If you’re not a huge planner or you don’t like having to use ink and print out pages you might not use I have the perfect solution for you. I’ll show you how to use a bullet journal for homeschool planning.
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Why use a bullet journal?
- It’s inexpensive
- You set up the pages as you like
- You can change your set up anytime
- Jazz it up and decorate as you please or keep it basic
- It’s easy to customize
When I first heard of bullet journalling, I admit I was very intimated by the idea of it. I’d see extravagant planning pages with gorgeous lettering and amazing diagrams. I may be a graphic designer but I’m not an artist. It just looked like so much effort had to be put into it to make it work, and the truth is, it does not.
You can go crazy and draw and color galore with your fancy brush markets or you can keep it simple with plain old pens.
It’s up to you how you’d like to use it.
My bullet journal supplies
- Bullet journal
– I like the ones with the dots, they also come in graph paper or you can be used with lined paper - Fine Point Markers – I found my pack of markers on clearance for $3, woot woot.
- Washi tape
- Ruler
– I like the ones with the dots, they also come in graph paper or you can be used with lined paper
– I found my pack of markers on clearance for $3, woot woot.I had been looking at the Staedtler and Sharpie Fine Point markers but found mine on clearance so just decided to grab them to test them out and they work just fine for me.
The good markers won’t bleed through to the other side.
I used my bullet journal to organized my kids curriculum to see that we had each child covered for each subject. I also do our monthly and weekly plan in the bullet journal. If things don’t get done it’s easy to move it to the next week.
I plan by week and don’t do months ahead because I don’t want to have to change things up and get all out of sorts if my week’s plan doesn’t line up with my monthly/yearly plan.
My weekly plan has all of my appointments and extra-curricular activities that we have for the week. Those usually fall on the weekends but I don’t have a ton going on then which is why they only need the smaller boxes.
I like to keep myself motivated and to complete my healthy habits like drinking water, and getting exercise I do track those in this planner. It helps remind me during the week and keep me focused.
Under notes, I may have a meal plan or add calls that I need to make or add my grocery list in there for items I absolutely need for my next shopping trip.
The wonderful thing I like about bullet journals is that you can change things up. If I don’t like how I set up this weeks layout, I can change it the next week and add or remove things as I please.
If I want to add a reading list or a unit study, I can easily add whatever pages I need without having to add in extra pages or have to plan in a different notebook.
Read the rest of the posts in the 5-day series – Homeschool Planning Tips for the Unorganized Mom and go and enter the other awesome giveaways in each post.
Richard@Pool Sunday says
Thanks for your sharing! I have only been using a bullet journal for a few months but it is SO helpful! It seriously calms my crazy thoughts. I have struggled with the idea that my planners don’t look perfect and I don’t want to mess anything up, hence I have 50 random journals and planners that are mostly unused. Bullet journalling is the only thing I have been able to stick with this long.