TOS Review - Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 from The Old Schoolhouse

HEY, MAMA! Are you trying to plan next year's curriculum, but sometimes feel discouraged and wonder if homeschooling is even a good idea, then this review is for you! 

If that doesn't describe you - It does describe me some days, and then along came this Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 from The Old Schoolhouse to review. The name, "Hey Mama!" is one of the things that makes this Schoolhouse planner unique. This is a planner with the homeschooling mama in mind, hence the name "Hey Mama!"

What is the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017?

This is a printed and spiral-bound planner for the upcoming 2016-17 school year, starting in July 2016. Interspersed throughout the planner are interesting tidbits about historical artifacts and pages that are intended to encourage the homeschool mom, again that's story behind the name HEY MAMA!

Also available is a digital version which you can download and print out to use immediately!



These little notes of encouragement are amazing, and I'm sure will pop up at just the right moments throughout the school year, especially those days when you feel like sending them off on that big yellow school bus and calling it quits.

It's a planner meant for homeschoolers who are looking for a simple way to organize learning activities with monthly entries and practical, easy-to-use roomy planning pages and calendars, along with useful educational and historic facts at your fingertips.
It's more than just a calendar. Throughout the planner are short notes directed specifically to homeschooling moms. As soon as you open up the planner, there is a big Hey Mama greeting with a note of encouragement from Gena Suarez of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.



Grab your pencil and a cup of coffee, and let's get started:

Turn the pages, and you see:



2016 Calendar
2017 Calendar
2018 Calendar


I LOVE THE BIG SPACES THAT FIT WRITING ENOUGH TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL 3 OF MY KIDDOS!
Monthly Calendars with Notes and Hey Mama Letters



These calendars are followed by homeschool forms:

Weekly Planners
Monthly Goals



Semester Goals
Yearly Goals
Attendance Chart


Our state doesn't require keeping track of attendance, but I'm going to try to use this attendance chart as a checklist for hours completed each day.

Books Read This Year
Curriculum Planning Sheet
Homeschooling Contact List
36 General Writing Prompts
Story Starters
The Thirteen Colonies by Date
Timeline of intentions
US Presidents and their Wives....(LOVE, LOVE, LOVE HOW THEY THOUGHT TO INCLUED THE WIVES - AGAIN.... Catch the theme ----  HEY, MAMA!
Branches of Federal, State and Local Governments
US and Capitals
Creating an Academic Transcript
Academic Transcript
Checklist and Skills Learned
Other Courses

How Did We Use It?



See this mound of books?  That's just one stack of books that I need to weed through to finish planning for my children's 2016-17 school year. Most of these are for one of my three children. I have another stack around the corner that I have to finish logging onto my middle child's high school transcript, and then I have my unschooler who makes my logging traditional hours challenging.

Throughout the planner, there are short histories about artifacts of our past. These are really interesting to read and could even be used to stem an entire history lesson.

I was so excited when my planner arrived. As odd as it may sound, I have been excited to go back to the pen/pencil and paper method of planning and record keeping. Here's why:

When I began homeschooling 11 years ago, I was meticulous in writing down my son's school hours onto just a basic spiral notebook. I then transferred his hours and class information onto a software program. After a couple years of doing this, my daughter entered Kindergarten, and I did the same procedure for both children. A few years later, my third child entered Kindergarten, but my computer crashed and died. With it, my software program was no longer usable. Since that time, I have been searching for a way to log hours and keep records and have not found a better system. I have come to realize that the old-fashioned pencil and paper method works best for me. So, I anxiously awaited the arrival of my Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017.

What Did We Think?

I really like the layout of this planner, and I can't wait to put it to full use during this upcoming school year. I'm so excited to have a paper planner again. I love the big square blocks on the calendar pages, and I really think the lists of facts, like the presidents and their wives, is going to come in handy especially with one child learning more about presidents this year. I appreciated that there is an easy form for high school transcripts. Mostly, I'm thrilled that there are notes of encouragement just for HEY, MAMA! - That's me! throughout the planner. I have a feeling that just when I start to feel discouraged, one of these notes is going to hit me in an oh, so timely fashion!

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USE THE SPECIAL COUPON CREWCODE to grab your planner today for $19 (which includes shipping)!

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Read what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

TOS Review: The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner

I was happy to get the opportunity to review The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner from The 7 Minute Life.

The planner is intended for moms (or dads) and is a 7.3" by 8.5" physical planner with a wide spiral binding that I could hold in my hands. It sells for $24.95 with a portion of the proceeds going to a charitable organization called ShareHope7 which provides water, food, and education to animals and people in need.

With the planner, you also have access to more than 20 additional planning and management tools online when you register through the site for free. I chose to do this as well.

This 12-minute video explains how The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner works. The video summarizes the typical daily planned scheduled, and right about the 7 minute mark on the video, it begins to dig into how the 7 Minute Life Daily Planner is different.



The idea is that major life changing events happen one little step at a time in short increments. Also, studies have shown that the average adult attention span is 7 minutes long. Since attention and focus is one of the key elements in achieving successful time management, the 7 Minute Life Daily Planner was created. Through it all, it boils down to three basic steps:

SO, HOW DID I USE IT?

When I first read through how to use the planner, I thought the planner seemed to be focused toward a business person than a stay-at-home homeschooling mom. However, since I am actually a self-employed work-at-home homeschooling mom married to a self-employed musician; I figured, I could apply all of the concepts toward bettering our businesses while enhancing the school time I spend with my children. 

I also realized that everyone's planner becomes very personalized, because it first walks you through outlining your personal goals. If you are not a work-at-home, self-employed parent; this planner is still very useful in time management goals. You just might not need to focus so much on parts of it like the voicemail log and instead, focus on the 5 before 11, the reading, and other aspects of the planner to attain your individual goals. I know that even though I work from home, I rarely have to tend to voicemail. Though, I do cover a ton of emails in one day.

I'M ALREADY ALWAYS IN SUPER PLANNER MODE - WILL THE 7 MINUTE LIFE DAILY PLANNER REALLY CHANGE MY DAYS?

I am a super planner. It's in my DNA to plan. I actually enjoy sitting and looking at a calendar to fill up properly. And, I take great pride in my ability to plan. I have my own little scheduling and planning system that works for me. So, when my planner arrived, I wasn't sure how well it would fit into my planning.

Did I have 7 minutes a day to give it a try?

The nice thing for me is that I received the planner for review just two days before leaving on a 4-week tour with my husband who is a musician. The kids and I joined him as a working vacation where he performed several jobs out most days, and we enjoyed the beaches of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  This time was perfect to learn about the 7 Minute Life because I had time to really reflect.

Here's how it looked when I was using it:

DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS?

Each planner is set up to cover 90 days and has a file pocket in the inside back cover to hold additional notes and such. After the 90 days, just file the planner away and begin a new one. I thought this was a really nice idea. Not only is 90 days a doable increment of time, thought of in the business world and college world as a quarter, but the planners also become a ready-made diary/scrapbook kind of keepsake that is easy to find and refer to whenever necessary.

HOW TO BEGIN

It's very important to read the first several pages of the planner before you dig in to use it, because it walks you through several exercises where you determine your purpose and your goals. When I began writing what I love to do and what my talents are, I wasn't surprised to discover what popped up. I was, however, surprised to see the order they came to my mind. It was really interesting to have them right there in front of me in writing.

After I read through the entire introduction explanations of how to use the planner, I realized that part of the online tools include short videos explaining how to use each aspect of the planner. So, I watched those as well.

REACHING OUT AND MAKING CONNECTIONS

The one aspect I found the most difficult was committing to connecting with 3 people each day. I am very much an introvert, which doesn't mean I'm shy. It means I derive my energy by being alone and having time to introspectively reflect. People connections drain me. So, I almost skimmed over this part to dismiss it thinking, "Well, this is the true reason I'm never as successful as I want to be. I just can't make these connections. There are very few people I want to connect with every day, and the ones I do enjoy spending time with are already under my roof." But, I bit the bullet and decided to give it a try.

My favorite part of the planner is the 5 before 11 concept. Just 5 things a day add up quickly toward achieving my purpose in life. And, think about it - 5 things a day all before 11 a.m.

What I discovered is that this is not just another daily planner. It's more of a mini time and life management course. Another part of the "7 Minute" idea is that planning the most important tasks for each day, referred to as the 5 before 11 (5 tasks to accomplish before 11 a.m. each day), should take only about 7 minutes each day to plan.

Find The 7 Minute Life on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google +, and Pinterest.