The watercolor/spiral planner has been updated for Jan-Dec 2017

I know, I'm cutting it close!  The watercolor/spiral homeschool planner has been updated to reflect months January through December 2017.  *Just* in time for the new year!  Check it out, and let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Planning!!

Advent 2016 planner

One of the traditions my girls love most about this time of year is Advent. For us, Advent starts on December 1st, and ends December 25th. What we do each year varies depending on how ambitious I am.  This year, I have decided to try and plan a different craft, activity, game, movie, etc for each day of December.  Thank you, Pinterest, for making this slightly easier on me!

To help me plan out our Advent activities, I created a little planning page to motivate me.

Would you like to use this simple page to help you plan your advent?  If you click below, the link will take you to google drive where you can download and print it for your own personal use.  I used graphics by HarperFinch designs, and I just love them!

Download Advent 2016

How do you celebrate Advent?  I'd love to hear in the comments below.  Feel free to share by linking to this blog post so your friends can get their own copy of the 2016 Advent planner!

Updated planner for January - December 2016

I finally got around to updating the Spiral Watercolor Waldorf Inspired Homeschool Planner.  You can check it out in my Etsy shop, and I do still have a few printed/bound planners there as well!

My Little Planner

People often comment on how much my oldest, Jujubee, looks like me.  Though she is tall and thin like her father, she has tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes like me.  Even more than looks, she is much like me in personality.  Quiet, shy, very timid, embarrasses easily, is quite emotional, and...

LOVES to plan.  

  

This was her desk when I went in to her room to find her.  Her current book (Magic Tree House - Thanksgiving on Thursday), planner, spelling list, scissors, and lots of colored pens.  (And that adorable mushroom fairy artwork?  My friend Paige painted it.  Isn't it adorable?)

She color codes the subjects like I do.  

I gave her one of the planners I make for this school year, and she was so excited I thought she might cry.  She immediately broke out her pens, her syllabus, and her dry erase board.  Also like me, she has to plan before she can plan.  Don't want to mess up your pretty planner!  

New Journey Through Love planner!

A couple months ago, I released the new version of my homeschool planner.  I am even more pleased with this version than the last - what I love most is the artwork!  The cover art was created by a friend of mine - Paige, who runs the shop Whimsi Doll where she creates lots of amazing artistic creations.  I also love the watercolor artwork on each page inside.  Below, you can see how each month has a different watercolor.  These are carried throughout the planner.  I just love them <3, though they are not by Paige.  

I included lots of space for planning.  Each "quarter" has this (below) planning section.  

Then between each month section, you will have a month calendar and planning space for your resources, field trips, notes etc.

For the weekly view, I made space for form drawing, festivals and holidays or upcoming events, and plenty of planning space.  I personally use the spaces as circle time, morning main lesson, afternoon main lesson, and leave the last spot for notes or events happening that day.  There is also menu planning space at the bottom of each week day, and a notes section for groceries, to-do's, etc.  

Another way you could use the space is a block for each child, and a block for lessons the family will do together.  But be creative and use it however works for you!

The planner is available on Etsy, there is a traditional (not Waldorf specific) version available there as well.  This version is 15 months (June 2014-Aug 2015) so remember to not print the months that you no longer need!  I am hoping to have a printed version available very soon!  

Do you use the Journey Through Love planner?  Tell me what you think!  I'd also love to have you link back to a blog review you have done!  

Blessings,

Nikki

My homeschool planner

I searched, searched, and searched some more to find that "perfect" planner.  The one that would make this homeschool journey easier, keep us on track, organized and ready to go....

It didn't exist.  Well, at least I never found it.  I did like the organizer over at www.wellplannedday.com, but wasn't willing to pay that much for an organizer that I couldn't edit, and they had some subjects listed that didn't fit our day.  I do use www.homeschoolskedtrack.com which is a free online planner.  It does it's job, but I'm a paper kind of girl on certain things, this being one of them.

So, what do you do when you can't find your perfect planner?  You make your own!  I looked through the free forms, taking advice from so many seasoned homeschoolers.  I hated the forms.  They were generic, plain, and didn't fit me.

Sooo, I went all out, and designed from scratch.  I have to admit, I somewhat went off of that super snazzy planner over at Well Planned Day, and tweaked it to fit my family.  I also should admit that I did all this in Pages, which is a Mac version of Microsoft Word.  I'm quite impressed with myself.  ;)  Basically what I am saying is, if you can create a shape or text box in a Word-type program, you can do this too!  And it took a lot less time than all the searching I did.  Sheeesh!  I'll never have that time back...

Anyway, here it is, in all it's glory.  It's not professional, but it gets the job done.  I used the ProClick binding machine to bind it myself.  That thing has paid for itself already!  (You can see my review on that in an earlier post).

Cover; I laminated scrapbook paper and kept the covers slightly larger than my pages.

Attendance page

Our year schedule, and our local schools schedule (so we can plan around her friends)

Weekly schedule, using a form from Simply Charlotte Mason

Daily schedule, form from Simply Charlotte Mason.  (I later created my own in Pages)

Calendar and monthly notes.  Books needed this month, field trips and activities, and monthly bills.

Close-up (I apologize, it did not want to rotate)

Our first week, almost filled in

A blank view

Close-up of Monday-Wednesday (left side)

Close-up of Thurs-Sun (right side).  I made a box for weekly priorities, the dinner menu, and our weekend activities.  

So far, the only thing I would change is that I wish I'd have made a larger notes section.  

What kind of planner do you use?  Are you a paper or electronic type of person?  I would LOVE to see a good iPad planner app that would sync online (like my cozi app).  For now, I use my paper planner and homeschoolskedtrack.com and it works for me!