Planning a New School Year

I admit it, I'm a school supply junkie. I love browsing through aisles of binders, notebooks and pencils. Oh, yes, and planners. Planners are my supply of choice. The simple elegance of life planned into little squares soothes me, makes me feel in control. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Life comes at you quickly - often without courtesy of forthought to give you time to check that wonderfully laid out planner, or in my case to find the correct one. Last year I had 3 different lesson plan books - one for each child - as well as two Girl Scout planners, one for our service unit and one for our troop and one that I used soley for recording the days I was called in to work. What person in their right mind (even those of us with planner fetishes) chooses to have six planners? Honestly, no one, since I'm guessing that that decision alone (even though there are many others along the same brainwave) is enough to remove a person from in-your-right-mind status. So, this year I've decided that while I love having the option to use several different planners (they were all so pretty afterall) I was not really using any one of them to their fullest potiental - and we won't even talk about how much money I spent to have six different planners! This year I found a post on another blog talking about The Well Planned Day planner. I don't remember what I was searching for at the time, but after reading that post, I went straight over to the Well Planned Day site and looked around. I considered purchasing the planner and kept telling myself how I could get one cheaper at the teacher supply store. But, I kept coming back to that blog and thinking about much I liked the planner. Quickly planner envy set in and I really wanted one of my own. After looking at the free preview several times I considered that if I really did use this one planner for ALL of our homeschool needs then I would be saving money by purchasing it rather than 3 planners. I know myself too well, saving money was the incentive I needed and I ordered the planner. I have to say so far I love it. I've been able to add in our Girl Scout activities and begin planning our school year. I also started working on printable planners for the girls. I looked at the student planners from the Well Planned Day site, but those really don't seem to fit all of our needs.


The writing space is small and I want them to be able to record more than just p.25#17-34. At the end of the week will anyone remember what we learned about on page 25 or the specific skills practiced in that assignment? Not likely.

So, instead I put together our favorite bits from different planners and created something that, at least for now, we are all happy with. And, the best part is that since I made them myself I can alter them and even start from scratch if need be and not feel guilty about wasting a lot of money on planners we aren't using.