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!

.*~.*~

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

.*~.*~

Find The Old Schoolhouse on Social Media @

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/theoldschoolhouse/?fref=ts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosmagazine/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TOSMag  @TOSMag
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Theoldschoolhouse1

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

TOS Review - Apologia Homeschool Planner

I am a planner.... Born that way! I actually have been known to calm myself down, put myself to sleep, or just plain relax by pulling out a calendar and planning. So, I was thrilled to get a chance to review The Ultimate Homeschool Planner - Orange Cover from Apologia Educational Ministries.


The planner also comes in yellow and blue.

*

What is The Ultimate Homeschool Planner?

I receive a spiral-bound physical planner that has a water-resistant cover.

It is packed with everything a homeschooling mom needs to plan. I opened it up and saw several pages explaining how to use it. I then began to look through the pages and saw:

• Year-At-A Glance Calendar Pages Through 2017
• Contact Information Sheet
• Yearly planning sheets
• Student Goal Setter Pages
• Pre-Planning Guides
• Monthly Planner
• Weekly Planner
• Records - Grades
• Records - Reading Lists
• Records - Activities
• Teaching Tips
• High School Planning Guide
• Year In Review
• Notes
• Bibliography and About the Author Pages

How Did We Use It?

Having a high school sophomore and an 8th Grader who is doing high school work this year, I was immediately drawn to the High School Planning pages first. I was so excited about this section that I dove right in and completely skipped the introduction of how to use the planner.

I then went back and read the how to use it pages before beginning the rest of it. The "How To Us It" section encourages setting aside planning sessions where prayer is the main focus and open discussions with husband and children are encouraged to set goals together. It suggests:

• A Yearly Planning Retreat (4-8 hours)
• A Monthly Planning Session (2 hours)
• A Weekly Planning Break (30 minutes)
• Monday Morning Tutorials and Prayer (20 minutes per child)
• Friday Afternoon Reviews (15 minutes per child)

I love having the option of not having to choose between a monthly planner or a weekly planner, because there is merit in both, both of them are right there in one handy Planner.

What Did We Think?

First of all, I absolutely love Apologia. I don't think there is a product that they have put their name on that is anything short of amazing.This planner is no exception. It is quality and packed with everything a homeschooling mom needs. It also feels good in your hands, and they even thought to make the cover out of a wipe-off material, so there is no worries if I set it down on the counter by mistake or out of habit. Inside the covers are folder slots for loose papers. So wonderful!

Another thing I really appreciated was that within the weekly planners, there is a section at the end/beginning of each new week to write down your Bible Plan, your Battle Plan with a fighter Bible verse, your Prayers, and your Hospitality/Outreach plans or successes. It also has a section to write your most memorable moments from the week as well as evidences of Grace. With these sections provided each week, the planner becomes more of a diary or keepsake alongside the planner.

And, not to be left out, the Monthly Planner section also has a space for notes as well as various encouraging quotes.

Here is all of the social media information for Apologia: Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+

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

TOS Review - Homeschool Planet Planner

I was given a chance to review the Homeschool Planet, a planner from Homeschool Buyers Co-op.

What is Homeschool Planet?

Homeschool Planet is an online all-in-one planner. It allows you to not only create schedules of classes and extra curricular activities or appointments for your family, but it also has a bunch of extras to discover.

The planner allows you to choose various formats, day, week, month. It also has the ability to:

• View in planner mode
• View in calendar mode
• View each individual child's schedule
• View as a family
• Print schedules
• Send lists and reminders to you and your children's emails
• Instantly see the weather
• Find recipes and plan meals
• Create and send shopping lists to your phone/email or print for individual stores you frequent
• Create and print transcripts
• Color code (yay!)
• The ability to create an easy-access icon and access directly from mobile devices
• There's probably so much more that I have forgotten to list

                              I received one full year's access to this online home and homeschool complete planner.

How Did We Use It?

   

I started off by spending a little bit of time each day just discovering the features and setting up all of the basic information for each child and each of their classes.

I loved that I could print out a schedule for each of my children, and then they can simply check the box as they complete each assignment. Perfect for record-keeping..



What I learned along the way was every day brought a new little gem that I learned about as one more feature that I loved. I was extremely excited when I found out that there was an instruction sheet about how to create an icon for my iPhone that takes me directly to the Homeschool Planet Planner site. I WAS THRILLED!

I also love the transcript form that I'm filling out for my high school son. It looks and is, quite official!

What Did We Think?

For starters, I am very color-focused. If I meet a new person or am trying to find a lost object around the house, my first question is always "what color?" What color was the person's shirt, hair, car? What color was the lost object, etc. So, of course, the first thing I noticed was the color-coding system. You can choose your own colors for each class and activity. This is a huge YAY! big whopping plus in my book. It makes it a quick glance easy access to discover what each child is supposed to be doing at any given moment of any given day.

The second thing that absolutely thrilled me was the day I discovered I could create an on-screen icon for my iPhone and access the planner, even modify the planner, right there from my phone. So often, online programs are just not really compatible with Apple products because they require Flash or other programming that just doesn't work well on the iOS platforms. So, I am beyond jumping up and down that this planner is now right there at my fingertips on my phone, which I almost always have by my side while teaching, and it creates a one-stop homeschooling planner that doesn't jumble up my iPhone calendar app and, for me, is far less cumbersome to use.

Find Homeschool Planet Planner on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

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.