One of the things a homeschool parent needs is a good plan. To make that plan and approach work, you need to be organized. Good organization skills are learned like any other skill. To help in being organized, planners, all types and kinds of planners will help.

Homeschool planners vary a great deal from person to person. Before you assemble a planner, think about what sort of forms beyond the average that you think would be useful to you. If this is your first year then I will try to help you with a few recommendations.

Putting together some sort of system to organize your homeschool is paramount to your success. There are several types of planners. A basic homeschool planner should or could have these forms and you can make them for yourself:

Title Page
I do not have any planner title pages here, I suggest that you open up a word processor and make one. The title page is helpful for having a record of the year and who the planner is for. You can make these in just about one minute. They are very easy. Try one with the school name, an image, the student's name, the term (year), the level of instruction (grade), and the instructor's name.

School Calendar
keep this on its own sheet of paper. Whether ist Monday through Friday, Sunday through Saturaday or whatever, just make sure it is a style you are comfortable with.

Events Calendar
This is an optional calendar. These are a two page spread, print the first page behind the calendar. They are used as a single place to record events such as field trips, music lessons.. etc. There are two styles.. I always preferred a horizontal format events calendar.

Attendance Form
This is also optional. These attendance forms are really simple. They contain 180 squares. In each square, write the date of each day which your child attended school.

Course of Study
This is a list of subjects and books that one child is studying.

Goals
This sometimes is a confusing item, leave it out if you wish. However, it is helpful to force yourself to make goals and to write them down. The goal forms can be used for either short term or long term goals. For short term goals, space several goal planners within the planner every 4 to 6 weeks or so.

Book List Forms
There is a need for several types of book forms. Homeschoolers need: Library Book forms to keep track of checked out and returned books, Reading Logs to keep track of book that have been read, Book List to keep track of books you are planning to read, Home Library List to keep track of the books you own, borrowed or/and lent book lists for those own borrow or lend books to and from friends. A curriculum book list to have a record of that.

Ruled Paper or Journals
The ruled paper can be used for anything. Some homeschool moms print ruled paper behind every weekly planner sheet to make notes of the week. You can stop here and journal the homeschooling year or if you wish to make plans, keep going.

Software Lesson Planners
Choose the type of planner which you like best or make your own with a word processor. Good planning skills and tools can be home made and very effective. The better you plan the better your homeschooling success will be.

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Joyce Jackson is an educational expert and consultant in northern California. For her latest book and information see Homeschooling Easy.