I was excited to hear that I had been selected to be part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew and when I heard that we had the opportunity to review the The Schoolhouse Planner, I jumped on it. I had wished for something to help me manage my new responsibilities and this planner was all I hoped for and more. If you have read my blog for long, you know that I like plans, lists and schedules so this seemed like a perfect match. Little did I know. This planner is an organizer’s heaven. It contains everything I can think of and even more.
As I read over the Table of Contents, I was amazed at the amount of information and forms that they have packed into this resource. Over the past few weeks as I have been doing my daily tasks I have often stopped and thought, “I wonder if they have a sheet for that in the planner?” Each time the answer has been, “yes they do!” Life seems so much simpler when you have a plan and TOS’s Schoolhouse planner makes it easier to organize that plan.
TheThe Schoolhouse Planner is a 375 page PDF download which is simple to save on your computer. All of the forms in the planner are type-able, you can type directly into the PDF and then save and print the files with your information already included. The Planner is available for $39.00 from www.TheOldSchoolhouseStore.com and is divided into 4 sections; monthly calendars, miscellaneous educational information, homeschool forms and household forms.
In the monthly calendar section you will find a spacious 2 page calendar layout for each month. Every month also has it’s own theme and includes articles, charts, graphs, and recipes. Some of the articles are “What’s So Great About Dead Languages?”, “Using Letter Writing to Connect the Generations”, and “Learning to Spot the Planets” written by well-known homeschool authors, including Steve Demme (Math-U-See) and Jay While (Apologia Science) and supplemented with ideas to teach or implement the ideas in the articles. There is also an extensive resource list for each theme. These articles and resources provide ideas and inspiration for the beginning of another school year, and offer ideas for unit studies and ways to incorporate new learning techniques, such as lap-books or letter writing, into your daily school. It’s like your own homeschool convention in a box!
The miscellaneous educational information section has charts listing such things as measurement conversions, famous artists, composers, and a time line of inventions that can be good additional resources for succinct information to supplement what you are already covering or to serve as memorization lists.
Now we come to the part of the calendar where my knees go weak. There are 116 homeschool planning pages. You read that right 116! Whether you plan a lot or a little, whether you love lists or hate them, here you will find just the forms and schedules that you need for a well planned, organized school year. From daily planning pages to a complete high school transcript, The Old Schoolhouse team has thought of everything.
Here is a small sampling to tempt your inner organizer:
- grading and progress reports
- a form to keep track of Bible memory work
- books read
- crafts completed
- field trip planning
- nature journal pages (2 designs both have an area to draw and a lined area for notes. Y’all know that we love nature journals.)
- science lab reports
- a form to keep track of library books (This would have saved our family nearly$50 this year.
) - forms for co-ops, unit studies and unschooling
- daily, weekly, monthly and yearly schedules
- goals pages
- etc, etc, etc. Did I mention 116?
The Schoolhouse planner also includes over 50 household planning pages. Again the list seems nearly endless.
- Emergency numbers
- Daily chore lists
- Daily schedules
- Menu planners
- Project lists
- Budget and financial pages
- Garden plans
- Gift lists
- Food inventory
- Vacation planners
- Bible reading schedules
If you have a home management notebook (my children lovingly refer to mine as my brain), you will find all of the forms, charts, and pages that you need for it in this one place. The Schoolhouse Planner will also give you ideas for ways to be even more organized. The planner inspired me to revamp my pantry and shopping lists. Now that my big girls are back, I can’t wait to get back to our schedule. You know how life seems so much simpler when you have a plan? Take a deep breath and relax The Schoolhouse Planner has done most of the work for you, now if I could just stick with the plan for a whole year…
You may also enjoy:
Very cool!
[Reply]
“an organizer’s dream.” yes indeed!
[Reply]
Wow – my inner organizer is definitely tempted. You should see my “home management” book now – if that’s my brain, I’m in trouble!
[Reply]
Great job on your first review! I knew you would be great on the “crew.”
[Reply]
Are you using the 2010 Schoolhouse Planner?
I hate that they don’t give us a better look at the actual weekly schedule pages so we can decide if it works for us.
[Reply]
Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 5:29 am
I don’t use it as much as I should.
There are so many options and so many different styles and layouts, you would almost certainly be able to find one that would work for you. I’ve been able to find something for everything that I’ve wanted to do.
[Reply]