The Ultimate Homeschool Planner {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

Life has the tendency to change up on you when you’ve made other plans. I know this quite well because recently I unexpectedly became pregnant with out third child. We weren’t exactly planning for another baby and in fact made the decision that we were done for numerous reasons. This decision was decided upon this year and I in turn purged the house of all baby things. You can imagine our surprise. Our home-school year for my two children ages 7 and 4 was planned out and sorta set in stone and the schedule was running smoothly. Well, all that changed as I’ve been fatigued, sick, and nauseated for a few weeks and have had to be creative in straying away from intended lesson plans, field trips, and intended goal completion dates.  God’s plan for our life and our homeschooling has been something completely different so we are rolling with it.

I knew right away with upcoming holidays, doctor appointments, and days of just feeling plain icky that some things needed to give and I needed to figure out what to focus on for each child as main goals. So in an attempt to re-plan, re-prioritize, and re-think our entire school year till and long after our third little bundle of joy arrives, the The Ultimate Homeschool Planner – Blue Cover by Apologia Educational Ministries  couldn’t have come at a better time to review through the Schoolhouse Crew review team.

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner covers 52 weeks for a single school year. It stands alone but can also be used along with The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students or for Teens if one wishes to teach and guide their students to be more responsible in keeping track of  their own schooling.

This planner is more than just calendar pages with room for jotting down lessons, unit studies, and field-trips. It has a spiritual component behind and through the entire planning process! I know before we decided upon our homeschooling journey we sought God in prayer in the decision to do so, so I am glad the author Debra Bell and creator of this planner has in-cooperated faith based decisions weaved through the entirety of the school year. She does this by leaving room for journaling, places to jot down a battle verse, prayers, hospitality/Outreach, memorable moments, evidence of Grace, and a spot to write down a Bible plan you intend on sticking too each week. Oh, how all of this can be swept aside and focus lost through those hard and challenging times in life.

 At the start of the planner, there’s detailed introduction and user guide to get you started in using this planner. Not everyone has the same sort of planning style so it leaves plenty of room of room for customization. The pages aren’t pre-dated so one can begin to use this whenever they please whether your school year starts in July or September. There are a few different ways to plan out the school year. You are given the options to do it by month, week, or year. This planner can be used for up to six students.  There are student goal setter, pre-planning guide pages, and reading lists which make easing into more detail planning stages simple. If you keep records and grades, there are enough pages to jot down subject, score, and grade. Adequate time set aside per give suggestion should have any homeschooling family well on their way to a smooth running school year.

I’m still in the re-planning progress of our school year. This planner is helping me to re-think some of things I decided upon before and focus on the most important things right now. I’ve tried numerous ways to keep organized through electronic device apps, computer programs, and with planners that just weren’t designed specifically for homeschool and they only worked so-so. This planner however seems to be working out. I love the generous size and the fun color scheme. I’m old-school and feel nothing beats pen and paper so this planner is right up my alley.  The fact that I can grow in my faith and keep our homeschool Christ centered and focused through the prompts in this planner just adds icing to the cake. I certainly recommend it!