How to Plan Your Best Homeschool Year Yet
It’s time to plan your homeschool year–are you getting excited yet? Lately, I’ve been so motivated and inspired to pull out some of my favorite planning tools–books, courses, videos and try to plan our best homeschool year yet!
In this post, I’m going to share all the tools I’ll be using over the next few days to create a great plan for next school year.
Are you ready to plan your homeschool year too? Grab your notebook and pen and let’s get started!
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My Simple Approach to Plan Your Homeschool Year in Just 3 Steps
When I first started homeschooling my kids, planning our homeschool year would take days…sometimes weeks! It was a whole process and after a couple of years, it just got to be too exhausting.
I knew I had to simplify.
Get the 6 Secrets to a Simpler Mom Life
So I started to really streamline the way I planned our school year and realized it came down to three easy steps:
- Setting the framework: creating a start and finish for our year, evaluating last school year, and setting goals
- Creating a simple plan for the year (in pencil!!): unit studies, read alouds, choosing curriculum
- and organizing what I had and then ordering the new things I needed for the year
That’s it!
And this is how I plan almost 10 years later! It takes a fraction of what it used to take me and it’s so much more flexible and thorough.
You can plan your year in just three steps too. I walk you through exactly what I do, including all the printables I use, checklist, and more in my Homeschool Planning Course.
You can sign up HERE and keep using this method over and over each year.
Starting to Plan Your Homeschool Year with a Great Planner
Of course, having a really good planner helps me to plan well too. Many years ago, I created my own homeschool planner because I never could find one that would fit my needs for the entire year.
I plan differently at different times of the year.
Sometimes it feels right to plan very detailed lesson plans so that I know exactly what each day will look like. And other times it is better for us to have a looser plan with nothing more than a general idea of what is coming next.
So the lesson planner that I designed leaves room for all of those different styles. There are tons of planning pages that allow me to create the type of plan we need for that specific week or month.
Also, it’s undated, which makes it super easy for me to use over and over each year.
You can see how I set up my planner here:
And pick up a planner for yourself here! I’ve created three of the same planner in three different fun styles: watercolor blue, floral pink, and classic black–I’m going with the classic black this year!
Planning Videos by Topic
I love to use the last half of summer to pour into learning more about homeschooling, brushing up on different educational philosophies, and get inspired and excited about the year ahead.
Here are a few planning videos I’ve been watching and learning from:
The Kindred Collective Homeschool Conference has provided TONS of planning inspiration this summer and last. This summer, the Kindred Co. team spoke on:
- Planning for High School
- Creating a Book Club + Book Club Parties with Your Kids
- and Planning Your Homeschool Year Loosely
Watch these videos HERE.
Last summer, the Kindred Co. team spoke on:
- Planning for Play
- Setting the Framework for a Fab Homeschool Year (this is step ONE in my planning process!)
- Creative Planning for Teens and Tweens
- and Homeschool Essentialism
Watch these videos HERE.
In addition to the Kindred Co. Conference videos, my friend Cindy has been creating the best masterclass videos on planning too! Here are the classes I’ve been soaking up these last weeks:
- A Balanced High School Homeschool: all about planning the high school years
- Designing a Practical Homeschool Schedule
- Brain Training at Home: What, Why, How (LOVED this one!!)
OR, check out all of Cindy’s masterclasses HERE.
My Favorite Books on Planning Your Homeschool Year
I love watching videos to get ready and inspired for our homeschool year, but there is nothing like soaking up a great book by the pool or the lake.
I’ve read A LOT of homeschool books over the years and seem to come back to my tried-and-true favorites time and time again.
Here’s my list of favorites:
- The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles by Carol Barnier
- Homeschooling Gifted Kids by Cindy West
- The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie
- Give Your Child the World by Jamie Martin (GREAT book lists in this and the book above.)
- Awakening Wonder by Sally Clarkson (coming out soon!)
- Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison (there are actually three books in this series and I love these!)
- Homeschool Bravely by Jamie Erikson
These are some of my favorites and some I’m trying to read again this summer, but you can get my full list of favorite homeschool helps HERE.
More Homeschool Planning:
- Creating a Useful Homeschool Planner
- Forever Homeschool Planner Walk-Through w/ Video
- Homeschool Curriculum Directory from LWC
- The Simple, 3-Step Planning Course for Having a Fab School Year
- Housekeeping Tips for the Busy Homeschool Mama
- How to Create a Master Homeschool Planner
- Lazy Girl’s Guide to Getting Up Early
- A Homeschool Reset
- How to Create a Homeschool Plan When You Stink at Planning
- Our Recent Curriculum Picks!
