How I Plan 36 Weeks of Homeschool History with My Mardel Planner (+ Free Download!)
How I made a 36 week plan for world history the Charlotte Mason way!
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How I Plan 36 Weeks of Homeschool History
Planning out an entire homeschool year can feel overwhelming—especially when you’re trying to stay true to a Charlotte Mason philosophy, keep your living books organized, and make sure history actually gets done. Today, I want to walk you through how I use my Mardel homeschool planner to schedule a full 36-week homeschool history plan—and yes, I’ve got a free download of my exact schedule to make your life easier!
In this post (and in the video linked above), I’ll show you:
How I map out an entire year of history in just a few steps
Why I love using the Mardel planner for this
A peek at how I break up history topics weekly
And of course, how to get your hands on my free printable 36-week history schedule
Whether you’re new to Charlotte Mason or a long-time homeschooler looking to simplify your planning, this is for you.
I have a link to the Generations homeschool curriculum we’re using, Preparing the World for Jesus below.
Why Plan History for the Whole Year?
I used to plan week-by-week, thinking that was more flexible. But honestly? It was exhausting. Every Sunday night felt like a scramble. Once I started planning my history for the full 36 weeks of the school year—with a rhythm that worked for our family—everything changed.
Now, I don’t worry about what’s next. I just open the planner, and we’re off.
And if we miss a day? It’s easy to catch up or adjust. That’s the beauty of having a bird’s eye view.
Tools I Use: Mardel Homeschool Planner
Let’s talk about the Mardel planner—a homeschool favorite for good reason. It’s affordable, easy to use, and laid out in a way that makes weekly subjects feel doable. It has space for each child and each subject, and I love the clean lines and no-fuss layout.
In the PLANNING PAGES section, which is in the front of this planner, there are year at a glance blank pages for each subject laid out for you. There happens to be 36 weeks in 4 neat rows laid out on this page. How convenient! I use these pages to lay out my year with each textbook.
Please see the video on this page for more details.
For this project, I use the planner to map out history only. We’re going one subject at a time, but for this example, we’re using history.
I’m mapping out each week the chapter in Preparing the World for Jesus (the world history textbook), plus what living book we will be reading.
It’s as simple as “plug and play” in each weekly box.
I am not writing the assignments or page numbers here. This is supposed to be an overview, not a detailed schedule.
Want My 36-Week Schedule? (Free Download)
I spent all morning making a downloadable version for you.
It’s much easier to see this version than the one in my video. Between lighting and the fact that I was using a pencil to mark each box (I like being able to go back and adjust things as needed), I thought this might work better.
You can grab the exact schedule I made for our year of history. I created a printable version that breaks down all 36 weeks.
💾 Click here to download your free 36-week homeschool history schedule
This is the same schedule I show in the video below.
Please note, I have not used this schedule, so I don’t know how well it’ll work in process. But I plan to use this myself!
See the video here
Why I Love This Method (and Why You Might Too)
Here’s what I’ve noticed since switching to this full-year planning method:
✅ Less stress every week
✅ My kids know what to expect
✅ We stay on track without being rigid
✅ I actually enjoy teaching history again
It also works beautifully with a Charlotte Mason approach, where short, rich lessons are key. You don’t need to overwhelm your kids (or yourself!) with pages of busywork. Just give them great books, good conversations, and time to reflect.
Adapting the Plan for Different Ages
If you’re teaching multiple ages (like I am), here are a few quick tips:
Use the same spine for everyone, but give older kids additional readings
Let younger kids do oral narrations, and older kids can write theirs
Add picture books or historical fiction for littles to keep them engaged
The beauty of history is that it’s naturally multi-age friendly.
Final Thoughts: History Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Friend, if you’re feeling behind or like planning is just too much, I hope this gives you a little hope and help. You don’t need a complicated system. You don’t need 100 printables. You just need a clear plan, a good booklist, and a little time upfront.
And now, you’ve got one—free and ready to go.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the full video where I show you exactly how I filled out my planner step by step. I even hold it up and walk you through the weeks, so you can plan right along with me.
And don’t forget to grab your free download!
Planning out the books I’m going to use for each textbook.
Breaking up Generations History (more about how I’m breaking this up)
