Thursday, May 9, 2019

Planner Info

One of the things I get asked about most often is about my planner - what kind/brand and how I use it to balance school and personal life.




First up is my personal family planner.  At one point I tried to keep everything together in one planner but it never worked well so a couple of years ago I decided to separate them and I haven't looked back.  I like to keep things simple and the two requirements for me are always a "clean" monthly layout and a good-sized daily "block" layout.  I don't love a lot of the "fluff" in some of the pricier planners (i.e. the sections for goals, recipes, contacts, etc) as well as how there are a lot of extras on the daily pages (i.e. sections labeled for dinner, to-do-list, etc.) and so my pick for personal planner is  THIS ONE


It's under $10, doesn't weigh a ton (so I can throw it in my bag if necessary) and I LOVE IT!

First up, the monthly layout...


... I don't really have a color coding system (I'm not that organized) but love that there's nothing "extra" printed on the pages giving me enough room to write in what I need to. 

The weekly pages look like this...


... which is perfect for me.  Every day looks different with to-do-lists, school reminders, after school stuff, etc.  If I'm meal planning (which I don't do regularly) I'll include that on these pages as well.


When we started planning summer things (probably about 6 weeks ago) I needed a new paper planner that included the summer months (I always use academic year planners and can't plan anything major without having a paper planner to write it in) and my go-to one wasn't available so I ordered this one  and it's essentially the same thing but with thicker paper and a cuter cover.  Neither or which are actually that important to me :)  BUT I was able to confidently plan out our summer and the layout is the exact same so SOLD!





Now onto the good stuff...  my school planner.  Over the years I've found that most planners are designed for elementary school teachers who are planning their days in 5-10 minute blocks which doesn't work for me.  I teach 6 classes and have 2 (kind of 4) preps (I teach 7th grade honors Pre-Algebra, 8th grade Pre-Algebra, Math 7 that meets 4 days a week and Math 7 that meets 5 days a week).  I originally found this lesson planner at Target a few years ago and loved that it was unstructured enough that I could make it work for my classes (at the time I was teaching Honors Algebra 1 as well).  I've used this same planner for 3 years now and I absolutely LOVE IT.

The weekly spread looks like this...


... and I format it to look like this...


When I taught Algebra 1 I used to use two of the columns on the right hand side of the spread for Algebra and then the last three for a to-do-list.  This was also before I was keeping up with having 3 kids of my own in school so the "kids" column wasn't really necessary.

Again, this can look a little different week to week, but in general I keep the layout the same.  The kids column is where I try to keep track of my kids activities going on during the school day in case I'm volunteering, need to remember to bring something to their class, etc.

The monthly pages are where I keep track of more "major" things like drills, tests, days I have a sub, etc. and these are the pages where I started doodling in the margins since I don't need the weekend days.  ;)  This is totally a stress reliever for me! hahaha  

You can see that in August I was more focused on starting the year than on any doodles...


... and then in September I was feeling the Fall vibes :)



So there you go! I'm 100% a pen and paper planner girl and hope that you found a planner or other tidbit that will work for you either at home or at work!

Here are the links to everything I talked about today...


HAPPY Thursday, friends!!!

PS - This post contained affiliate links... thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!

24 comments :

  1. I wish I had just 1% of your artistic ability!! I think my toddler may be a better artist than I am 😂. Thanks for sharing your planners, I'm a sucker for organization!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You’re so welcome!!!! And I’m sure you and your toddler have more skills than you think ;)

      Delete
  2. Why do I love posts like this so much?!?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Girl, you are so artistic!! I have tried so many times to make my handwriting 'cute' or do little pictures like you and it never looks good. I'm not giving up, but I would love to learn how to make all your cute little doodles and amazing handwriting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just look at lots and lots of examples. I’ll look at stickers or illustrations as inspiration and then do my own version. This is something my mom was always really good at and is something I’ve honestly been “practicing” since I was a kid.

      Delete
  4. I love these posts!!!! And all the doodles- you have such talent!!!! Could you do a post or a doodling 101 tutorial for the artistically challenged???

    ReplyDelete
  5. I want to be able to doodle like you or keep up with moreo than one paper planner.

    ReplyDelete
  6. These kind of posts are my favorite!! So inspiring! I'm a total pen & paper gal myself :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. These kind of posts are my favorite, so inspiring!! I'm a total pen & paper gal myself :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your "doodles" are the BEST! I'd buy a planner that contained YOUR drawings/doodles in it!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You should design planners!! I know people would buy them, so neat.

    ReplyDelete
  10. An older post of your about your teacher planner inspired me and I got it for my middle schooler to use at home - I set it up similar to your with all of his classes and then both of us can jot down homework, quiz and test days, things to do. It's great! It is a perfect planner to keep all of us in the loop about what is going on/needed throughout the week! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I first bought this planner when you introduced it on the blog a few years ago and I am OBSESSED with it. I teach high school and this planner works perfectly for my preps. All of my teacher friends know that this planner is the only one I'll use because I talk about it all the time haha! I've already ordered one for the next school year. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love your planner layouts! Your doodles are so darn cute and I'm obsessed with your handwriting!! I totally geek out over stuff like this :) You are so creative and talented!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love how you teach math and are ALSO very creative in an artsy way! Down with stereotypes!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jealous of artistic abilities, I have to use stickers because i can barely draw stick people, let alone whole scenes!

    ReplyDelete
  15. You're great at drawing. I can't draw at all. I'd like to get into bullet journaling, but I feel like I would have to draw & doodle or I think it would come out better if I did. I have a planner, but mostly use stickers. I think I'm going to get those markers that you use.
    http://therantingsofadramaqueensmum.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I agree with all of the comments above. You should definitely design planners! Your doodle are gorgeous and make me so happy!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I use the same Blue Sky planner in my homeschool and love it!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Can you please do a post, or two, on HOW YOU doodle draw? AND how you cursive write so pretty?? You could do 2-3 days on this and people would LOVE to learn from YOU!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love the Mom Agenda! It has lots of space for everything you need, a line for every kid, and I love that you can do August-August...My mind works better in school years but include summer so that’s what this one does. You should check it out! It’s my favorite!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Why are other people's planners so interesting? I don't know, but they are:). Do you also keep a wall calendar so Dave/kids know what's happening, if not, how do you all stay on the same page (so to speak?:).

    ReplyDelete
  21. Another question, do you keep your personal planner at home or take it with you? And, do you have a certain time of the day/week to "plan"? Thanks, Andrea!

    ReplyDelete

Blog design by Get Polished | Copyright 2016