Homeschool Planners and Calendars - Starting Mine A Little Late This Year

Lack of time is the major reason I have not completed my school calendar for the year but now that things have slowed down a bit for Harmony Fine Arts and the "back to school" week for our home is behind us, I am ready to get my planner filled. I don't know why I procrastinated. I started using Mom's Tool Belt last year for my calendar/planner needs and it worked great. After using it for a year, I am in a better position to share the pages I used and how I used them.

My 2010 Planner - Spiral Bound

I thought I could just take photos as I put this year's planner together....some of us are very visual. I know many of you purchased a subscription and maybe you have procrastinated like I did in actually sitting down and printing out the pretty pages.

2011 Planner - Trying Out A Three-Ring Binder

I like pretty planners....I opted to spiral bind my calendar last year but this year I am going to use a three-ring binder- partly for convenience, partly for the ability to change or add more easily, and partly because I want to use the pretty spines and covers. :)

The first thing I did was sit down and decide which style of pages worked well last year.

At-A-Glance Pages - I used the year page at the front of the planner as a reference. I am going to use it this year to highlight our school days.


Calendar Pages - I decided that the style that works for me the best is the portrait style page with the BIG boxes. Edit to add: When I was printing I decided to go with the two page spread calendar pages and put them in my binder face to face....Why didn't I think of that last year?

Homeschool Pages - I use Homeschool Tracker so many of the pages Debra offers I can print easily from Homeschool Tracker. There are a few pages that I found helpful and now that you can edit the form before printing to customize them I will be using more of them this year. I like the Books To Be Read Page (going to fill in Mr. B's free reading books), Books Loaned Out Page (I lose track of so many resources by not keeping a record of who I lend things to), and the Subject and Planning Dividers. There are so many great editable forms in this section that many of you might find helpful.



Household Planning Pages - I LOVED having the Meal Planning pages in my calendar. Even if I didn't plan in advance, I went back and filled it in afterwards as a record of meals we enjoyed or as a tickler for meal planning. These are definitely going back in my new calendar.

Journaling Pages - I used these when I was talking on the phone to write down messages. I stuck a few sticky notes where the boxes are and then pulled them off as I need or moved them to the next page if I still had some left at the end of the month. I think the design of these pages is so very happy and I end up doodling on the pages as I talk on the phone. Are you a doodler?



Lists - I print two pages of shopping lists and one goal page for each month. This has been a great efficiency tool for me and I will continue using these pages in my new calendar.



Cover Pages and Spines - These can be edited to add your own titles! Love the graphics and I will pick one to slip in my binder cover.There are even covers and spines for a recipe binder....love mine! Edit to add: I decided to go with the summer theme cover and spine.

To Do Lists - I wasn't very good at using these last year...perhaps because they were too pretty to write on. I also bound them inside the planner which was a bad idea. This year by putting them in the 3-ring binder I think I will be more apt to use them. I am going to print a few out and slip them in the front pocket of the binder for easy of use.

Those are the specific pages I am using from the Mom's Tool Belt collection of pages. There are many, many more pages to choose from and I highly recommend that you pop over and check them out for yourself. You can download samples to view and play with by clicking right at the top of her website.

There is also a Freebie Section that you might want to check out as well.

I like simple things and frugal things and using Mom's Tool Belt is part of my overall plan for simplicity. Thanks Debra for a great product.

Just so you know: I am an affiliate for Mom's Tool Belt so if you do click the button above and purchase a membership I receive a small commission. I have actually used this planner for 2010 and will be using it again for 2011.