15 Planners That Are Perfect for the Start of a New School Year

Few things signal the start of the back-to-school season quite like shopping for supplies. Fresh, crisp, blank sheets of paper, never-before-used pens, a rainbow of highlighters—there are so many options on the market to look forward to. While your upcoming school year might look different—many schools are preparing for the possibility of another season of distance learning in light of the coronavirus pandemic—your shopping list should still look much like it has in the past. Perhaps one of the most important items on your list is a planner. Designed to stay with you (or your student) all year long, the right planner can help set a student up for scholastic success. But with so many planners on the market, it can be tough to determine which actually do the best job at keeping a student's life in order. To help make sense of all the choices available to you, we've compiled some of our favorite planners available right now, which means you can grab one before the new school year officially starts.

A school planner should last all year. While typical calendars work well for organizing a schedule from January to December, school-age students need options that help them keep track of everything from August until June or July. A 17-month planner, like Rifle Paper Co.'s option pictured here ($34, riflepaperco.com), is especially well-suited to students with internships or those signed up for summer classes. This spiral-bound planner even features three pages of stickers, taking the mundane out of a monotonous schedule. Another option is to go the undated route and use a planner in which you (or your child) can fill in the date as you go, using it for this school year or next.

From simple and understated to bright and colorful, you're sure to find the perfect planner from these selects.