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Martha
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Posted: May 31 2012 at 11:06pm | IP Logged Quote Martha

Next year I will have 12, 11th, 9th, 8th, 6th, 5th, 2/3rd, 1st and prek grades..

I have most of my materials purchased. I've done most of them several years now. BUT...

I'm going in circles trying to organized all MY plans.

So each student has their own daily lesson planners. No problem.. Nearly done.

But each student as stuff they do with me. And I need somewhere to have all that in ONE spot. I tried putting it in their planners, but then I have to coordinate the planners, otherwise I have 2+ kids coming to me at the same time for different needs. I tried making a lesson planner just for me, but I just can't seem to get it filled in in a useful manner.

There is just so MUCH TO DO! It won't fit in the itty squares. Or there aren't enough squares.

How do you moms with many plan it all out? I need a plan!! No plan = doesn't get done. A plan = equals most of it gets done.

I'm currently staring at my stuff trying to figure out a working system. I'll let you know if I figure something out.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 12:30am | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

If you work in excel the itty bitty boxes will expand as you fill them.. then just print when you're done.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 12:59am | IP Logged Quote Martha

Um well. Yes. I know how to use excel? I just can't wrap my brain around how to get it organized. I think my brain is fried at this point.

Does anyone have a planner that they use for 6+ kids?

If I figure this out, I might have to sell it! To the other four moms in America that would appreciate it.   

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 5:01am | IP Logged Quote Becky Parker

You amaze me Martha. I'm trying to figure out how to get all mine in and I only have 6 - one of which is off to college in the fall!
This might not help at all, but I'm thinking of a timed schedule. Each child has a specific time to meet with you (you might already do that). So, you make a simple planner in word with enough boxes per child. At the top of the box you put the child's name and a little check list of anything you do daily. I'd leave the rest of the space blank to fill in (handwritten or typed) the things you need to go over with that child on that day.
I personally would do this by making a Word document and inserting a table. I would use 4 rows and 3 columns so there are 12 large boxes. In the first I would put anything you all do together in the morning. Then I would fill in the kid's names, one to a box. In the last box, I would fill in anything you all do together in the afternoon, or maybe a list of chores, a dinner menu, anything that you might need to remember.
I would make enough copies so you have one per day or save it on your computer and refer to it there.
It's not fancy but it might be what you need to get organized. Then, you can always add more detail as you see a need.

For me, the planners you buy with all the subjects filled in are great, but the problem is that it's hard to organize which things are independent for certain children and which things are to be done with you (ex. - reading for a 6th grader vs. reading for a 1st grader.) Making your own planner (or maybe using a printed planner differently) might make sense.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 6:42am | IP Logged Quote Mackfam

Martha wrote:
each student as stuff they do with me.

How much stuff are you doing with each child daily, Martha?

I don't have nearly as many as you have to coordinate, so just for reference...at my feet in the learning room this year I have 11th grade, 7th grade, 3rd grade, pre/Kind.

My older learners are almost entirely independent and self-taught with the exception of narrations that I listen to, discussions we have, and dictations given. These almost always occur around the laundry folding or meal prep time....so I just go with it. I do try to make myself available to my older kids during quiet time in the afternoon. I juggle my littler learners, working with them in alternating ways, but if there is something I really need a devoted block of quiet time for, I save it for when the littlest is napping, or in the evening.

I work closely with my 3rd grader and pre/Kindergartner, so most of my time management involves working with the littlers and ensuring that I have time left to hear the biggers narrations, read their written narrations and check their math.

(1) Jodie's suggestion of an Excel spreadsheet was going to be my first suggestion. It's completely workable, and as Jodie said, the cells will spread to accomodate your text.

(2) Another alternative is to do something similar to Becky's suggestion and create a Word document and insert a table in the document. It's a blend of the spreadsheet and the document, and it's my preference for building plans. I find it more flexible than just a spreadsheet. I like the table for dropping in bullets of stuff, and being able to organize in table form by time or subject or child....but I also like being able to have a list of generic things below the table (and not in the table....just listed in a document form) that are just simple reminders for me, items that I might just list as morning chores for me....and then I'd drop another table in the document for afternoon coordinating of my time.

With both options, in your table form, you can add a timeline down the side, names across the top, and just list what (if any) your responsibility is with a particular child at a particular time. It's a really fast way to see if you've got too many things going on around 9:00, but have more time available around 1:00 and then you can adjust your individual child's lesson plans to reflect that.

(3) A third option is to use something like google calendar or ical to coordinate everything. Every child would be their own calendar.   When you choose to view all the calendars layered on top of each other, you've essentially created a calendar with all your responsibilities on it. I've done this before at the beginning of the year because it helps me see where our time is going during the day, and it's an easy visual to see if too much is going on at a particular time.

(4) Finally, whatever option you go with, I'd use some color to help things stand out a bit. For example, on my kids lesson plans, I list when they need to narrate something under their reading, but I list the narration in the color green so it stands out to them and to me. I can see easily by glancing at their lesson plans where the narrations are, and they can see it, too. It looks something like this:

__________________________________________________

Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare by E. Nesbit
O Read 2 pages
O Narrate

__________________________________________________

I list written narrations in a different color, dictations stand out in a color, any media like movies/documentaries stand out in a different color. It's a helpful visual on the plans.

You can use colors on your planner as well as on the kids planners to help highlight priorities, or to differentiate between children, or even differentiate between tasks. If you highlight very visibly every.single.thing on a child's lesson plan that they need you for, you're now asking them to be accountable to the plans, and to you. I think that's a valuable habit to foster, not always foolproof, which is why I need to be accountable and check, but my older kids are good about saying, Mom, you've listed dictation today and we haven't done one yet. And using color on my kids planners means that when I check over them at the end of the day, those colors jump at me, and I can see what's been done and what hasn't. I don't spend a ton of time on this - just a couple of minutes....."I see that you haven't quizzed your Latin vocabulary, you need to go set the timer for 10 minutes and get that done."

A big part of encouraging my older children in self-education and being a partner in brainstorming challenges they are facing is the weekly meeting we have. It allows me to step back and have more of a big-picture-macro role, while they take the responsibility of living the day-to-day responsibilities.

A quick word about intuitive planning
I think in tables and lists, so that's naturally where my thoughts go when I try to organize them. It might help you to try to discover where your thoughts naturally go when you try to organize - finding a format that's intuitive for you.   Once you identify that - we can help you brainstorm ideas within that format some more. You seemed to indicate that you know Excel, but weren't sure about cells expanding. I know how to work with Excel, too, but we have a love/hate relationship...so I've discovered that the most intuitive format for me is a Word processor document (I use Pages for mac) with a table dropped in it. Some of this....maybe up to half of this challenge...is finding what is most intuitive a tool for you, Martha, and then working within that tool. What did you use to build the kids lesson plans?

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 7:53am | IP Logged Quote CrunchyMom

No experience with the juggling, but I will second Jen's suggestion about using a table instead of Excel. I used Excel last year, and this year I'm using a table after hearing Jen describe why she does. It is easier. And prettier

That said, you say you want a planner with squares? In that, you want to physically write stuff in "old school" just for more children?

My first though was that you might be able to simply come up with a larger size so that things would fit visually. I remember growing up, at work, my dad always used one of those big desk calendars that doubled as a work surface/blotter. Even if a monthly calendar isn't ideal, perhaps you could rig something similar with weekly lesson plans using a large sketch book? That way it would be bound so you could work ahead. You could print out multiple free lesson sheets from Donna Young and mount them with glue sticks or double sided tape (or buy a roll of cute washi tape to make quick work of taping the corners but still making it "cute"). An 18x24 inch book would allow for 2 *almost* 3 standard sheets with room for margin notes or a row of stickies or 4-6 sheets if you used a two page spread.

Another option might be to rig a one time permanent outline onto some hardiboard and use stacks of sticky notes (with each child or category in a different color). Once that week is done, you peel back the sticky for the next. This would also be flexible in that if you were behind on a particular subject or child, your planner wouldn't be behind because you would just leave that particular sticky until the next week/day/whatever when it was done.

Or use sticky notes in some way with the larger spiral bound pad? They make lined stickies that are quite large as well as cute shaped sticky labels for headings and such. This would also be flexible so you could tweak easily until you found just the right layout or system. And maybe if you needed a few standard lines drawn on each page for sections or lining up your stickies, some neat older children would help you out

And maybe a blend of Jen's system and just having a larger workspace to lay it all out visually at once would help? As in, you could customize your own charts in Word, but you could do so knowing you will be able to lay them out on multiple pages.

Also, if you designed just a simple planner in publisher to be very large, I imagine you could have it printed and bound at Staples on 11x14 paper. A two page spread in this size would provide a LOT of good sized squares If it is simply larger squares you want, I imagine they could take those Donna Young files and simply make them sized bigger to "fit the page", printing them front and back on 11x14 making a regular lesson planner, just on a larger scale.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 8:02am | IP Logged Quote CrunchyMom

And, the simplest sticky solution that just occurred to me is using the smaller stickies in a regular planner. Just add a couple to each square, and you will have as much space as you need to write in all the details, it will just be stacked.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 9:29am | IP Logged Quote Mimip

Okay I am going to try to explain what my best friend does with her planners and see if it helps.

She gets 3 traditional lesson plan books from the Teacher planning store. You know the one with the blocks for subjects and the days of the week along the side or top and she uses each page for one day!

She had last year: 12th, 2 10th, 7th, 3rd, 1st and pre/k. (and a toddler and infant)

So what she did at the beginning of each term was label each box on the page with times: 8-9, 9-10, 10-11 and so on. On each page of the planner she chose were 8 boxes and she worked around that. Then each week she would plan her hours. She pegged things around the other children helping with the little ones and lunch and dinner and such. It really worked for her and even though she had to copy quite and bit from week to week for her own planner, it was just taken straight out of her children's planners.

This way she knew exactly who she had to work with everyday during every hour and she didn't forget to check and make sure the olders weren't lost in the movement of the littles.

I truly cannot imagine managing all that school work but for her, who is NOT a computer person, she needed it in front of her. it also really helped with outside activities and appointments. If she had an appointment with the 8 year old at 10 then that day at 10 she knew that appointment was all that went into her planner.

I thought it was brilliant!

Hope that helps with another idea:)

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 10:29am | IP Logged Quote Martha

Mackfam wrote:

With both options, in your table form, you can add a timeline down the side, names across the top, and just list what (if any) your responsibility is with a particular child at a particular time. It's a really fast way to see if you've got too many things going on around 9:00, but have more time available around 1:00 and then you can adjust your individual child's lesson plans to reflect that.

(3) A third option is to use something like google calendar or ical to coordinate everything. Every child would be their own calendar.   When you choose to view all the calendars layered on top of each other, you've essentially created a calendar with all your responsibilities on it. I've done this before at the beginning of the year because it helps me see where our time is going during the day, and it's an easy visual to see if too much is going on at a particular time.

(4) Finally, whatever option you go with, I'd use some color to help things stand out a bit.


We think very similiar I think, Jen. I use colored highlighters in the kids planners to denote things they need to come to me for or that I will want to see when completed. Essay due, give a test, help with an experiment ...

That did and didn't work great this year. It worked great in the sense things were being brought to me and done. It didn't work in the sense that they weren't coordinated, so kids and myself were frequently frustrated because they would come to me for their quiz and I'd be busy doing something and put them off. Or I would be giving them a quiz or having a discussion/explaination and they would get interrupted by other kids. Privileges are tied to completing homework, so this caused major angst. They can't turn on any electronics or leave the house Neil their work is done. So waiting an hour while I finish with 3 other kids was a constant source of irritation.

I'd love to do time slots, but that just doesn't work. I have more of a flow of priorities.... I need more of a flow chart? The 1 year old never naps reliably, and due to the older kids activities, about 1/2 the time our timing can't be as reliable as I'd like. (*I* am a always 15 minutes early kind of gal, but the rest of the world is not and that wrecks havoc with a timed schedule when I have 5-7 kids doing outside stuff.)

We also do weekly meetings. To touch base with what is expected for the week and if they foresee any problems or to bring up any other issues or notes. I agree, the older they are, the more important it is to touch base and have them take ownership.

I can use excell or word forwards and backwards, no problem. My issue is I'm kind of drowning in the how to lay it out stage of things. Whatever it ends up being, I need to be able to print it off. I can't stand being tied to my computer and I like that when I'm on the go, grab the papers I need. I'm also a kinetic person. I need to cross off, pencil in, and so forth to get flow from brain to paper. Or paper to brain. I'm a doodler. I know it's limiting, but at nearly 40, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 10:33am | IP Logged Quote Martha

I like the idea to use stickys in an oversized makeshift planner. Very kinetic! but not over wheeling because they could be stacked.

I used to just keep a list for the younger ones, very relaxed but get it done style. But my list seems really long and scary now, which means I avoid looking at it, which means I don't use it.   

Hmmmm. I might have to think more on this one.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 10:39am | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

sounds like you need a planner for yourself.. and then lay out times you do different things.. so that you can set up the kids planners to coordinate with yours.

like
8-9 morning baskets (no individual work accepted at this time)
9-10 reading for 10 and under (and give each child a set time in that)
11-12 lunch prep - I can listen to narration etc at this time as well
12-1 lunch time
1-2 11+ time (give each a time they get your attention)

and so on.. then your time is laid out with what you're doing and those blank spots are labeled with which group of children and which subjects you're accepting at that time. Then the kids will know that mom can't do this now and move onto the next thing while they wait for their time slot.


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Posted: June 01 2012 at 10:45am | IP Logged Quote Martha

What I do with the kids.

For the high school kids, I need to help them with any assignments they are struggling to grasp. Sometimes this is a tough math concept, visualizing a science concept, or having a deep discussion over their literature or history topic. Most of their work is independent, but I believe firmly they still need to talk out their lessons, share opinions, and have the broader ramifications and connections discussed.

For middle school, it's the same as above, plus I am likely putting extra time into making sure their writing skills are being honed for high school. And their memorization is ramping up for the same reason.

Upper elementary - this is the easiest academically for me, most of it is going over their work, some discussion and pointers, and helping them develop more personal interests.

Lower elementary and per k - sitting next to me time for almost all of it. Probably a solid 2 hours a day.

I will be doing the Gamma level of classically catholic too. I figure I will incorporate it into our Monday Meeting and then integrate it into the weekly plans.

Maybe if I break it up into groups instead of per kid, it won't seem too over wheeling to tackle....

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 10:49am | IP Logged Quote Martha

Yes! I'm so sorry if that's been the confusion. I need a planner for ME!

The kids have one that I love, and to a small degree theirs show what I need to do with them. (high lighted to note what they need me for or need to show me)

I need something to coordinate all those high lights and my 2 page per day to di list in ONE spot for ME.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 11:39am | IP Logged Quote Mackfam

Pulling out a few things you've mentioned, Martha:

Martha wrote:
I use colored highlighters in the kids planners to denote things they need to come to me for or that I will want to see when completed. Essay due, give a test, help with an experiment ...

That did and didn't work great this year. It worked great in the sense things were being brought to me and done. It didn't work in the sense that they weren't coordinated, so kids and myself were frequently frustrated because they would come to me for their quiz and I'd be busy doing something and put them off. Or I would be giving them a quiz or having a discussion/explaination and they would get interrupted by other kids.


Martha wrote:
My issue is I'm kind of drowning in the how to lay it out stage of things. Whatever it ends up being, I need to be able to print it off.


Martha wrote:
I'm also a kinetic person. I need to cross off, pencil in, and so forth to get flow from brain to paper.


Martha wrote:
I like the idea to use stickys in an oversized makeshift planner. Very kinetic! but not over wheeling because they could be stacked.


Martha wrote:
Maybe if I break it up into groups instead of per kid, it won't seem too over wheeling to tackle....


Martha wrote:
I need something to coordinate all those high lights and my 2 page per day to di list in ONE spot for ME.


So, in reading back over some of your thoughts I can see that:

** You don't want to be tied to times, but blocks of time might work....just as Jodie suggested. It's possible you can designate for yourself blocks of time that you have designated for grouped ages:

    Elementary
    Middle
    High

** You're already highlighting work that involves you on kid's planners, and the kids sound pretty good at coming to you with those needs.

** You need to bridge the gap between the highlighted work needs the kids bring to you.....and your availability.

** You work in ways that involve printed organized formats and kinetic/flexible-change-as-you-go formats (I work in this way to some degree myself....although I probably organize and plan more on my laptop and print and do my kinetic work directly on the printed plans).

::::::::::::::::: THOUGHTS AND IDEAS :::::::::::::::::
(A lot of these are just fine tuning from some ideas already shared)


** Consider making a daily list for yourself that would serve only as a reference point. Using the kid's planners, list (by child) those things that are likely/definitely going to need your attention each day. Compile daily reference compilations. This will not be a kinetic tool, but a compilation reference. This can be reviewed by you before each weekly meeting, just as a way of keeping yourself accountable. A brief, skimmed, visual check will tell you if you've been keeping up to a reasonable degree with those items you listed.

** Consider a full size desk calendar (another option), or even something like a post-it weekly planner. This would be your kinetic transfer device. Use post-its for action items that will repeat regularly and just transfer them daily, or place them on days in layered stacks. You could use a different color post-it for each individual child for a further visual.

** An extension of this is providing older children a stack of their particular color post-it. They place a post-it on your calendar if there is a need in a particular area. This could work well because a given day might be full, and a high schooler might have a deeper topic to discuss, or a paper that needs to walk through the editing process. You can tackle the post-it tasks as you are able, and at the end of the week, or on your "Meeting Monday" assess the *INCOMPLETE* post-its that are left and catch up or nail them to a more permanent time that week as an appointment.

** If you're on the go - peel the weekly post-it planner sheet off and pop it in your purse if needed. The stick is enough that in coming home, you can lay it right back down on your desk. Another on-the-go option is to print your daily checklist off for that day and layer it with post-its. You can tuck this in a basic planner notebook you bring with you.

** A final idea - generate your own customized layout of "blocks" and "tables" and print 52 pages of them and consider binding it into your own planner that you can take with you. It would incorporate those static printed guides/plans that act as a rudder for your days, and you could format it in a way that leaves room for the kinetic (whether in a post-it note style or whatever). Format and build it in blocked ways that allow for pegging to meals/prayer times and leave room for those kinetic additions.

** The post-it notes not only allow for the flexibility in time, activities and grouped-ages that you need, but pegging it to a calendar day allows for that accountability in planning I think you're going for. The post-it is fixed to a day, but is easily transferred and moved to the next week if needed. This allows for a level of flexibility and reasonableness in your schedule. You'll likely be dealing with a stack of post-its at first, but I imagine that as you'd work a system of ideas like this, you will find good ways to streamline it so that it's still workable...sort of working the clunky parts out of it.

:::::::::::::::::

Those are just some ideas from some of the brainstorming so far.

Are they closer?
What are the holes you see here?
Unwieldy parts?
Are there needs of yours you were really looking to meet in having your planner that really aren't being met in some of these ideas?

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 12:04pm | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

oh I've done this recently..

make a list of everything.. use those highlighted parts ofthe kids planners and just write out a list that includes everything from each of them (use colors to remember who each item is for.. all my kids have colors when I work on the computer)

Then once you have the list.. you can combine them into your schedule.

I just did this with a major grocery list, for camping.. I listed meals and then all the items for each meal and then compiled it into a single list and then seperated out by category (borrowing the store's organization for my categories).. by breaking them down into shorter sections like that I was able to easily find the duplicates and such.

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Maryan
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Posted: June 01 2012 at 1:04pm | IP Logged Quote Maryan

Martha, first... I have no idea how you could do it all! And loved your comment about a planner for "four other women in America!"

I'm still struggling on how to do four next year, a preK, a baby, and a toddler! Time slots don't work for me either. Every day was different and so were the naps, so I just needed to see all the work to be done and just make it happen?

So knowing all of that, I'm just sharing what we did on a smaller scale in a lesson plan book, just in case you can use it in a larger scale or it sparks some system that you can tweak for you.

  • I'm a big fan of Jen's suggestion of make your own table in Word... except I used Word Perfect, but Word would do the same. I made lesson plan books for me and for the kids. I stopped using planners from companies for the kids, but it took too much time to write it out if I already had it on the computer.


  • I bullet pointed (is that a word?) my kids' lesson plans by subject for the week. And then jazzed it up with "table tools" using fancy lines or making other lines "invisible."


  • I split up the subjects into core type stuff and then history/literature/science type stuff that I knew they could do more independently. These were on two separate pages. In my book, I would open them up and see them both.


  • Using Jen's proclick notebook recommendation, I made notebooks/planners for them and me that had exactly the same info. In the beginning of the year, I deleted their siblings' work in their notebooks, as the year went on I ran out of time and they just knew which column was theirs.


  • Here's a picture of what the core planner page looked like from my son's book (no history page in this one). My "lesson plan books" were also books that contained assignements,so excuse the Thinking Company sheets. Picture link:   Lesson plans. Blogged explanation of them: here. My suggestion would be if you made you own in Word tables double sided printed you could conceivably get eight columns across an open notebook? Of course, I think all your stuff would have to open up to two sets of double sided pages!

I don't do daily assignments because I never know what our day will be like. So having a look at all the assignments of the week helped me because if I found that I had a bit more time with one child, I could try to move ahead?

But again... I only had three kids that were doing expected assignments. And your real question of how to organize your day... no idea.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 1:07pm | IP Logged Quote Maryan

Shoot! Double posting!

But just wanted to add that Tables in a word processing program usually allows you to expand the little box to whatever text that you write... because little boxes that didn't fit all the info drove me nuts!

Also, I found using little box bullet points inside the table box would also give me a box to check off and keep the to-do list neat and readable.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 1:34pm | IP Logged Quote Mackfam

Maryan wrote:
Shoot! Double posting!

But just wanted to add that Tables in a word processing program usually allows you to expand the little box to whatever text that you write... because little boxes that didn't fit all the info drove me nuts!

Also, I found using little box bullet points inside the table box would also give me a box to check off and keep the to-do list neat and readable.

This is exactly what I do, too, Maryan!!! Great minds! I like building blocks and bulleting the tasks so I (and the child) can see easily what should be happening. Mine are formatted a little differently and I think it lets you see the different options available in Tables within a document.



And any word processing program will let you drop a table into a document. I use Pages for mac, but Word will do it, Word Perfect does it. Are there any others?

I know this isn't directly related to your question of building your own planner, since these are individual plan examples, but the same table type set up can still work for you. And I love Maryan's idea of a table that opens in a 2 page spread. One week for all children per 2 page spread - that could be really workable for you if you could find that elusive mix of technology and hands-on flexibility you're looking for. And this could still involve post-its for tasks you might float to the next week if they weren't attended to by you during the week at hand.

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Posted: June 01 2012 at 4:07pm | IP Logged Quote Martha

Quote:
** A final idea - generate your own customized layout of "blocks" and "tables" and print 52 pages of them and consider binding it into your own planner that you can take with you. It would incorporate those static printed guides/plans that act as a rudder for your days, and you could format it in a way that leaves room for the kinetic (whether in a post-it note style or whatever). Format and build it in blocked ways that allow for pegging to meals/prayer times and leave room for those kinetic additions.


I can make my own! I even have one of those comb binding machine thingies. And a small laminator to make make the covers more durable.

I LOVE post-its. I even have some really pretty ones my mil gave me for xmas...

So far, I have created a 1/2 hour weekly grid from 6am to 9pm. I need a week overview of where everyone has to be when, so I can see when we will even be home to HOMEschool.

Next I want a 2 page oversized spread of blocks. Similiar to the average blocks in most planners, only i need mine to have all the blocks on the typical 2 page spread on EACH side of the spread. That way I have plenty of blocks for each kid/day/subject AND they are big enough to stick a post-it. and I can bind it on the short side. It will open up like a squat, but very wide desk calendar. Did that make any sense? I think I also want to have some sort of pockets in it, so I can toss papers I need to have on hand for the week in ONE location.

I have a big huge old sonlight IG binder that I keep all the stuff I don't use daily or weekly. booklist, course outlines and all that jazz. But I need something a big smaller for the daily grind.

I'm in process of making the page spreads now.




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Posted: June 01 2012 at 4:12pm | IP Logged Quote Martha

That grid is VERY similiar to what I want Jen! Just bigger. :)

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