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.

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.

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.

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

Our {Typical} Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Week

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:

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!)