Homeschool Planning Guide
Bright yellow pencils! And stacks of clean spirals! Books without creases! And blank planner pages! … These are a few of my favorite things!
(Please forgive my silliness. My daughter is in a community theater production of Sound of Music this summer!)
If like me, you enjoy a fresh new school year, you might also look forward to homeschool planning season. For me, planning the next year is way more fun than finishing the previous one, so usually by May, I’ve finished a lot of my planning and merely need to purchase books and write lesson plans.
But not this year.
It’s been a tricky year for many, including me, and I wasn’t excited about planning until very recently. In fact, it was in preparing for and enjoying my recent Fireside Chat in The Catholic Homeschool Community (recording available here) that I was finally inspired to make progress in planning our next homeschool year.
While my delay means I have less time to prepare this year (we always start school on August 15th in honor of Our Lady), my delay works to your benefit, my friends! Because to push myself along, I formalized some of the questionnaires I usually use, so that I can share them with you.
Drum roll please! In my newly launched online shop, I now have a downloadable, printable 15-page Homeschool Planning Guide available for you. It’s black and white, so it won’t use up a bunch of colored ink. And the best part is that it takes us through some key planning steps while incorporating prayer, specifically the Rosary!
You’ll want to download my Homeschool Planning Guide right away in order to plug it into wherever you are in your planning process. The planning forms in the guide are a tool you will use again and again.
And for a limited time, the guide is pay-what-you-want! I’d like this tool to be a blessing to you all and also to help me with the increased expenses that have arisen as Heart of a Mother has grown.
What’s Inside?
The Homeschool Planning Guide focuses on 7 key questions that guide me through planning after doing my Personal Reflection Survey and before writing lesson plans. Those are:
- Why do you homeschool?
- What do you know?
- What do you want?
- What do your kids want?
- What do you need?
- When will you homeschool?
- How will you homeschool?
These questions make sure I consider the most important things I uncovered in my Personal Reflection Survey. They help me keep my priorities focused on my kids’ needs rather than be drawn to what everyone else’s kids are doing next year. They simplify my searching and guide me to a manageable plan with realistic expectations!
Each of the 7 sections in my 15-page Homeschool Planning Guide has a few additional questions to help clarify and dig deeper into what your kids need. For example, “What do you want?” looks at both character growth and academic progress for each of your children, and “How will you homeschool?” looks at mom’s need for prayer and consistency.
What if your curriculum provider has done all the planning for you?
The questions in my Homeschool Planning Guide, like the ones in the Personal Reflection Survey, can be used whether you purchase a full homeschooling program with enrollment or pick and choose your own curriculum! I’m confident they can help everyone in between those options along with unschoolers, too. The guide is written to be flexible and personalized.
What if you are already finished making lesson plans for next year?
As I said at the beginning of this post, I know I’m a little late this year, but this tool can definitely be used year after year. Even if you’re all set, or have already begun your year, it might be a nice way to double check yourself before you get too far into the year and/or to help you catch anything that might need tweaking before you get frustrated. For anyone who is still buying books, though, this guide will definitely be a helpful tool in your box!
So go here to grab your Homeschool Planning Guide today. I know it will bless your planning, since it includes Mama Mary! And thank you for supporting the work I do here at Heart of a Mother to encourage and equip Catholic homeschooling mothers by purchasing this guide.
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