How to Start a Homeschool Bullet Journal
Bullet Journaling is nothing new but it’s continuing to grow in popularity as a versatile planner, tracker, creative outlet, and probably more.
I started using my bullet journal to track our homeschooling and love the changes it’s brought to our homeschool.
I’m going to share how I use my bullet journal for homeschooling, how to get started with your own, and ideas for what to add in your bullet journal.
Why Bullet Journaling for Your Homeschool
I started bullet journaling for my personal life – tracking my schedule, my to-dos, those tasks that only need to be done once a month, etc.
When I had found a rhythm to my daily bullet journaling I wanted to incorporate our homeschool into bullet journaling, too.
I like being able to customize what I need based on the subject, the child, and what I want to track.
If you struggle with the rigidity of regular planners or you just want something that you can customize endlessly, bullet journaling might be a good option for you!
How to Start Your Bullet Journal
If you want to add bullet journaling to your homeschool – congrats. You’re in the right place!
Th first steps are to decide what you want to use your journal for.
Will it be a planner? A record keeper? A progress tracker?
Knowing what you want in your journal will ultimately dictate your first steps.
I don’t use my bullet journal as a homeschool planner. It’s more of a record keeper and tracker for me.
I keep track of what we’ve completed and, loosely, what we’ve learned.
For example, for geography I included a map of the world and we’re coloring in the countries as we learn about them.
For history I added a timeline to track the events as we learn about them.
For literature we keep a book log and we rate the books as we go.
I’m also leaving a bit of extra space to include snapshots of art work and projects as we go.
This is a map of the books we’ve read and where they take place.
Benefits of a Bullet Journal
There are many benefits to the bullet journal method but these benefits can very much vary based on how you use your journal, what your goals are with the journals, and how well you personalize your journal.
Some potential benefits include:
- Organization – my bullet journal helps me to stay organized. It’s one place to keep all of the information and I can customize it to fit exactly what I need.
- Customization – Speaking of customization, bullet journals are great because you can make spreads that work for you! Include just what you need, and nothing more or less.
- Creativity – bullet journaling can be a great creative outlet, if you want it to be. You can also decide to not use it creatively and that’s fine, too!
- Memory Keeping – Not only is it great to keep track of what you’re doing, but bullet journals also store all of those memories. They’re great for looking back.
I love watching our homeschool bullet journals fill up over the year. And then we can flip back and see what we’ve learned easily and quickly.
What to Put In Your Bullet Journal
People use bullet journals for so many different reasons. The most popular is as a planner – tracking their daily tasks and responsibilities.
But there are plenty of other applications, too.
Daily, Weekly, Monthly Spreads
Bullet journals are fantastic to use as planners. Depending on your style, you might choose a daily, weekly, or monthly spread (or a combination of two…or all 3!)
This weekly spread doesn’t have to be anything fancy (unless you want it to be).
This is a great place to track special events or field trips coming up, projects and resources needed for the projects, or just to keep track of the general craziness of life.
Curriculum Tracking
My favorite thing to do with my bullet journal is curriculum tracking. I love to see our progress throughout the year and have a little record of what we’ve learned.
Added bonus – my kids love to look at their journals and see what they’ve done for the past year! Logi-Bear even asked if I would make him his own journal (obviously I said yes)
I have a spread for each subject to keep track and the spreads vary greatly depending on what we’re learning.
For history I love to have a timeline where we can place the events as we learn them.
When Logi-Bear was going through Chemistry I added a periodic table so we could mark off the elements as we read about them.
The sky is the limit here!
Book Tracking
Track the books you’ve read – and get your kids to rate the books!
I have learned so much by simply asking my kids for a rating on a 5 star scale. They actually put time and thought into their rating. We’ve had some great discussions about why they’ve given a certain rating to a certain book.
My kid’s have surprised me with a few 5-star ratings when I didn’t realize they were enjoying the books so much.
There’s also been a few 2-stars where I get to probe a bit into what they didn’t like about the book. It’s fascinating seeing what they like and don’t like – and I feel like I’m getting a whole new view into their worlds.
And it’s pretty incredible to look back at the books we’ve read.
Page Ideas
- Maps for geography
- Timelines for History
- Bookshelf for Books read
- Diagrams for science
- Pages to glue in artwork
- Poetry
- Examples of your kids school work
What Supplies You Could Get (if you want)
I’m a firm believer that bullet journaling can be doing using a notebook you already own and pens that are already lost in your couch cushions.
Journaling is meant to improve your life – not add a financial and time stress.
But if you’re at the point where you want to buy some specific items to make your bullet journaling easier, more fun, or you’re just ready to switch it up, these are my recommendations
Journals
A good quality journal can make a big difference in your journal if you’re interested in adding a lot of art, collage materials, etc.
Good journals have a thicker paper that will take marker and paint easier.
There are plenty of journals on Amazon and other places that are just fine. But my favorite journal and the only one I’ll be buying moving forward is the Archer and Olive journals.
They have heavy weight paper and high quality covers and pages.
Pens
There are many pens available and I’ve yet to find one that I just don’t like.
I prefer having a few different widths of black pens. I just don’t use colored pens very often.
These are some of my favorite pens that I would recommend:
Stencils
Stencils can be a great way to enhance your journal. They can be great for little icons that you draw over and over again or layouts that include circles or hexagons.
Stickers
Stickers are another great way to add flair to your journal with minimal effort. There are so many great stickers out there for nearly everything you could possibly want.
Here are a few great places to get stickers:
There are also many ways to download stickers and print your own at home. I found this incredible guide on How to Make Stickers at Home from A Country Girl’s Life.
