Student Planner: Homeschooling with A Plan in Place
I love organized homeschooling plans, but not everyone around my house is as excited as me about having a plan and sticking to it. This homeschool student planner has been a game-changer in the organization department. Plus, it’s bumped the high schooler’s productivity up a notch or two (or three)!
When my son was a freshman in our homeschool, we’ll just say that organization wasn’t his forte. I had spent all the years prior as the planner and organizer of his lessons each week, but he was in high school now and it was time for him to learn to do it himself.
Just turning the process over to him cold turkey wouldn’t have gone well at all. Even without a lack of organizational skills, planning and executing a homeschool week takes time to figure out.
I knew the best step was to implement a framework that he could easily follow. One that would allow him to plug in his weekly schoolwork and chores with a system for making sure the tasks were actually completed.
When I found the high school student planner from A Plan in Place, I knew I had found exactly what he needed to move forward in independence.
This post contains affiliate links. I received a free copy of the student planner in exchange for an honest review.
Homeschool Planning
During the summer, my children and I spend time thinking about goals for our upcoming school year. I begin to gather materials and anticipate exactly how we’ll use them. I begin making notes about how our fresh school days will be organized in order to complete schoolwork, housework, and other to-do’s. I seriously just love it.
Over the years, I’ve used and/or created various planners to keep myself organized and it’s been wonderful. But, one of the main goals of homeschooling is to move children towards more independence. There comes a point when the planning and execution of schoolwork need to fall on the shoulders of a child – particularly as he or she enters the high school years.
That transition can be easy for a child that leans naturally into an organized life, but planning, organization, and execution don’t always come naturally. Even if you’re a very organized person with all the wonderful planners like me, organization skills don’t necessarily rub off easily.
Homeschool Organization with a Student Planner
The high school student planner from A Plan in Place has worked beautifully to transition my son to more independence in his workload. Not just schoolwork, but chores and work, too!
A Plan in Place Student Planner
Where to start? Where to start? There are so very many wonderful things to tell you. I guess I’ll start at the beginning with a few important notes about the customizable student planner from A Plan in Place.
- It comes with a sturdy with spiral binding, a laminated cover, and a thicker backing.
- You get to choose a cover style or upload your own cover image like I did.
- It’s organized into four sections: Goals & Planning, Calendars, Weekly Schedules, and Record Keeping & Notes.
- The teacher (mom) can note goals, lesson plans, grades, etc. right in the book, while the student can use the book to keep up with daily, weekly, and yearly to-do’s.
The best part is it’s customizable! That means YOU get to choose what to put on the weekly schedule pages and add special extras if you like. As I tell you more about each section, I’ll explain the customization possibilities. Read on…
Goals & Planning Section
This section allows you to prepare for a great start to the homeschool year! There are several pages for you and your high school student to note personal and academic goals for each semester.
You’ll find pages for:
- goal setting
- listing regular chores and responsibilities
- setting a daily time schedule
- listing the current study plan
- writing course descriptions and setting plans for successful completion of the course
- long-range planning pages for mapping out the high school years
There are so many unique pages in this section! I particularly appreciate the pages specifically for high school planning. The ones for long-range planning will help you and your student keep your eye on the big picture, while the pages for detailing courses will be incredibly helpful when creating a transcript.
Calendar Section
You can customize your planner to include year-at-a-glance and 12-monthly calendar pages if you like. Because we keep an app-based family calendar, I chose not to add an additional calendar to ours. However, I know that many students could benefit from learning to keep a hand-written calendar to keep track of sports, work schedules, and other special events. Having the calendar located in the daily planner means it’s less likely to be lost!
Weekly Schedule Section
Now, this is where the high school student planner gets really exciting. The weekly schedule layout is where students spend most of their time. It’s also the section where the most customization is available.
Because there are so many possibilities for customization, I’ll just show you what I ended up choosing for this section.
I’m so happy with the two-page layout that includes daily lesson plan boxes on one side and weekly to-do’s on the other side. I know it may seem like A LOT to fit on a two-page spread, but A Plan in Place has organized it so efficiently that it works! I feel oh, so good that all the lessons, goals, records and more are just right there – for me and my son.
On the lefthand side, you will find a chart for noting the weekly schoolwork. You can leave the subject boxes blank or label them with specific class titles. Notice that grades for the week can be recorded on the chart, too.
The bottom of this page can be left blank or you can choose to add a Bible verse or inspiring quote that can become a theme for the school year.
How does this section help with independence? I begin the year writing daily to-dos on the chart. As they are completed, my student simply highlights over the items listed. As soon as possible, I start turning over to the kiddo the writing of the weekly to-do list for one or two subjects. Eventually, the responsibility of writing the entire schoolwork to-do list is on their shoulders. At that point, I simply check in weekly to be sure the plan is moving forward at a good pace and the work is done well. (This transition takes time. Maybe even a couple of years.)
The righthand side of the two-page weekly schedule spread it my favorite. Again, this is VERY customizable and there are far more options available than the ones I chose. You will have fun searching through the options for your own planner!
I was able to create a checklist of things I want my son to do daily. Notice that I can make notes about his effort for future report cards.
I created a space to write a weekly memory verse, a prayer list, and important notes.
The next section includes a place to list special academic or personal goals for the week. And, there’s a place to note particular character traits to work on. (Habit training is still in process in high school!)
The next section is more for my son than me. I’m not a stickler for making sure every single required minute is accounted for in homeschooling. However, sometimes the transition into “high school effort” for certain courses doesn’t come naturally. This section can be used to make note of time spent to keep the effort level on track. It also comes in handy when several varied things come together to build a single credit hour.
Finally, the bottom section includes a simple set of calendar blocks for noting special events, deadlines, work schedules, etc. I love that he can see the week at a glance without opening up our family calendar app.
Notes & Record Keeping
The final section of the high school student planner provides everything you need to keep track of basically everything else that goes along with a school year. You’ll find worksheets to note:
- activities
- awards
- field trips
- books read
Followed by wonderful options for wrapping up the school year. You’ll find:
- grading sheets for each course
- progress reports (report cards) for each semester
- a transcript builder
Using this high school student planner, you literally have no excuse for not keeping up with planning and record keeping. Not only is it EASY, but everything you need is neatly packaged in one book!
I was so thoroughly impressed with our high school student planner from A Plan in Place with my first son that I’m using it again now that my second son has entered high school. For both boys, their organizational abilities increased and that led to a dramatic increase in the effort and output on the school year!
As you click over to visit A Plan in Place, you’ll notice that high school student planners aren’t their only offerings. They have student planners for other age levels, as well as homeschool teacher planners!
You’ll also notice other add-on items like pocket folders and calendar stickers. You can truly make your planner almost anything you want so that it works perfectly for you and/or your children!
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Just what my middle schoolers need!
This planner looks wonderful…I’d love to try it out 🙂
Would love to have this!
I love that this is customizable. Very cool!
I have a new High Schooler in the Fall — this would be great.
This looks perfect for my kids!
We would love to try this out!
I need to try this again for my soon to be second grader. then his Daddy would be able to see all the progress he is making
I think this is what I’ve been looking for.
This looks great!
That looks perfect for my 7th grader!
My son is going into 4th grade and I would love for him to be a little bit more independent next year. This would be great for that!! Thanks!
I can use all the help I can get!!!
looks wonderful!
Looks good! I could use this for my oldest.
This would be great to have. I love that it is customizable.
This planner looks awesome! Can’t wait to check out the other items they carry.
Would be great for my middle school girls!
This planner looks really cool! I like to make my own, but being able to customize this one may have sold me!
Exactly what we are looking for to help with accountability. What a blessing! Thank you.
Sounds perfect for my daughter!
I really love planners and this one looks fantastic.
This would be perfect for my almost 13 year old!
This planner looks like exactly what I need. I have struggled for years to make store-bought planners work for me.
This planner looks wonderful!
I think this would be amazing to help my soon-to-be 4th grader start taking more initiative in his own learning 🙂
This would be fantastic
Think one of these would be helpful.
This would be amazing for my kids!
I am always looking for ways to get better organized with homeschooling! This just might be the way!
This looks so great!
I keep trying to do this myself…unsuccessfully! Customized is the best way to have a “Plan in Place.”
This looks great!
I’d love to give this planner a try!
This looks wonderful. Definitely worthy for our first year of highschool.
I’m so glad I found this planner. It’s just what I’ve been looking for.
Love the customization of it!
Looks like the perfect combination of “pre-done” and “tweakable” (always a must for homeschool moms!) 🙂