5 Days of Homeschool 101 | Day 2 | Planning

See Day 1

Ahh, today's topic is one of my favorites.  I LOVE to plan!! Following through with the plans - not so much but the planning and organizing process is my favorite.  I plan for our homeschool yearly and weekly.   Yearly Planning
My yearly planning has pretty much stayed the same since we began homeschooling.  The first steps that I have to take are getting out last year's stuff.  I use this simple checklist that I made to keep me on track each year.  You can print a copy for yourself and tweak it to fit you if you like.   Once most of that has been accomplished, I move on to prepare for the upcoming school year.  I'm currently working on that portion now as we type.  I am actually a little behind this year as I have completely moved our school room to a new location.  Since my oldest son graduated and has moved into his own apartment, we can now use his old room for our school room which is such a blessing.  I cannot believe how much stuff I had packed into a little corner of my bedroom which now currently looks so empty!!  I hope to add in a quiet time area and a treadmill in that space one day.   I try my best to get all the copies that I will need made ahead of time and then file them by week.  Since we use My Father's World, I have weekly student sheets that need filing so any additional copies I will file in with those.  I use an accordion file folder to keep the sheets filed by weeks. Here is a yearly planning video.  Again, most of my process has stayed the same even though this is an older video.  The only major differences that I noticed are we now usually work 6 weeks on and take 1 week off unless the week off is close to a planned vacation.

On the week that we take off I try to plan my the majority of my high schoolers lessons for the next six weeks.  Doing that makes it easier for me to complete my weekly planning.  We may not always get to what is on the list but I still like to have an overall plan.

Of course, I made my own planning sheet for that too! Download here to tweak for your own homeschool needs.

Weekly Planning
I've mentioned this so many times before but I cannot post a planning post without giving it a shout out.  This black zipper notebook aka as "my brain" has been in our homeschool since the beginning and is my all time favorite planning tool because I can keep everything I need for the week inside, zip it up and we're ready to go anywhere - home, on the road, park, basketball practice.

If I have done what I needed to during my yearly planning, then my weekly planning should be pretty minimal usually taking no more than an hour to complete.  Usually I can keep it around 30 minutes.    Mainly, I break down the week for each child.  Here is an older video showing a weekly planning session and things pretty much look the same minus one child.  If you have any specific questions, please let me know! Happy Planning!

Review of the Hey Mama Schoolhouse Planner for 2016-2017

If you have been a reader here long then you know I am a plannerholic! I love planners and I especially have a fond love for paper planners. Today's planner is the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 from The Old Schoolhouse.
I absolutely love the cover of the new Hey Mama planner! It is so nostalgic and brings visions of the hard working yet simple days of the past. Inside you will find 196 pages of spiral bound planner goodness - the biggest one yet! The covers are made of thick card stock and feel like they have laminate on them. This planner begins with July 2016 and runs through June 2017 so it's perfect for the beginning of a new school year. 

 
What I love most about this planner are the Hey Mama inspiration and encouragement letters. I have always been so encouraged by these on Facebook and to have them right there as I am planning is so uplifting! Before you begin each monthly section, you will find a Hey Mama note and a monthly notes page.

Inside you will find the typical monthly and weekly planning pages. The monthly pages are dated but the weekly pages are not which I love! I love that the weekly pages aren't dated because we all take off time at different intervals and if those pages were dated they would just remain blank during our break week creating wasted pages.

Remember those beautiful pictures included on the cover? Well, inside you find out the history behind each of those items! I thought that was such a fun and fascinating touch making this planner truly unique.

Also included are several sections for monthly goals, semester goals, and yearly goals. I love the categories given for breaking down each goal.

The attendance charts could not be simpler to complete. Simply check off the school days as you complete them. One of the requirements of our state is to keep up with attendance so I like to complete my sheets when I do my weekly planning sessions.

These are the pages that I am currently in the planning stages for the next school year. The yearly calendars included are for 2016, 2017, and 2018. I've marked my husband's long days off and marked holidays so far.

The curriculum planning sheets are a great resource to keep all of your information in one place. I have to tell you that it has been so weird to only be planning for two this year though instead of three!

Another unique feature of this planner is that it includes many academic pages including writing prompts, the thirteen colonies, timeline of inventions, US Presidents and their wives, branches of the federal, state, and local governments, and so many more! 

Other forms not shown include information on how to create academic transcripts, a blank transcript (which can be copied), sheets to record books read, homeschooling contact list, checklist sheet of skills learned and other courses. See sample pages for more details. 

 We are about to head into our 9th year of homeschooling and I cannot think of any other resources you might need that this planner doesn't include unless it would be just some extra blank note pages. 

 
This planner can be purchased here and sells for $29 in the US. There are also versions for Canada and International.  

Right now, you can save $10 off the print version of the planner by using the code below. This offer will expire on July 15, 2016.

The Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner is also available in digital or CD formats. Find out more on The Old Schoolhouse by visiting them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+.

Review of The Ultimate Homeschool Planner

Hello, my name is Melissa and I am a planner junkie! I love planners! I don't know what it is but I find myself drawn to them and have used so many different ones over the years and honestly liked them all for one reason or another. I do know when I am feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, taking the time to put a plan on paper helps me to release that overwhelmed feeling even if those plans don't always go as planned.


So, when the chance came to review The Ultimate Homeschool Planner - Orange Cover from Apologia Educational Ministries I did not hesitate. I have drooled over this planner for a while and now it comes in three fun colors -  Blue, Orange, and Yellow!


You can purchase The Ultimate Homeschool Planner alone for $29.00 but it is designed to be a part of The Ultimate Homeschool Planning System which includes The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens (for 7th-12th grades) and The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students (for 4th-8th grades). The whole concept is to gradually teach your student to take responsibility for their own schedules and planning.
We do not own the student or teen planners so I just dug into this one for moms by itself. It can stand alone as a mom planner too.
My first glance at this planner, I saw that the covers doubled as folders on the inside and it is bound together with a sturdy spiral coil. The covers were a little flimsy for my taste but it has held up well so far. I really like the vibrant color choices available for the cover. I have stuck basketball and CAP schedules in the folders and they have stayed in as I have transported my planner from place to place.

Inside you will find a full array of planning goodness including:

• 4 years worth of yearly calendars at a glance
• 12 full pages on suggestions and guides for how to use the planner (which I LOVE)
• one year planning grid
• student goal setting pages
• pre-planning guides
• monthly planning pages
• weekly planning pages
• records, grades, and activity pages
• teaching tips
• high school planning pages
• year in review pages

Included also was a suggested planning schedule to help you plan for peace and it is pretty much exactly what I already do!  It gives times and suggestions for yearly planning, monthly planning, weekly planning, Monday morning tutorials (where you sit down and show your child the weekly plan), and Friday reviews.  Ms. Bell, author of the planner, gives great detail and suggestions on each one of those planning areas.
My favorite part of the planner and the one I utilized the most were the 4 weekly planning pages.  Each weekly plan begins with 2 pages of review from the previous week and planning for the upcoming week. Those 2 pages include an encouraging quote, a place to record areas that didn't work well the previous week and scripture verses to help you through, places to record the most memorable moments, and a place to record evidences of God's grace. 

After those 2 pages you begin your weekly 2 page spread and you can customize it to fit your needs. I gave each of my children a section, schedules and reviews a section, and my weekly cleaning goals a section. There is also lots of room to record notes, supplies, and appointments. 

Overall, I think this is a wonderful planner for any homeschool mom. A few things that I would love to see added or changed to this planner are tabs for the different sections to make finding my place easier. Each section is color coded and that helped but I think tabs would be a better option. I would also love to see a sturdier cover as an option. Check out these sample pages and the table of contents to find out more.

You can find out more on the many homeschool products Apologia offers by visting them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+.

Last Week of Break!

Not a whole lot to plan for this week - woohoo!  This is the 2nd and largest chunk of our break time and I'm headed out of town with my sister later in the week!!

Here's a sneak peak into my next six weeks' school planning session.

Top 5 for the week

1. laundry done and packed
2. 5 minutes of work each day - time it!
3. grocery store - for 3 items - no more - no less!
4. finalize Hellomornings current group members before leaving
5. savor this time for renewal!!!!!!!

Menu Plan  (only planning for 3 meals this week)  Have I mentioned just how much I love break week!!!!

Dinners:

• Fish sticks, applesauce, green beans, spinach for 3 of us that like it :)
• Creamy bacon chicken, rice, peas (new crockpot recipe) - will be sharing during Crocktober.

• Pork roast, potatoes, cabbage, slaw           

Reading goals

• Priscilla Shirer's Discerning the Voice of God
• Judges study with Hellomornings
• Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson

Fitness goals

• try to get at least 5,000 steps daily

New Habit for this Interval until 11/22/15

• water, water, water (at least 32 oz per day)

Review of Last Week

Top 5 for the week

1. allow grace to adjust to new schedule
2. make sure all review items are as complete as possible since I will be out of town next week.
3. catch up on Own Your Life
4. complete next 6 weeks school planning session
5. relist items to sell

Menu Plan  (I really need to finish this but for now I'm too tired.)  I'm thinking something like tacos and a new recipe maybe....to be continued :)

Dinners:

• mini meatloaf, mashed potatoes, garden peas (nope)
• chicken pot pie
• fried chicken drumsticks, potatoes, green beans
• tacos
• potato soup
• beefaroni
• chicken pot pie

                  
Reading goals  caught up on all!

• Priscilla Shirer's Discerning the Voice of God
• Judges study with Hellomornings
• Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson
• 3 Weeks To An Organized Homeschool (kindle pick - It's free at this moment) (aff link)  finished this one - pretty quick read and better for just starting out I think

Fitness goals

• try to get at least 5,000 steps daily (worst week yet - rain, rain, rain is my excuse so I need to implement an indoor plan as well)

New Habit for this Interval until 11/22/15

• water, water, water (at least 32 oz per day)  done!

6 Week Planning Sheet

As we continue into our first week of school, I have been busy making some of my own planning and memory sheets for use in our homeschool.  I like to plan out my high schoolers subjects for 6 weeks at least.  We may not always get to what is on the list but I still like to have an overall plan. 

Download here to tweak for your own homeschool needs.  

Also, check out my Free Printable Page to see if there is anything else that might help you.  I have been so blessed by others sharing with me that I really want to return the favor!

I'm also working on changing up our memory work board this year since we are not working on Classical Conversations memory work this year.  We decided to give it a break since we've been through each cycle twice now.  

We're still memorizing Bible verses, states, capitals, postal abbreviations, Presidents, and have some room to grow.   Here's what it currently looks like.  I'm making a file of the Bible memory verses that we're learning this year for the board and hope to have those available soon so stay tuned (they go with My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times)!  

I'm trying really hard to just keep things simple and in black and white to save time and printer ink!  I already had the Presidents and States sheet.  The periodic table came with MFW student sheets this year.  The bottom middle is what the Bible verse sheets will look like.  

Yearly Homeschool Planning

Ok, I stepped way out of my comfort zone for this but I had a few questions that I wanted to answer and thought a video was the easiest way to do it.  

So, here it is!!  Let me know what you think and if you can actually understand my ramblings.  :)  If you have any more specific questions, do leave those in a comment below and who knows you may get to "see" me again. 



Here are larger photos of the forms that I showed in the video since they were kind of hard to see.

5j's calendar - her year

Our year planned out.

 My Father's World grid - Week 1

Extra:  My planning sheet :)

Linking up at Mama Moments.

2013-2014 School Planning Time

We have been enjoying the long (and rainy) summer days!  But I know in the back of my mind that back to school is right around the corner.  So, I'm taking little chunks at a time to gear up for the big day which looks like August 19th for us.  I know I want to finish by the end of May so I work backwards allowing some flex days when things just don't go as planned.  :)

Thanks to Joy at 5 J's for the yearly calendar.  I use it every year for my annual planning.  She offers it for free here!

Well Planned Day Planner Review

**Disclaimer: I received a free product for my review. The opinions here are my honest and true evaluation. I would not recommend something that I would not use myself. This post also contains affiliate links. Thanks for stopping by!**

For several years now, the Well Planned day planner has been my planner of choice. I have always used the Family Homeschool Planner.  

This year's planner has a few changes:

• monthly calendar on a 2 page layout
• I really like the 2 page monthly layout.  I like to place my husband's days off on this calendar so I can quickly see at a glance what days he is off for the upcoming month.

• monthly tabs 
• I love tabs on a planner!  I purchased the binder with tabs for my last 2 planners but I didn't feel that the planner fit as well as I would like in those.  I was excited to see the tabs included with this planner.  They are still not my favorite though.  They are inserted which to me are harder to see and really defeat the purpose of tabs.  I like for mine to stick out so that I can quickly see where I want to go and get there with as little effort as possible.  If you like for your planner to be streamlined with nothing sticking out then you might like these.  I added my own tabs so they would stick out.  :)
• bolder and brighter colors
• You can probably tell already that I am a very visual person so the colors just make me smile!

This planner has everything that I want my planner to have. Each month includes the monthly planner, sections to record books that you have read or books you would like to read, section to record field trips, and my all time favorite section for monthly bills including amount, due dates, and check box to mark when paid.  I LOVE to check boxes.  :)  Every month also includes 6 small shopping list pages with easy to tear out perforations.  One of the most encouraging parts of the monthly layout are the articles included.  I cannot tell you how much I look forward to beginning a new month just to read the article included for that month.  Sure, I could read ahead when I get my planner but I make myself wait for that refreshment and encouragement monthly.  

I also love the roomy layout of the weekly planning pages which are also on a 2 page layout and include places for planning by subject, check boxes, Bible verses, quotes, weekly Catechism question and answers, menu planning space, and a weekly priority section.

Other forms included in this planner are:

• 4 blank report cards
• 4 student attendance reports for 1st semester and 2nd semester
• progress reports for 4 children for each semester
• monthly sheet to write birthdays, anniversaries, or other dates and a check box to mark when you send a card
• budget form
• household duties sheet to write down weekly and monthly chores
• address section
• a my responsibilities and a my education sheet for 4 children
• 1st & 2nd semester goals sheets
• 2 yearly at a glance calendars - one for 2013-2014 and one for 2014-2015
• future planning and notes sheet
• student schedule and class planning sheet for 4 children
• teacher schedule and class planning sheet

The planner is 8 1/2 x 11 in size and comes in a sturdy spiral bound format.  I really love the size of this planner because it allows me to keep up with everything I need to in one place.  It is also 3 hole punched and I have taken the spiral binding off and used the calendar in a binder as well.  I like both formats and vary from year to year on what I do.  Guess I like change.  :)  The front and back covers have a strong, durable laminated finish helping them to stay in tact throughout much wear and tear!  At least for me anyway - I'm rough on planners!

How I make this planner work for me.

I use my planner a little differently so let me give you a tour of how I make this planner work for me.  I mainly use it for my personal planner.  

The first thing I do is pull out the 1st and 2nd semester attendance sheets and progress reports and place them inside my homeschool brain. (this picture is from last year's planner)  I also pull out the teacher schedule and place it inside my brain.  I fill out the student schedule sheets and give them to each child to place inside their binders.

When I receive my planner, I go ahead and mark my husband's days off on the monthly and weekly sections (see the blue stickers below).  Whenever we receive other schedules such as dance, soccer, school trips, clubs, field trips, etc, I mark those in as well.  The monthly calendar also includes verses to read through the Bible in a year.

Monthly, I write in our bills and due dates.  I choose to write in our books read after we have completed them.  I also read the monthly article included.  

Weekly (usually on Saturday's), I plan out my week using the weekly planning pages.  I use the grids for our scheduled activities as well as my daily and weekly to do's and not for subject planning.  I also begin my week by reading the quotes, Bible verses, and weekly catechism question and answers.  I have used those as a part of our weekly memorization before as well.  Another feature I like is that the week begins on Monday so Monday-Thursday have larger planning areas than the weekend.

For me, this planner has everything I need and it is easily customized!  The Family Homeschool Planner can be purchased online for $24.95 and runs from July, 2013-June, 2014.  For me, it is worth every penny!

But guess what, Home Educating Family has been so kind as to give one of my readers their very own Family Homeschool Planner!!  I think this is one my most exciting giveaways ever!! Just follow the guidelines below for your chance to win!  Contest ends Sunday, 6/2/13 and winner will be picked on Monday, 6/3/13!

**Giveaway now closed - congratulations Jennifer!  I have emailed you!**