Take a Peek Inside My Homeschool Binder

Lots of moms out there like their fancy homeschool planners and there are tons of options available on the market to purchase. This makes it easy for moms to find a planner that is going to work well for them. We have chatted a number of times here on the blog about Happy Planner homeschool planners, finding the right homeschool planner option, and even trying to match up your planner with your personality type.

If you have been around for very long, you know that I like to create my own homeschool planner from scratch instead of buying one already made. I outline a number of reasons why in this post on my flexible homeschool planner, but it is mostly so I can control exactly what goes inside and not be frustrated by pages I won’t use.

As cute as planners can be, I am all about the practical.
Pam Barnhill

As cute as planners can be, I am all about the practical. I have very specific items that I feel are important to keep inside. Having these things handy is another way I reduce decision fatigue in my homeschool. Here is a peek inside my binder for this year.

What’s in my homeschool binder for 2019-2020

My attendance form — the one thing I have to keep track of for my state is attendance. I use a sheet from my Plan Your Year planning forms to help me know what days we did and did not do school. I keep it tucked in a pocket in the front so that it is easy to access.

In my calendars and schedules section, I keep a copy of an annual calendar from the Plan Your Year free planning forms kit. Here I mark what days we intend to do school during the year.

I also keep a copy of our weekly schedule there so I can keep track of our outside of the house commitments for the new school year.

After calendars and schedules come the lesson plan section. This section includes:

Procedure lists I have written
Lesson plan lists for subjects
Copies of the syllabus or lesson plans from any co-op or online classes

I also keep a copy of the course of study for each child in the binder.

Under my supplies tab, I keep a blank resource sheet so I can make notes about any purchases I need to make or resources I find that I like and might want to use in the future.

I also keep a copy of all my big-picture planning forms in my binder. My homeschool vision lives there so that I can refer back to it when I need to. Also in there are my goals for each student along with the worksheets I used to create those goals. We show you how to make these in Plan Your Year.

In the back of my binder, I keep my legal paperwork for homeschooling, a copy of the diploma requirements for my cover school, and some grade records. With us starting ninth grade this year I will need to track courses for a transcript and keep some grades as well.

In the rear of the binder, I keep a single page protector per kid to have a place to tuck achievements like certificates and photos of learning activities the kids have done during the years. This gives me a place to keep those.

My binder is super-simple and functional. How about you. What do you keep in your homeschool teacher binder?

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Pam

Pam is the author of The Your Morning Basket Guide and Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace. She also is the host of three popular podcasts -- The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast, Your Morning Basket, and The Homeschool Solutions Show. She lives in the Deep South with her husband and three kids, where she is the go-to lady for great curriculum recommendations or a just a pep talk on a rough day.