Last year I recorded all of our daily work in a planner I purchased from Mardel’s.  It was pretty and had Bible Scriptures, perforated shopping lists, goal pages, etc, etc.  By the end of the year there was a huge section of it that I just didn’t use.  A lot of fluff that I just didn’t need.  I looked at the other options at Mardel’s this year and nothing was really perfect for having two children to record for.  They aren’t learning the same things and I needed the right amount of space for each.  And we only homeschool four days a week since we attend an enrichment program on Tuesdays.  So I created my own.  It’s very plain but it is exactly what I needed and I’m excited about it.  I put it in a three ring binder for now.  I’m going to test it out this year and make any changes I need to pages as we go.  For next year I will spiral bind it.  I just printed a simple cover page with a picture of our family and the year.  Included a two year calendar that lists the holiday dates.  Then the log sheets and the weekly planner pages.  I write down daily what we’ve accomplished and do not write down for the future.  I find the future never goes as planned so I plan for that.  ;D  This is super simple but it’s clean and clear.  I hope you find this helpful.

Click images below to open excel and word files to create your own planner!

  Click on image below to open a generic excel file where you can fill in your own subjects/curriculum in the left column.  Notice I have all my core subjects toward the top and all the non-core subjects after.  To leave room for my 3-ring hole punch my excel sheet margins are top/bottom: .5, left: .75, right: .25, header:.15, footer: .0