Analysis Chart (Synoptic) to give me what has just happened in terms of fronts, troughs, winds etc
Forecast Chart (Synoptic) to see what the met man predicts is likely to happen in terms of the same values. Obviously that depends upon you having a reasonable understanding of the types of weather associated with cold/warm/occuluded fronts, troughs, ridges, cols etc....
From there, I look at the 214's and 215's to give a general (but narrower) picture and look at the zones where the route passes through and the 'upwind' zones to see whats coming.
From there it's TAFs, but 24 or 36 hour TAFs are only available for the larger airports, and don't forget to check the airports en-route.
Hate met with a passion, probably because i struggled to understand why it was such a dark art and it's only through practice and reviewing what you thought was going to happen with what the MetMan said is going to happen against what actually did happen. Now, its a chore but not such a dreaded one.
Duchess_Driver, excellent summary! PS I have grown to love Met.
Suggest you look at Orbifly and hover your cursor over the Sigmet/Turbulence diamonds
Flyingmac, agreed there are other "systems" which is really what I think the OP is asking about.
When teaching basic flying to new students I suggest they look at the aviation weather on a daily basis and ask themselves "Would I go flying today?". You can't expect to look at the weather forecast once every two weeks or a month and be able to readily interpret the information and make a reasoned decision. It takes constant practice.