Below you’ll find a list of the main planning tools I have used over the years. They all have their advantages and disadvantages but have all helped me a lot to plan our program.
Program Builder
Program Builder is an online program provided by NESA (previous NSW Board of Studies). You can develop units for all subjects (key learning areas) and include syllabus outcomes and content in your program. Your units can be exported as editable word documents. As you have your own login, all your units can be saved on the website where you can easily access and adapt them whenever you need to.
Program Builder is a great tool to use for stage planning and preparation for inspection. More on Program Builder and how to use it here.
Homeschoolplanet
Homeschoolplanet is an online planner specifically designed for home schoolers. Apart from planning your daily schedule and preparing lesson plans you can also reschedule assignments, add weblinks, upload notes and documents, keep track of attendance, grade your child’s work, print out reports and more.
Programming and lesson planning is very easy. You can plan ahead for the entire year but easily readjust if you need to. Your schedule can be printed out if paper based lists are preferred.
Homeschoolplanet is the best online planner I was able to find and especially suits older children who are able to work independently. Find more on homeschoolplanet here.
Todoist
Todoist is an app for creating to do lists. Apart from creating lists you can add multiple subcategories, tag tasks with labels, schedule your tasks and get reminders and integrate your schedule into google calendar. I has great widgets for easy access on phones / tablets and a website with extra features like print option. Lists can be shared with multiple users, comments added to tasks as well as projects. You can easily share web links and upload files as comments to individual tasks.
Todoist is one of my most used apps and the costly premium features are worth every cent. Highly recommended. More on Todoist and its many features here.
Timetable & Checklists
Timetable and weekly checklist are a great tool to provide structure and routine and help younger kids build good study habits. I try to keep them the same for at least a term, only changing things if something doesn’t work out.
My checklists include tasks for each time period on the timetable. Timetable and checklists are colour coded, colours also matching colours of tabs in the kids folders. This helps to easily find what needs to be done in each lesson.
My timetable doesn’t include many subjects as such. Instead I prefer to organize tasks into similar types of action as recommended by David Allen, founder of GTD (Getting Things Done). Action types may include “at computer, “with Mum”, “outdoors”, “out of home”, etc. I find it helpful to group similar types of activities together to avoid transition issues.
Find more on timetables and checklists and how and integrate GTD in my home school here.
