Homeschool planner: free printable weekly, yearly and attendance pages

The short answer: A simple homeschool planner turns a big school year into weekly pages your kids can check off, and keeps the attendance and work records your state may ask for. This free printable homeschool planner has a year plan by subject, a weekly lesson page for each student, an attendance and hours log, and a reading log with portfolio notes.

Free by email. Go to the free download, or read on for how to plan a full year without burning out.

What's in the free homeschool planner

• Homeschool year plan. One row per subject with columns for curriculum and resources and goals for terms 1, 2 and 3.
• Weekly planner. Seven subject rows, from reading and math to art and physical activity, across Monday to Friday. One page per child per week.
• Attendance and hours log. A grid for every day of every month with a total column, plus a table for field trips and activities.
• Reading log and portfolio notes. Titles, authors, pages or minutes, and a checklist of work samples to save each term.

How to plan a homeschool year in five steps

1. Check your state's rules. Requirements range from almost none to set days or hours, records, portfolios or tests. Know what you need to keep before you start.
2. List subjects and curriculum. Write each child's subjects and the books, courses or resources you'll use on the year plan.
3. Set term goals. Two or three goals per subject per term are enough. "Finish fractions unit" is clearer than "get better at math."
4. Break it into weeks. Count your school weeks, including breaks, and divide each curriculum into weekly chunks. Write a few weeks at a time on the weekly pages.
5. Track as you go. Mark attendance daily, log books on the reading page and drop a work sample in the binder each month.

Sample homeschool week

To time-block the week or set a class schedule by period, use our free schedule template.

Leave Friday lighter. It gives you a buffer to catch up anything that slipped during the week.

Homeschool planning tips that keep the year on track

• Plan a few weeks at a time. Detailed plans for a whole year rarely survive October. A term outline plus two to four weeks of detail is easier to adjust.
• Let kids check off their own work. A weekly page on the table builds independence and shows them the finish line.
• Combine subjects where you can. Siblings can share history, science and art at different depths.
• Build in breaks. Schedule lighter weeks around holidays and illness so the plan bends instead of breaking.
• Use time blocks. Simple time management habits from the University of Illinois Counseling Center, like listing tasks and doing the hardest first, work for kids too. For your own day, our tips on how to be more productive include a sample schedule.

Homeschooling is a choice many families make. The National Center for Education Statistics reports on how many students are homeschooled and why parents choose it, from concern about school environment to wanting to provide religious or moral instruction. Whatever your reason, a steady planning routine is what keeps the year moving.

Homeschool records worth keeping

Even if your state asks for very little, a small paper trail is useful. It shows progress to grandparents, helps if you move to a state with stricter rules, and makes it easier to return to school later if you choose. Each year, keep the year plan, the attendance and hours log, the reading log, and a handful of work samples per subject. Add any test scores or evaluations if your state requires them. Store everything in one folder or binder per child and label it with the school year. If you'd like more ways to keep family paperwork tidy, our guide to how to organize important documents walks through a simple filing system.

For co-op classes and group field trips, a simple sign in sheet tracks attendance, and a daily reading log records books and minutes read. For more on this topic, see our back-to-school hub.

Older students who manage their own work can use our free academic planner to track assignments, tests and grades by class.

Make room for home life too

School at home means the house is busy all day. A rotating cleaning schedule keeps chores from piling up, and a chore chart by age shows what kids can handle. Our free weekly planner covers family appointments, and the free teacher planner suits co-op or small-group teaching.

Want a home system that matches?

The Kids Chore Chart ($3.49) gives each child a printable chart for daily jobs, which pairs well with their weekly school page. The Household Binder ($6.99) holds the family calendar, meal planner, grocery list and bills, and the Home Management Bundle ($16.99) adds a cleaning schedule, home maintenance log, home inventory and more.

Teaching older kids to take their own notes? Our guide to Cornell notes breaks the method into simple steps with layout measurements and examples you can copy.