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It’s Monday morning . . .
Your eyes open and you’re either thinking, “Yippee, I’m all ready to start the homeschool week and so are the kids!”. Or more realistically you’re thinking, “I’d better get up, down some caffeine and get it together before everyone else is up!” As a homeschool mom of 18 years, it took a while to figure out my groove. Often times my weekly plan was mapped out on Sunday afternoon. Most of the time . . . I prepared each child’s schedule as a Word document and printed it out. It included chores and outside activities. We’d often have an informal Monday morning meeting over breakfast for the hand-off and prayer. But looking back, the most effective way to have weekly harmony and be finished with academics by Mid-May was to have my kids take control of their own schedule (risky, I know:). With them handling their schedule it also teaches them a very useful life skill–keeping track of their life. So, looking back and compiling things that worked and didn’t work, here’s my take on Bullet Journals for Homeschool Kids: Teaching Lifelong Organizational Skills. The same bullet journal ideas can easily be used for children that attend school outside the home.
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Have the kiddos choose a journal they love
There are so many choices of journals with dot grid pages, like this one for the kitty lover and not as many with graph paper (in a smaller 6×9 size). I like the smaller version so it’s portable and even fits in this awesome carrying case which holds all their pens, colored pencils, ruler, and stencils
Have your plan ready
It goes without saying that your children will get their schedule from you. So, have your plan mapped out for the year and broken down into 36 weeks and 180 days (guess I should write another post about how to easily do that). Spending time doing this over the summer will save your sanity day by day during the school year! Each week your kiddos will get their weekly plan from you. Having them preparing that at the end of each previous week, so that they’re ready to hit the ground running on Monday morning is such a relief. I can’t state that one enough!
Onto the fun part
Getting set up for Mondays starts at the beginning of the school year. Let’s break it down step by step. Every bullet journal begins with an index. I would recommend having at least three pages for this. If you’re new to bullet journaling, I’ve got some links down at the bottom with some more helps.
Then, add the year-at-a glance pages. This is simply the monthly calendar. Add the page number for this to the index as well as each new section or page to the index so that they can easily flip to it. Your kiddos should be preparing this journal right along with you. When they get older, they can do it themselves by using the previous year’s setup along with their own “tweaks”.
The most helpful section
For bullet journals for homeschool kids, allocate enough pages for the 36 week school year schedule. Two pages for the week plus two extra pages for notes is probably sufficient. You can change it according to your curriculum and style of homeschooling. Use a removable tab or post-it note to mark the current week. It can be moved forward for each new week to easily flip right to the plan! They can get as creative or non-creative as they would like. Some easy embellishments would be washi tape in patterns or solids (which you can write on), stickers or stencils.
As they complete lessons each day they can check off what they did, which feels so good! Or, if they were sick or the day’s plan changes, they know what’s left to do. At the end of the week, if there’s anything leftover that wasn’t completed,they use an arrow symbol pointing forward so they know to add that to the next week’s plan.
Some special features
Life isn’t all about academics, so let your kids add things that are important in their life. Prayers & praises, Gratitude or God moments, and maybe even a box for things that were particularly challenging or difficult that week. This could be struggles with friends, illness, math that wasn’t understood or anything that’s troubling them. At the end of the week when they’re preparing next week’s schedule, it would be a good time to sit down to review and encourage.
Pages that aren’t weekly
After the weekly schedule pages, here are some ideas of what to add.
- Money Management
- Memories
- Reading List
- My Favorite Things
- Wish List
- Questions I Need Answered
- Goals-Short-Term and Long-Term
- Sermon or Bible Study Notes
Money, money, money
The Money Management category would help them keep track of their savings, spending and tithing each week. Seeing those numbers on paper is encouraging as they save for something and consider the cost of something. Giving is a blessing, so seeing how much they are able to share is really sweet.
Sweet Memories
In the Memories section, they can keep track of significant moments. It’s amazing how much we forget or take for granted. So, this section is a treat to look back on even after the year is over.
Questions
Questions are often burning in their minds at a time when they can’t get the answers (like how do fire flies light up). Jotting those questions down lets them go back later and dig deeper or have that important discussion.
How do I get there?
Goals, even at a young age, are important. So, have them write those down and think through manageable steps they can take to get to their goal.
More great tips
There are some really great ideas on Pinterest for keeping homeschooling easy. Follow me to see all the boards, with new pins being added all the time.
Also, I have a free printable template that can be used to trace for some added embellishments. See below:)
Hope all of this helps your homeschool run more smoothly and gives your kids good tools to use for learning a lifelong skill! One more word of encouragement before I go . . .
Don’t be a slave to the schedule
The goal for each school year is to have your kiddos finish the learning materials you have planned for them. But, one thing to remember, especially if you are new to homeschooling, is “Don’t be a slave to the schedule!” You’re not “doing school” at home. You are teaching your children at home and that is, as it should be, a completely different format than in a classroom. You’re not filling empty buckets. You’re helping your children learn how to learn. There will always be gaps, and that’s okay. If they know how to learn, they will fill in those gaps on their own as the need arises (whew)! What’s important is mentoring them day by day to help them be Christ followers with love for God and love and compassion for others. If they didn’t internatlize a few spelling words or math problems along the way, it’s okay (I’m giving you permission to relax here). Keep the long-range view of what’s really important and keep on keeping on. You’ll be doing great and so will your kids! God bless you and your homeschool today and the days ahead!
Sally
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Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
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