Planners: Sometimes Simpler is Better

Posted by HeatherW | 0 comments

Well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it? When the new planners arrive and we begin to put things together for whenever schooling will begin again. Independent of whether people school year round or not, somehow, the excitement is in the air.

I’m all about the planning. It’s one of the things I do best. Even as a public school teacher, my planning notebooks were immaculate (and they had to be for the curriculum supervisor I had). Over the years I’ve tried various planners. The first year and a half I had a spiral notebook that I wrote everything in. Then I graduated to more complex planners for FIAR that I had made or others had made. Then, of course, FIAR came out with their own set of digital planning pages. Last year, I reviewed the TOS planner which is huge. I made my own Morning Meeting Planner. Very cool idea, but in reality too much to keep up with for a 15 minute slot of the day!

Let’s not forget other planning posts I’ve done- this one details lots of the things I use to plan. And let’s not forget the preschool planner. Of course, in addition to the planner itself, I have a file crate system going too. Still like it, but I don’t always use it to its fullest potential.

If you aren’t a link follower, that’s ok. The links above show you various blog posts I’ve done about my planners over the years. Gives you the back story on what I’ve done before.

This year I had a nice planner set up with sections for all the kids like the ones linked to above in a lovely binder. Guess what I found? I didn’t have time to keep up with all those forms. Somewhere around January of this year, I gave up. I gave up trying to have a fancy planner. I gave up trying to keep up with all the forms.

I made a decision. A new mantra. I cannot make planning an idol. Dan laughed at me this afternoon when I told him that, but it’s true. Planning is not the thing. Doing is the thing.

So, here we are. Behold…the spiral notebook.

A Lisa Frank polka dotted spiral notebook from the dollar store. With a purple coil. And recently I added the clip from Staples. Mostly for fun.

Heather is a homeschooling mom of four kids ranging from middle school to preschool and wife to a handsome chemical engineer. Before raising a family, she taught middle school science (with a BS in biological sciences) and has a masters degree in curriculum and instruction secondary education. Now teaching at home means the chance to provide the extraordinary for her children. She’s been homeschooling five years and you can read about those adventures on her blog, Blog She Wrote.