There’s a particular kind of quiet that settles over our home in July.
The school year is well behind us. Summer rhythms are in full swing. And yet — underneath the long evenings and slower mornings — something in me is already turning toward September. Not with dread. With anticipation.
July is my planning month. Not in a frantic, productivity-binge kind of way. But deliberately. Faithfully. One step at a time. If you’ve been wondering how to get from “I want to do Charlotte Mason” to an actual, working plan in hand before September — this post walks you through exactly how I do it.
I’ve been homeschooling with the Charlotte Mason method for years now, and the rhythm I’ve landed on didn’t happen overnight. It came from trial and error, from learning what actually needed to happen in July versus what could wait, and from finally giving myself permission to plan like I meant it. This is that process — the one I come back to every single year.
Want a printable checklist of everything in this post? Join The Weekly Feast — my weekly newsletter for Charlotte Mason homeschool moms — and I’ll send you the full July Planning Checklist so you can follow along. Sign up here →
Why July Is the Best Month for Homeschool Planning for the Year
Most Charlotte Mason moms I talk to either plan too late (scrambling in August) or plan too early (changing everything by June). July is the sweet spot.
The year is finished and behind you — you can see it clearly. September is close enough to feel real. Your kids are relaxed, your own mind has had time to breathe, and the homeschool sales are running. It’s the single best window to do the deep planning work that the rest of your year will depend on.
Here’s how I move through it, step by step.
Step 1: Clear the Space Before You Plan Your Charlotte Mason Curriculum
Before I plan anything, I need to see what I have.
I go through every shelf in our school room — purging materials we’ve outgrown, returning library books that wandered home, and filing each child’s work from the year. (This is a beautiful moment, actually. Flipping through nature journals and copywork pages and remembering how much happened in a year you thought you were barely holding together.)
Then I reorganize. Every book gets a place. Every child gets a designated spot for both their school books and their ongoing work.
Why This Step Matters
A tidy school room isn’t about aesthetics. It’s about removing friction before the year even begins. When September comes, I want my children to be able to find what they need without asking me — and I want to be able to sit down with a clear head and a clear shelf.
Don’t skip this step. It changes everything about how the rest of July feels.
Step 2: Order Your Charlotte Mason Books for the New Year
This is the heart of July for me, and the step that takes the most thought.
Most of what we use is living books — real literature, real history, real science written by real authors with something to say. I spend the spring hunting them down at our annual library sale in May and thrifting whenever I can. But whatever I didn’t find there, I order now.
Where I Order Charlotte Mason Books
This week I’m shopping the Living Books Press 4th of July sale — a perfect opportunity to grab titles still on my list. I also love ThriftBooks, and our local used bookstores for building up a living library without breaking the budget.
Charlotte Mason Curriculum Extras Beyond Books
Living books are the core, but a Charlotte Mason curriculum also includes:
- Picture study prints and composer study aids — I order these as physical prints whenever possible
- Lesson plans from A Delectable Education — I use their ADE guides for several subjects
- Foreign language materials — whatever program we’re using that year
- Handicraft supplies and project materials (affiliate link) — ordered now so they arrive before September
If it needs to be in our hands before the first day of school, it needs to be ordered in July.
Step 3: Stock Up on Homeschool Planning Supplies
Once curriculum is handled, I turn to the practical things. This list is less Charlotte Mason–specific and more just homeschool reality:
- Notebooks and folders (one per subject, one per child)
- Pencils, pens, colored pencils, and any art supplies
- Handicraft materials for the term’s projects
- Anything needed for science or nature study
- Printer paper and ink (you’ll need more than you think)
I keep a running list throughout the year of things we ran out of or wished we had. July is when that list finally gets addressed.
Step 4: Build Your Charlotte Mason Timetable
This is the step that turns a booklist into an actual school year.
I use my digital timetable planner to build out each child’s weekly rhythm — what subjects happen on which days, how long each block runs, and how the morning flows from one thing to the next. I think through each child individually: their age, their subjects, their attention span, and their particular needs this year.
Finalizing Your Timetable Digitally
The digital timetable lets me move things around easily, test different rhythms, and see the whole week at a glance before I commit anything to print. This is where I catch problems — the day that’s too heavy, the subject that’s been accidentally dropped, the morning that has no margin.
Creating a Printed Visual Charlotte Mason Timetable for Each Child
Once it’s right, I create a printed timetable for each child. This goes directly into their daily school notebook alongside their daily checklist and recitation passages — everything they need to run a smooth, largely self-directed school day.
If you want a guided walk-through of building a Charlotte Mason timetable from scratch, I cover the entire process inside my Plan Your Year workshop. It’s one of the most clarifying things you can do for your year.
🌿 Just launched this week: If you want a beautiful place to plan each term — books, subjects, timetable, and weekly rhythm all in one place — my Charlotte Mason Term Planner is now available on Etsy. It’s on sale this week only for launch week, so grab it while the price is good!
Step 5: Print and Bind Student Notebooks for Smooth Planning Homeschool Days
Once the timetable is finalized, I go into print mode.
Everything that needs to be in hand at the start of the year gets printed and assembled into each child’s notebook:
- Their personal timetable and daily checklist
- Recitation passages for the term
- Picture study prints
- Maps for geography and history
- Book forecasts
- Science helps and nature study resources
- Foreign language worksheets
I bind each child’s daily notebook — the thing they’ll open every single morning to know exactly what comes next. Getting this done in July means September doesn’t feel like scrambling. It feels like beginning.
Step 6: Plan Your Homeschool Year with Prayer
I save this for last on purpose.
After all the logistics are handled — the Charlotte Mason books ordered, the shelves reorganized, the notebooks printed — I sit quietly with each child’s name and ask what this year actually needs to be for them.
The Questions I Ask
- What habits need cultivating this year?
- Where did we struggle last year, and why?
- What is this particular child ready for that they weren’t before?
- What do I want them to know about who they are by the time June comes around again?
I write some of this down. I pray over it. I let it shape small decisions in the timetable — a shorter morning for the child who needs more white space, a longer afternoon for the one who is finally ready to go deeper.
Planning is a spiritual act, I think. The Charlotte Mason curriculum matters. The timetable matters. But underneath all of it, I’m trying to lay a feast for little souls. And that requires more than a good spreadsheet. It requires knowing the people sitting at the table. This is the step that makes all the other steps worth doing.
Keep Reading: More Charlotte Mason Homeschool Planning Resources
If this post was helpful, you might also love these:
- Why Your Charlotte Mason Curriculum Plan Keeps Falling Apart (And How to Fix It)
- What Are Living Books? How to Tell If a Book Qualifies
- How One Charlotte Mason Mom Finally Stopped Spinning Her Wheels and Planned Her Whole Year in One Hour
July is a gift if you use it well. The feast doesn’t lay itself — but it also doesn’t have to be rushed. Come slowly. Come faithfully.
Ready to stop piecing this together on your own? My Plan Your Year workshop walks you through the exact process I use — from big-picture vision all the way down to your daily timetable. Grab your spot and head into September with a plan you actually trust.
