This actually brings me to the reason for this post today. I have discovered what I believe to be the best way (at least for me) to keep all those things from piling up and sliding so often.
Bullet journaling.
If you've never heard of it, stop right where you are and go watch the video below. Be careful! You're stepping in a rabbit hole. Save the falling down it until after you finish my post.
As a creative, my brain is constantly hopping all over the place from topic to idea to question and back again and again all day long.
Since high school, I've recognized the benefit of physically writing things down to get them sorted in my head and I've faithfully been a note-taker and a list-jotter ever since. The problem wasn't in my writing it down. It was in my ability to retrieve the info again later when I needed to. I found myself rifling through the dozens of notebooks I kept searching for that one thing I needed. Ugh. Only successful about half the time, I knew there had to be a better way.
I've tried so many different planners searching for "THE ONE" that would answer all my quirky needs with a minimum of the extra things I didn't need or want to use.
No luck. Every planner I tried ended up shelved after only a few weeks because it just wasn't cutting it for me.
No luck. Every planner I tried ended up shelved after only a few weeks because it just wasn't cutting it for me.
Then one day I stumbled upon an article about a planner you make yourself. Skeptical, because goodness knows I've tried everything including trying to design my own to be printed, I watched the video.
Something clicked in my brain and I spent the rest of the day (and, if I'm honest, most of the evening) searching and reading everything I could about bullet journals and this crazy system created by that lovely Ryder Carroll. I could kiss the guy! This just might work.
Long story shorter, I started my regular every day bujo (that's how those of us converts lovingly refer to our bullet journals) and after only a month I was completely convinced.
There was no going back.
I'd never been so organized. And it was FUN! My creative side flourished amid those first pages! Ahhh.... this was what I was looking for. If I got bored of one layout or spread, I just found another to try until I nailed down what worked best for me.
I knew I needed this for our homeschool too, so I started searching for lesson plan layouts and posts about how other homeschoolers were using this fabulous tool.
Not surprisingly, I didn't find any that were exactly what I thought I needed, so I started mixing up some of the elements I thought would work from the regular bullet journal layouts I had spent the last several months playing with. I worked it through our whole year of schooling and tweaked a couple things, but for the most part it worked beautifully.
This year, I put a new journal at the top of my list of supplies and counted the days until I could get my hands on it and draw out all those beautiful school spreads.
Here's how I did it:
First of all, I chose to use the Leuchtturm 1917 Master Slim dotted notebook because I wanted enough room to record all the assignments each day and to fit one entire week's worth of information on one 2 page spread. I hate flipping back and forth. It's a thing. You may not care about that thing like I do. Suit yourself.
Something clicked in my brain and I spent the rest of the day (and, if I'm honest, most of the evening) searching and reading everything I could about bullet journals and this crazy system created by that lovely Ryder Carroll. I could kiss the guy! This just might work.
Long story shorter, I started my regular every day bujo (that's how those of us converts lovingly refer to our bullet journals) and after only a month I was completely convinced.
There was no going back.
I'd never been so organized. And it was FUN! My creative side flourished amid those first pages! Ahhh.... this was what I was looking for. If I got bored of one layout or spread, I just found another to try until I nailed down what worked best for me.
I knew I needed this for our homeschool too, so I started searching for lesson plan layouts and posts about how other homeschoolers were using this fabulous tool.
Not surprisingly, I didn't find any that were exactly what I thought I needed, so I started mixing up some of the elements I thought would work from the regular bullet journal layouts I had spent the last several months playing with. I worked it through our whole year of schooling and tweaked a couple things, but for the most part it worked beautifully.
This year, I put a new journal at the top of my list of supplies and counted the days until I could get my hands on it and draw out all those beautiful school spreads.
Here's how I did it:
First of all, I chose to use the Leuchtturm 1917 Master Slim dotted notebook because I wanted enough room to record all the assignments each day and to fit one entire week's worth of information on one 2 page spread. I hate flipping back and forth. It's a thing. You may not care about that thing like I do. Suit yourself.
(This is my new one sitting on top of the one from last year that I used as inspiration for our set up)
So, first thing I do is set up the school year overview calendar in the front of the book.
So, first thing I do is set up the school year overview calendar in the front of the book.
After that comes my year at a glance calendars where all the holidays and birthdays and special events are recorded. I got a little calendar crazy this year (as you will soon see) because I changed my mind after the fact. I decided I preferred just having the year at a glance and my monthly calendars so next year I will know better, but you just never know until you try it out sometimes, right?
Here are my monthly calendars up next. You'll notice I kept with the theme for each month in my decorations.
I love these because they give me much more room to write in details and help when I'm planning unit studies. You may also notice that I start my weeks on Monday. That's because I love having the school part of the week separated from our weekends. The little separator between the two in each month helps me quickly see the difference.
On the left page of the next spread is our current curriculum list on top and all the classes Bug has signed up for through our local homeschooling co-op called Navigators.
On the right page is our reading log sheet where we'll record all the books we read throughout the year and give them a rating. The three columns on the left say, "book, video, fave", because I'm a stickler for making him read the book before he gets to watch the movie.
Next up, we have the bones of the whole thing. The weekly spread. This thing is a powerhouse for keeping us on track all year and tracking all the extra stuff we need to remember.
Here's a peek at a filled in spread from last year so you can see how I use this baby.
The space on the bottom of each daily box is used to record any events, appointments, sports meets, or other things non-school related that are to occur that day. (As you may notice, this particular week was busy as we were in the middle of our cinnamon roll fundraiser.)
Some of the elements on this spread will move around a bit and some of them may not make it to the end of the year (like the lunch tracker), but that's the beauty of a bullet journal. If you need it to change, you have the freedom to change it. If something is not working, you take it out. If you find you need to track something specific, you add it in. This thing is totally flexible.
That's the key. That's why it works for me. I never get bored with the layouts because I can just tweak them. I am in love. Also, I will never need any other planner. How do you beat making one yourself?
How about you? I'd love to hear how you do it.
Here are my monthly calendars up next. You'll notice I kept with the theme for each month in my decorations.
I love these because they give me much more room to write in details and help when I'm planning unit studies. You may also notice that I start my weeks on Monday. That's because I love having the school part of the week separated from our weekends. The little separator between the two in each month helps me quickly see the difference.
On the left page of the next spread is our current curriculum list on top and all the classes Bug has signed up for through our local homeschooling co-op called Navigators.
On the right page is our reading log sheet where we'll record all the books we read throughout the year and give them a rating. The three columns on the left say, "book, video, fave", because I'm a stickler for making him read the book before he gets to watch the movie.
Next up, we have the bones of the whole thing. The weekly spread. This thing is a powerhouse for keeping us on track all year and tracking all the extra stuff we need to remember.
Here's a peek at a filled in spread from last year so you can see how I use this baby.
The space on the bottom of each daily box is used to record any events, appointments, sports meets, or other things non-school related that are to occur that day. (As you may notice, this particular week was busy as we were in the middle of our cinnamon roll fundraiser.)
Some of the elements on this spread will move around a bit and some of them may not make it to the end of the year (like the lunch tracker), but that's the beauty of a bullet journal. If you need it to change, you have the freedom to change it. If something is not working, you take it out. If you find you need to track something specific, you add it in. This thing is totally flexible.
That's the key. That's why it works for me. I never get bored with the layouts because I can just tweak them. I am in love. Also, I will never need any other planner. How do you beat making one yourself?
How about you? I'd love to hear how you do it.
