As a new homeschooler the choice is never easy on what to choose. Whether it is curriculum, methods or scheduling, there are so many options. When we decided to homeschool I spent months researching how best to record grades, attendance, field trips and such, and I’m still not sure that I have the most efficient way of doing things. If you have need of some organizational tools for homeschooling (especially if you are new to homeschooling) I have a suggestion for you!
I was recently able to review The Schoolhouse Planner put out by The Old Schoolhouse Store. You may know them from their magazine publication on which I will also give a review on.
This planner is divided up into three sections. A calendar (with many nice added features), homeschool instructional forms and household forms.
The calendar section is almost overwhelming, but believe me the added features are very useful. The calendar pages themselves have really large grid size squares, so you can easily fit lots of information in them. Each month also includes a listing of facts, a homeschool help for parents, a resource list of products that you can purchase from The Old Schoolhouse Store, and two recipes, all pertaining to a specific theme. The themes range from arts and culture to science and math. For example, July of 2008’s theme was “Celebrate!” So the list of facts was of American Holidays. The homeschool help for parents dealt with table manners and settings (where of course we spend a lot of time around on holidays!). The resource list included a variety of educational media, like unit studies and project packs, about you guessed it, holidays. The recipes also were naturally steeped in summer traditions of American culture and thoughts of sunshine, namely Cheeseburger Pie and Tropical Chicken Dinner. Most homeschooling families probably have these lists somewhere in their curriculum or home, to have them all in one place is pretty invaluable though. I personally feel that some will get more use than others, at least in our home. Our family is Canadian, but our daughter has done all her schooling here in the States, so the “Kitchen Conversion Cheat Sheet”, is good for all of us (okay especially me, since I only know metric!). If your family is adventurous, the recipes might be nice for a change in pace. That is one feature I know I will not be using, as I have a couple of picky eaters in my home and I tend to make the tried and true meals with no surprises!
If you are required by your state to keep records, The Schoolhouse Planner has got you covered. Annual plans and yearly goals to keeping track of Co-op information and extracurricular activities, they have left nothing out. The beauty of this is that since it is all in a pdf document, you can type in the document and save it. Now you have the choice to keep it on your computer or to print it out, or print out the blank pages and fill it in manually if you prefer that method. I had already set up a system on my own in Excel to record grades for this year, because I could not find anything I liked, but I will definitely be using The Schoolhouse Planner Test Score Recording sheets, and Daily Grade Recording Sheets next year.
To be fair The Schoolhouse Planner is not just about the school within your home, but about your home itself as well. That was the third section I mentioned. If you are a list maker, you will probably like this section best. It has the usual phone and contact forms that all of us generally keep somewhere, and chore charts for all members of the family. Menu planners and (my favorite) a fantastically laid out grocery list. Then there are the more obscure forms, such as, garden planning and a pet’s health log.
The Schoolhouse Planner comes as a downloadable e-book, with a cost of $39.00. That may seem like a lot of money for the initial outlay, but seeing as it is electronic it is for your use indefinitely once you purchase it. One child in your family? Use the forms year after year. Two or three children? Same forms – one planner! Except for the calendars, you really are paying $39.00 for what could be a lifetime product if you choose it to be.
I feel the homeschool instructional forms are the best part of the planner. They are what I will use the most. They are well laid out and cover all ages through to High School. With a 7th grader, I also appreciate the lists, like the Periodic Table of Elements and the Countries and Capitals, because when such information is needed, I will immediately know where to look for it.
I was less impressed with the household forms, not because they aren’t well designed, but because most of them I wouldn’t use. That of course is subject to opinion, but since of course we live in a condo, don’t own a pet, keep track of our personal finances and possessions on the computer and are past the stage of chore charts, it is of little to no use for me. For you it may be a gold mine though! Did I mention I love the grocer list layout? That one will get a lot of use in my home!
So then, as a new homeschooler, had The Schoolhouse Planner been out when I was first making lists and record sheets, I probably would have bought one as I feel that the usefulness and longevity of the product would have paid for itself in one year. If you are a seasoned homeschooler, unless you are not satisfied with your current form of record keeping, or need some new monthly ideas, I’m not sure how useful it would be to you. In either case, you can check out portions of the planner here.
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You can hang out with Tammy at Three Different Directions, where if she is not reviewing products or entering giveaways, she is probably sleeping because she tends to write her blog posts at 1 AM!
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