post!

More Homeschool Planning Ideas

If you’re interested in organized school plans, you might want to check out this post about my planning binder and what my big kids are using:

Weekly Lesson Notebooks | Our Journey Westward

Have a great school year!

If you’d like to know more about how to easily implement the Charlotte Mason style into your homeschool, I think you’ll love this step-by-step guide! (P.S. If you download the free planner above, you’ll gain access to a 20% off coupon code for Charlotte Mason Homeschooling in 18 Easy Lessons!)

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling in 18 Easy Lessons. Easy to read. Easy to implement.

27 Comments

  1. THANK YOU! This is so great! I read your planning binder post too–very helpful! Planning is my very favorite part of homeschooling (so far anyway; we’re starting year 1 this year. HA!) so I just love posts like this.

  2. You are welcome, Catie! And best wishes on your first year! 🙂

  3. Stephanie says:

    Hi Cindy,
    I did order 2 “A Plan in Place” planners after your post on them. They will help out greatly. I was wandering if you had any recommendations for character training or habit training charts.

  4. This looks nice and simple. I think I figured out what most of the letters represent, but could you give a “decoder” to what they stand for?

  5. OK. Nevermind. I just figured out where the key was. I was looking at the post page and not the planner page. Thanks for including that.

  6. I hope you find the “A Plan in Place” planners helpful! Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any character or habit training charts. I know they’re out there, though!

  7. Hi Cindy – I noticed on your 2nd grader’s typical weekly schedule that you have Bible App listed on there. What Bible Apps do you recommend? Thanks!

  8. Courtney, the app we’re using this year is called SuperBook and it’s FREE! 🙂

  9. Are these planning pages editable? They are exactly what I’m looking for I just want to type my lessons in not write them in.

  10. No, I’m sorry. They are only available as uneditable PDF’s. Glad you like them!

  11. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

    Tenth year homeschooling with AO. Have my son’s year four all written out with this! Now to just get the other 3 children’s schedules done too! Favorite I have ever tried so far. Spaces for almost everything. I added Latin, free read and guitar to the lines on the bottom.

    Thanks again!

    Jeniver

  12. THANK YOU for sharing this with me, Jeniver! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ I love how you’ve added Latin, free read, and guitar.

  13. Brittany Gingerich says:

    Cindy, do you have a middle and high school version?

  14. Brittany, I don’t currently. It’s something I ought to consider, though! 🙂

  15. Brittany Gingerich says:

    Yes, I love how this is set up!

  16. I’m glad you like it, Brittany! I hope it helps you stay organized and on track in your studies. 🙂

  17. How funny! I was reading your weekly schedule which brought delete to my day. With a rough year physically, I sought guidance from the Lord and he encouraged me to use the TV (yes, I declared it). We invested in some videos and wouldn’t you know it…Liberty Kids, Moody Science Videos (at a friends, but they are online too. Magic School Bus was a thought. Bible videos…especially Superbook (after receiving a bunch as a gift, online also), Carmen Sandiego, School House Rocks! After showing a couple of my girls, one found it funny and pointed out that we have the same ones on the same days of the week as your schedule. Encourages me to keep on going.

  18. Marlene, those videos were certainly helpful time fillers for Eli in those years. They make great educational “extras” for sure! 🙂

  19. Bernadette says:

    Where do I download the planner? I feel so silly, but just can’t find the link!

  20. Bernadette, you’re not silly, the form seems to have disappeared. I’ll fix it right away. No need to come back and grab it once fixed, I’ll email you a copy! 🙂

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