As a Type A personality, I love planning. That doesn’t always mean I am as organized as I would like to be, but it does mean I like to have a plan in place. That bleeds over in to our homeschool as well. Even though I know our plans may change as the week goes on, I still take time out to create at least a general plan for the week.
As my children get older and outside activities come in to play, we have more than just school during our week. My kids have played sports, taken dance lessons and even guitar lessons in the past couple of years. My husband is a minister, so his schedule changes almost daily and can be highly unpredictable.
Several years ago we adopted a mostly year-round homeschooling schedule and love it. But, with 5 children, there are weeks that seem like we are running around constantly with little or no structure. If I didn’t plan ahead in our homeschooling, we could easily fall behind.
Enter The Essential Year Round Homeschooling Planner created by my friend, Misty over at Year Round Homeschooling.
As a self-proclaimed planning addict, I was so excited when she told me about her newest product! And I couldn’t wait to see it completed. I couldn’t download it fast enough. I love, love, love it!
I love the color scheme of this planner. I am weird when it comes to planners. I do not like a lot of bright colors. I like a simple & clean format, so that I am not distracted by the “pretties” of the planner. I know that sounds weird, but its what I prefer. The colors and designs in this planner are beautiful and subtle. I love the color palette and the soft, watercolor images do not distract from the design, but rather enhance it.
Full Life Planner
I love that this planner is not just about homeschooling – it takes in to account your entire life. As year round homeschoolers, we have to consider more than just holidays in our planning. Right off the bat you are encouraged to Determine Your Schedule, including your spouse’s work and family vacations as well as your schooling schedule.
Setting You Up for Success
I have known Misty for several years now and one thing she is passionate about is helping other homeschool moms succeed. This planner reflects her desire to help Year Round Homeschooling Moms succeed, as she guides you through how to save money on curriculum, structure your days without becoming overwhelmed and learning to allow your child to choose a subject or two!
Planning Options
I love that this planner includes both Monthly, Quarterly and Weekly Planning pages to outline your lessons and units for the year. It also includes several different Week-at-a-Glance pages that are perfect to use if you do a more child-led method or your child works mostly independently.
Looking Back
After our first year of homeschooling, I felt like we bounced all over the place – almost like we didn’t accomplish much. However, when a dear friend of mine sat down with me and started asking questions on where we were, what he understood and things he learned in the past months, I realized we covered much more than I thought. Misty has included Monthly Review pages for you to track your progress. I love this, because it helps you adjust for the upcoming month to make sure you stay on track, but not breeze past something that deserves more time. She also included some Quarterly Review pages, which are very similar to the 6- or 9-week reviews public schools send home for students. These are a great way to track their progress, improvements and gauge how to make things better.
The Year End Review is what I use most often as we finish up our “school year”. As Year Round Homeschoolers, we often find ourselves doing schoolwork through the summer, so it is important that I know where each child is in the bookwork at all times. The Year End Review helps me see tweaks we might need to make in the coming year as far as course load, areas where they are lacking and more!
Additional Tracking Pages, Grading Helps & More
Most states require a set number of homeschooling days be recorded for each student. Whether you have to turn in those records, it is always a good idea to keep track. Misty has included a variety of tracking pages including Attendance records and Grade Log. She has also included some wonderful grading helps for those who grade papers and are required (or like) to give grades.
Field trips are one of the big perks for homeschoolers. We can take a field trip nearly every day if we like, but how can we track what is being taught or learned on these field trips? Misty has you covered – from ideas to tracking sheets, you will be able to make the most of your field trips in the next year.
She has also included some blank Notes and Brainstorming pages for those of us who need to write every. single. thing. down. She loves us so much to create pages right in the planner just for us!
Whether you are a year round homeschooler or not, this planner has all you could possibly need and more to succeed in your homeschool. There are no dates on the calendars, so this planner is a one-time purchase that can be used year after year!
Save BIG on this amazing new product!
July 12 – 14 $9.99
July 15 – 17 $12.99
July 18 – 20 $15.99
July 21st $19.99
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