August Back-to-School Planning in My Bullet Journal
It’s Time to Get Ready for August!
it’s time to start planning to return to a routine. If you are like me, I rarely stop thinking about school; however, the start of August makes me pause and appreciate the small freedoms that happen when time off is happening. Things like morning coffee runs, errands to Target and the grocery store around 10am, experimenting with cooking different dinners for my husband (he is the main chef in our house), and doing work in front of the TV at home with my husky-lab curled up nearby. August is about gratitude. I found myself particularly grateful in front of a bonfire the other night on our anniversary…so I tried to recreate the image in my mind with this month’s cover.
My Current Favorite Supplies
NOTEBOOKS, PENS, PENCILS, AND MORE
Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Dotted Hardcover Notebook (Black) - 249 Numbered Pages for my personal journal.
Recycled Notebook | 100% Post Consumer Waste | Mosaic Decomposition Book for my teacher planner.
WALNUT Wood Journal Notebook with Binder Rings (6 X 9) for lists and desktop thoughts.
Sharpie Brush Tip Pens, Assorted Colors, 12 Count (I wasn’t a huge fan of the case they came in).
Paper Mate SharpWriter Mechanical Pencils, 0.7mm, HB #2, Yellow for all things doodling.
Stabilo BOSS Original Highlighter, Pastels - 6-color Set
Paint Chip Poetry: A Game of Color and Wordplay because it gives me inspiration with color and with words. I loved seeing how many colors matched their phrases on the front of the chips when I was trying to find summer-ending inspiration. Check out the paint chips in the pictures below!
My Inspiration This Month
BOOKS
I love reading, and I love looking at covers to get my inspiration for my journal. This month I had four books that stood out in color scheme and in content.
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Amazon Summary: “There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself. She knows the exact number because she keeps a list. Like #95: Because her skin is so dark, people call her charcoal and eggplant—even her own family. And #61: Because her family is always being put out of their house, belongings laid out on the sidewalk for the world to see. When your dad is a gambling addict and loses the rent money every month, eviction is a regular occurrence.
What’s not so regular is that this time they all don’t have a place to crash, so Genesis and her mom have to stay with her grandma. It’s not that Genesis doesn’t like her grandma, but she and Mom always fight—Grandma haranguing Mom to leave Dad, that she should have gone back to school, that if she’d married a lighter skinned man none of this would be happening, and on and on and on. But things aren’t all bad. Genesis actually likes her new school; she’s made a couple friends, her choir teacher says she has real talent, and she even encourages Genesis to join the talent show.
But how can Genesis believe anything her teacher says when her dad tells her the exact opposite? How can she stand up in front of all those people with her dark, dark skin knowing even her own family thinks lesser of her because of it? Why, why, why won’t the lemon or yogurt or fancy creams lighten her skin like they’re supposed to? And when Genesis reaches #100 on the list of things she hates about herself, will she continue on, or can she find the strength to begin again?”
Other Words For Home by Jasmine Warga
Amazon Summary: “Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.
At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before.
But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.
This lyrical, life-affirming story is about losing and finding home and, most importantly, finding yourself.”
The Truth As Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor
Amazon Summary: “Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard.
An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.
Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground haven for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin and, eventually, Benny.
But will anyone believe him?”
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Amazon Summary: “Ever since she got pregnant freshman year, Emoni Santiago’s life has been about making the tough decisions—doing what has to be done for her daughter and her abuela. The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.
Even though she dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, Emoni knows that it’s not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free.”
See the color scheme? All four of the books remind me of sunsets and the moments I spent reading their pages. You will find some of these colors in the paint chips and pages that follow. I tried to stick to reds, oranges, and yellows. The start of the rainbow for a start of a new chapter. I also wanted to recreate the moods of summer…as it is coming to an end.
I am trying to get back on track with my habits and mood tracker. I struggle to maintain a habit tracker when it is on my weekly page, but for some reason, when I dedicate a single page for my habits, it works much better. This month I am focusing on reading, moving my body with yoga, healthy eating, water intake, no spend days, and writing in the morning for me.
The other side of this journal is my mood tracker. I love the simplicity of faces for moods, and the books were a testimony to the speech from Jason Reynolds at the ALA 2019 Annual Convention.
My Dedicate Yoga page does not necessarily follow the color scheme, but I wanted the stillness of water to come through with the colors. It is also something I plan on taking with me into September. The larger notebook is my teacher planner for the fall.
Here is my standard weekly layout! I would definitely call myself a minimalist with my bullet journal because I want it to be something I use every day. I like the length of the columns because it allows for me to add tasks and then check them off. I also like to color code my tasks as I go throughout the week or migrate them over to the next day. I also keep a space for my writing projects. There is ALWAYS something to write about when it comes to teaching and blogging, so I like to keep a running list so I am always inspired.
Here is the monthly layout with book inspiration! I don’t like lines on months because I like to connect days for different events that come up. I also don’t add my bills or finances in my monthly spread because I have that in a separate spread on its own page.
I like to also include the next month in my monthly layout for future planning. I find this incredibly helpful when I go back and prepare for the next month when I am ready.