Using Ordinary Notebook Paper Day 10: Planners & Assignment Books

Welcome to iHN's Hopscotch at Blog, She Wrote! My topic for the 10 day series is Ten Ways to Use Ordinary Notebook Paper. Thank you for joining me. Please take a moment to subscribe, so you don't miss out- you can follow, subscribe by email or RSS feed (just look to the right!) and follow Blog, She Wrote on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. I'd love it if you'd stay connected and visit again!
 

Today's notebook paper topic is: Planners and Assignment books. No series on using notebook paper would be complete without another look at my simple spiral planner and the assignment books I use with my kids. I started out with a store bought college ruled spiral and now I make my own with the ProClick and some of my favorite 8.5 x 11 Staples college ruled notebook paper.

The assignment books allow us to lay out the day's work for each student and it's a place for them to write down the other things they do for the day. Here's an excerpt from my first post on assignment books- "We all love the new assignment books. The kids like to see things laid out for them and I like giving them the target for the day and being able to dialogue with them about it. One of the things I like best is the simple lined paper format for each day. Once again, it's very freeing and it's been very effective so far." Click the link on the original post to read more about how we came to using this format.

Of course my planner is plain notebook paper as well and I still adore it even after I made the modern edition two and a half years ago. Very early in our homeschooling I used a spiral notebook and after years of forms and organizing formats, I decided to simplify again and it's one of the best homeschooling decisions I've ever made. The link will take you to all the posts on my notebook paper planners. Some are the more recent style, but this link will take you to my first post and you'll see where I was and how I arrived at the picture above. I invite you to read it and experience the freedom of a simple planner!

I mentioned a bonus post and you'll see it sometime soon. I'll place in the category here with the other notebook paper ideas. I appreciate your feedback during this Hopscotch series and I hope this series has been helpful to you.

Thanks for joining me!
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Please visit the other bloggers participating in iHN's Hopscotch over the next two weeks. While you are taking a look at the other Hopscotchers, check out the Pin It to Win It giveaways sponsored by Prufrock Press.
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Homeschool Planner 2012-2013

Moving right along doing paperwork and starting to settle down into our new homeschool year. It always involves the making of a new plan book. You can read all about my conversion from fun forms and fancy planning here. This is the third year I'm using the plain spiral format and I adore it more every year.

It all starts with a set of papers you want to collectively make up the plan book- typically I make them myself. There is one exception to that.

The cover is designed, printed on cardstock, embellishments are added and I laminated it before putting the holes in it.

I picked some of my favorite quotes and added them to the inside cover- nothing fancy. You'll also see here a modified version of our Weekly Routine. I'll share more details on this soon.

I found this simple calendar at a glance at Donna Young's site. I found this to be the most useful calendar format in my plan book. I'm not a fan of the little blocks to fill in...

This year I added the kids' Individualized Home Instruction Plans (IHIP) to the front of the planner. I color coded them fancily- see?

Each school aged child in the state of NY is required to have one of these and I thought it would be great to have them in my planner this year rather than have to refer to them on my laptop.

Now when I write out their quarterly reports, I can have everything in one place.

After each IHIP is the set of math goals from Math on the Level. I took last year's and modified them to reflect a new focus. I color code them to match the concept chart given to us by MOTL. Only the younger three have them, but they are in there right after the IHIP for each student.

The IHIPs tell the plan for each student for the current school year- we also inform the administrator on this document what type of year end assessment we will do to satisfy the requirement.

This is just an updated list of all the math resources we have on hand- games, manipulatives, books, etc.

Of course, the main attraction is the loose leaf paper- specifically I love the Staples brand 8.5x11 college ruled paper. Slick stuff and heavenly to write on.

One of the best investments I've ever made in our homeschool supplies is the ProClick Binder. I use it frequently to make customized spirals notebooks that can be clicked open if necessary. How can you go wrong there? I even use it to bind up my students' work at the end of a school year. It's much easier to store these flat books than a three ring binder. You can put holes in printed papers or just lined paper. There is no limit to what you can do with a ProClick!

I love using just a plain notebook page to plan and record for our homeschool. I know not everyone appreciates the power of the college ruled paper to unleash the boldness of your learning experiences. But the spiral never lets me down! The part that took the longest was preparing the instruction plans, math goals, and tweaking our Weekly Routine. I like to have the goals and IHIPs in the front of the planner to keep me on track- to consult as we have to make adjustments, etc. Using the format of a blank lined page is very inspiring- and extremely freeing!

When I'm tempted by other planners, I remember that I hate blank squares and that I will not make planning my idol! 

Planning is not the thing; Doing is the thing!

Planner Update

I know that lots of my readers really enjoyed the information on my homeschool planner both from the original post and in the one published at Heart of the Matter. I thought it would be fun to give you an update on it- whether or not I had caved to the "pressure" of using something more formal. In a word, nope! I have not succumbed and, in fact, have continued to thoroughly enjoy the process. I'm pretty sure I won't be going back. I really love that my effort goes into what we'll actually be doing in school vs planning for it. I am always trying to keep focused on the doing when it comes to our homeschool which is why so much loose leaf paper is used here rather than printables. Stay tuned for more on that!

I was beginning to run out of pages for the planner so I used the remarkable feature of the ProClick bindings and opened the spiral to add more pages. It was quick and easy and the binding snapped back together in a...well...snap! Such an advantage over a ready made spiral notebook and the cost is nominal over the life time of use of the little machine. I also use this method to bind our school work from the three ring binders into one notebook to be stored away from that year. Very easy and it stores flat and away.

The top of the page gets the day and date followed by the details of what each child will do for the day.

I check off what we do and circle what we don't so I can add it to the next day if needed. I also jot down notes and reminders for upcoming activities. I even will even use a double page spread to plan out the next unit study.

Nice and big...just the right size for the remainder of the year.

This planner is very versatile and has some elements of a journal in it. I'm hoping to combine it with Edu-Track so that I can more formally keep track of high school and make the transcript as I go. Once I have that stream lined I will share more about it. E13 is finishing up a credit of world history and algebra I along with an English I class, so I'm going to be working on that this summer.

I did start assignment books for the kids not too long ago and those are harder to keep up with than my own. I just keep in mind it's to outline their tasks for each day- not necessarily to be a record of what they've done so if we miss a day, it's no big deal.

How about you? If you adopted the plain spiral method this year, has it been working for you? Do you have any pros or cons to share?

Happy Planning!

Assignment Books

Last week I switched up the assignment books I've been using with my kids. I started the year with some commercial calendar type assignment books and it's been hard to use them well. As with my planner, I find it tough to work within someone else's design and I absolutely hate empty boxes in a planner! I don't want to appear too flexible, but the truth is sometimes things take longer than you think they will. Or you end up with an unexpected doctor's appointment. Or we simply change direction or have to back track and go over something again. Whatever the reason, whatever is written on the next day's square may change. It doesn't always change, but it could and sometimes does and that leaves us with marks to make and things to rearrange. It's not pretty. It seems to me it's not a reminder of where we are going, but one that points out that you've changed direction or something is amiss.

Plus, I just plain ol' need more room to write than what squares afford me. The younger the student, the more I might explain directions. Because I also use this as a daily checklist for the kids, I wanted to be able to dialogue with them about what they've finished. Or didn't finish. I can find out how the math lesson went- since Life of Fred is an independent student driven program, I like to check in on days we use Fred. If we are working on a project, I can make suggestions in the book that my kids can read when they look over the assignments.

Finally, it occurred to me that if I was going to have them check off in the book and read things from me, this would be a great place to list what else they worked on for the day. So, if they work on a project or read a book, they can tell me about it on the day's page.

Of course, only the oldest two (8th and 6th grade) were using them before, but the younger boys would not be left out! How could I refuse such a request? So far, things are going very well. Take a look below.

R11 had been using a plain planner from The Well Planned Day. These remind me of the ones we distributed in my public school classroom days. Well, without the Bible verses!

E13 had been using the Homeschooler's High School Journal- sort of a cool format with a place to record the time you spent on a subject, but visually it was not pleasing enough for me or for E13.

A chance to use my ProClick...yes!

First step- make a cover of course! The kids had a fun time designing their own on the computer.

L-a-m-i-n-a-t-e...need I say more?

Bound college ruled notebook paper from Staples. Does it get better than this?

So how does it work? I jot down the assignments for the day on one page. I list out the lesson number or tell what the work is. If we are doing an experiment, I might tell them what materials to gather up and where to meet me.

Some days the page is more full than others. Keep in mind that for E13's WinterPromise, there is a whole binder with work listed out. So, sometimes I will get specific with him and sometimes I just tell him which week and day. It depends on if he needs to catch up or I'm adding something in.

I can give extra assignments or ask questions of the kids. And they can respond to me which is nice. I look them over after school and I make decisions for the next day or the coming week.

Even J6 wanted a book and his is the easiest to do! He is an independent first grader let me tell you. He does well with having a list before him with the materials provided. Keep in mind he's a fluent reader so we read together and he reads to me from Fred and does his math. He still does copywork on primary lined paper, but he's been doing his Fred on wide ruled loose leaf. He's currently working in LOF Cats. With great anticipation.

R11 was having trouble figuring out what to do for her 4H Public Presentation coming up in a few weeks. So, on this day (above) I gave her some suggestions on what she could do. She liked the ideas and ultimately chose to demonstrate how to make a french seam for her presentation. I've broken down the process for the kids and each day they have a new assignment related to preparing for their talk. I also have them tell me their progress so we can discuss things.

So, the kids check off as they go and I love the feature of listing what else they do during the day. They tell me what they've been reading and other things they've discovered or what activities they did after school time. Sometimes they run off after they've finished working and I don't see them for a while because they are engaged in something. This way we can mention it on the day's assignment page.

I've also been having them report on their math. If the younger kids are doing Fred, they can tell me how many they got correct and I require this of E13 daily so we can discuss anything he is having trouble with. If an assignment is not completed, I like seeing the X. It tells me clearly that it was not done. That way I know to list it the next day. I also know to investigate the reason it was not done in the case that it isn't obvious. It keeps my kids accountable to their work without me hovering all the time. With the older ones this is important. Middle school is a great time to make sure kids are learning how to have ownership of their own education. It'll be super important later!

I know some of you have been asking how far ahead I plan things out. Using this method, you can see not very far! I take some time after school is finished for the day to jot down the next day's assignment. I use the IHIP (Individualized Home Instruction Plan) for each child, which NY State requires, to stay on track with what I said we do, but that just keeps me focused on the big picture. When it comes to the details, we are much more relaxed and my goal is to keep things moving and consistent but to really value our experience. In other words, I leave room for being flexible while giving my kids an authentic experience and keeping an eye on the bigger goal.

We all love the new assignment books. The kids like to see things laid out for them and I like giving them the target for the day and being able to dialogue with them about it. One of the things I like best is the simple lined paper format for each day. Once again, it's very freeing and it's been very effective so far.

What sort of checklist do you use?

Spiral Planner 2011-2012

I thought I would share with you my new planner for the 2011-2012 school year. I've shared many times about my planners and the transformation that's occurred with them. I even shared over at Heart of the Matter and my spiral planner has gotten some response over there. Now I suppose folks wonder if the plain spiral really has lasting power. It does! And I'm so pleased with it, I think I'll use them for my kids' assignment books in the future. More on that later. I did add a few things this year- things I wanted to be able to refer to as I planned more than anything else. I'll let the pictures explain.

My custom made cover- added to my statement about experiencing the extraordinary (usually in my signature on things I write at Heart of the Matter, etc). We like the everyday as well. Few paper & ribbon embellishments, printed on cardstock and laminated.

Inside cover has some clever thoughts from a few places including Simple Homeschool.

Here's our weekly routine. I adjusted it from last year's. This used to be taped into the front of my spiral.

From the Five in a Row Planner- just one page for my school calendar. We like to go from August to May.

These are from the 2009 Old Schoolhouse Planner when I was on the Crew. I will fill these in with unit studies for each month- a little long range planning option.

Composers List- again not really a form but a way to remember who to plan in since it's not a formal curriculum.

Same for artists- we have a slot in our day that rotates between art and music study, Latin, and nature study.

I made a list of the math concept targets for each of my three youngest kids- from the Math on the Level concept list. This way I can be sure and hit these over the year. Since I don't use a text with an order and scope and sequence, this puts everything in one place.

I typed up a list of math resources we own so I'd remember to use them as I plan out our MOTL lessons! Genius. We've been enjoying Family Math this week.

First day of school- see where I wrote the note about the Curiosity Shelf...in the margin?

Lesson pages- just a listing of who is doing what for each subject. I check what we finish and put an X by what we don't. I pick up the X tasks and add them to the next day. Yes...things get messy. I'm ok with that. Ultimately, what has a check was completed.

Sometimes I jot down ideas I see on the web- who needs Pinterest?

The other night when I finished binding it, I was so excited I thought sleep might not come! Dan didn't see the magic- "You made a spiral", he said. What is there not to get? This was a moment of office supply greatness! Is there an end to the possibilities when you can make a spiral and undo it if you mess up? I don't think so! I was even able to transfer over the pages I'd already started in a store bought spiral. It's all neat and tidy and there will be no blank boxes haunting me.I really cannot handle the unused boxes found in a typical planner and it does remind me that even when I taught public school I made my own planning pages. Interesting I'm just remembering that! How could I have forgotten, given that I am a planner and had immaculate lesson plans back in the day? I suppose I could take it a step further and make a simple form with the headings and breakdowns I use on them- just initials and subject names. Nah...that takes away from its simplicity.

Experience planning freedom! Go spiral!

Planner 2010

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. It seems to be independent of whether people school year round or not. Somehow, the excitement is in the air no matter what.

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 backstory 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.

A snapshot of the inside- notice the top line has the day and date. So clever.

I list out the subjects for the day and the assignment. I list what each child is doing for math and language arts separately. I put reminders and notes in the margin.

I put check marks beside those things we finish and an X beside those things we don't. Those things usually carry over to the next day.

When I want to brainstorm a unit or write down a new idea. I do it. I just turn the page and write it down. Then when I do my daily plans, I go back to that page and reference it.

This was my unit planner for The Salamander Room. I planned for the things in the FIAR manual and I planned for the unit within that I chose to do on amphibians and animal classification. We didn't get to everything here, but this was the outline I used for making daily plans. Nothing fancy. On the next page are the plans for the next day.

So, this is it! Nothing fancy. But it's all there. I do still have all my forms and have you all ever noticed how you go through seasons with planning and homeschooling and well...family life in general? This is definitely the season of the spiral notebook for me.

I may try to use a binder with forms this year. I'm working on our Individualized Home Instruction Plans- NY State requires a yearly plan for each school aged child. I get to write it, with just a few requests from them, but I do need to look ahead and make decisions. I may find that using forms makes things easier depending on how many units are together vs. individual, etc. My friend Cindy is a form making queen and she actually made a cool one with some of my input. Still like that one a lot.

But still as I grew busier with our schooling this year, I would always refer back to the days of planning entirely in a spiral notebook. In those days, I had one for E11 and one for R10 who were 2nd and K back then. Even that's too much!

The advantage of using just one book is that it's all there in one place. Every lesson for every child is on the same page. It is simple. It's not time consuming. But it's all there. And when it comes to writing quarterly reports (and right now is that time!), it's so easy to refer to.

I reserve the right to return to more structured planning.

But for now...planning is not my idol!