The Ultimate Homeschool Planners Review

It's the time of year that we homeschoolers start thinking of next year.  I know, I know, we aren't even done with this year yet but that's what we do!  We are constantly on the lookout for things that make learning easier for our kids.  And life easier for us!

The Ultimate Homeschool Planners by Debra Bell are just the ticket.  I have raved about these before but I get to do it again.  Homeschool Mosaics is proud to review The Ultimate Homeschool Planner for Moms, The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens, and The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students.


If you have never heard of these planners then I have the pleasure of introducing them to you.  I have been using this planner like crazy and I adore it.  I carry it with me all the time and am constantly checking it, writing in it, and checking off assignments.

I am seriously in love with the Mom's Planner.  I can not recommend it highly enough.  There are so many aspects to it that are fantastic that I won't be able to cover them all; but trust me, it is awesome!

I am going to try and tell you as much as I can without being too long-winded. (I could talk about them a long time!)

First of all, the cover is a soft cover that is bendable but durable.  There is a pocket on both the front and back covers to keep important papers and it is spiral bound so it opens fully and easily.  It is a big planner so there is plenty of room to write in.  The first few pages are informational-like filling in the name of your school, students, etc.  The next is a letter from Debra Bell & Zan Tyler and a Table of Contents.

But right after that is the User's Guide and let me say this, DO NOT SKIP THIS SECTION.  It is super important and will really help if you read it.  There are helpful tips for using these planners, scheduling, planning, and ways to keep from getting frazzled.  There are handy pictures with descriptions to teach you how to use the planner.  Let me say again, DO NOT SKIP THESE PAGES.  Read them and then re-read them.  I underlined, highlighted, and made notes in the margins on these pages.

After you have devoured the wisdom of the User's Guide you can move on to filling in your planner!  Woohoo!  Okay, to me this is fun but I'm strange like that.  ;-)

 Here is a bullet point list of the pages for quick reference:

*Year at a Glance-Love this bc the WHOLE year is on two pages
*Student Goal Setter-great to compare at the end of the year
*Family Priorities-a fantastic way to get the kids involved
*Resource Lists for each student-easy way to keep it all together
*Monthly Calendars for the entire Year-the month on two pages with room to write
*Weekly Planner Pages-these include Bible Plan, Battle Plan, Prayers, and places to record the weeks Memorable Moments, and Evidences of Grace.  Right after that is the Weekly Planner where you record assignments for each child. I love, love, love these pages.   I love showing the girls how God is working each week.  I also love the space to record assignments.
*Records Pages for grades-I don't use these but they are handy I'm sure!
*Reading List pages-If you have a literature rich curriculum these are handy
*Activities Log-also handy to keep track of extras for transcripts
*Articles on Learning, Learning Styles, and Teaching Tips-articles full of wisdom and encouragement
*High School Planning Guide-this is invaluable.  This alone is worth it for me.  High School Planning with an example to guide you.  Awesome!

That's a lot, right?  But that can't even begin to encompass this planner.  This Planner is blank, meaning that you fill in the days/dates so that you can use it whenever your year begins and ends.  You are not stuck with a Jan to Jan calendar if you school June to July.  It is completely adaptable to your school calendar.    Yes, it is a little work to fill it all in but it is well worth it.  

Now, I do love this planner but I did make a little modification to mine.  I put sticky tabs on the pages so I knew where each section was at a glance.  That makes it just about perfect!  If you want to buy your own head over HERE.  This planner is $28 and worth every penny.  Oh, and don't forget to check out the new cover design!

The next planners are the Student Planners.  The Weekly Planner is for high schoolers and the Daily Planner is for younger students.

Each one is completely filled with planning pages, month-at-a-glance, how to's, Activity Log, and way to many more to list here.  These planners are so crazy full of stuff you just won't believe it.

The Student Planners are smaller so they will fit easily into backpacks.  Which is nice BUT for our curriculum my high schooler doesn't have enough room to write in all of her literature assignments.  For that reason we wish the High School planner were larger.  We still love it, though.




The Student Planners have the same kind of cover as the Mom's Planner so they are durable and you don't have to be afraid of messing up the covers.  You know, when they shove them in the bottom of their backpacks and cram the rest of their books on top of it!





The Student planners have something my 11yo squealed over...stickers!  In the back are stickers they can use to put throughout their planners to represent appointments, practices, etc.  Now, I would squeal over them too if mine had them.  I might just have to 'borrow' some from the kids!

Now one of the reasons you need to be sure and read the User's Guide is because these planners are designed to work together and teach your students to become independent learners.  Both planners work together to teach the student to plan their work but then helps the mom keep them accountable for their work.  I can't tell you how many times this system of checking off the assignment in each book has reminded me of a lesson that needed completed; saving frustration later in the week.

If you want to get your own Student Planners head HERE for The Daily Planner and HERE for the Weekly Planner.    The Student Planners are $19 a piece.
   
Head on over to Apologia's website and check them out for yourself.  While your there don't forget about their Science Programs and other books by Debra Bell.

Winner of What I Wish I Knew at 18

Chilly Willy won this book too! Rock on!

Renita

Winner of Home Run

Chilly Willy is the winner of Home Run! Woohoo!

Renita

She loves the game anyway

Playing for the Warriors has been a dream come true for Bethany. We love the coach. We love the team. We love the uniforms! Lol

She loves it even though she was injured last night at her game.

The game was a real nail biter. We started out slow but fired more shots on the goal than the other team. We scored first but they followed with a fast goal that should not have counted. Seriously. Their player had such a hand handball I thought we started playing baseball. She held the ball in her hand and directed it toward the goal. Ugh

But our girls answered with a tough defense and a fighting offense. We held the score down to 1-1 until just before the end of the first half. They scored a goal when our defense got caught in the mire and couldn't help the keeper.

It was a little disappointing but considering we were playing a private school team that is really good-we were pretty happy. And our girls were still smiling and working as a team.

The second half started quickly and we spent a majority of the game on their end of the field. We fired more shots on the goal than they did by far. Probably 4-1. Our offense was really driving to the goal. The other teams keeper was outstanding, she was hard to get around and her defense let her down on two of the goals.
 
The score stayed 2-1, the other team, until just about five minutes before the end of the game. Our girls fought hard for the goal and did it! It was so exciting. The excitement was short lived though. The other team had possession and Beth charged them. They kicked the ball and she quickly took control of it. The other team was moving in fast so she reared back to boot it. She has a pretty hard kick and she was going for it on this one. She kicked it good and hard right before a girl from the other team charged. The ball left Bethany's foot and immediately hit the other girls ankle area. It bounced off her and like lightening made a bee line for Bethany's face. It hit her square on the nose and dropped her like a ton of bricks.

We waited for her to get up. She always gets up. She is a tough cookie, as her coach says, and she has only ever stayed down three times in nine years. One was a concussion from the same kind of hit, one was a cracked rib, and now this one. I wasn't too worried until she just didn't get up. She was on her hands and knees facing the ground. The ref called the coaches over and my heart started pounding. They kept her down for a few minutes and then finally after an agonizing amount of time walked her off field. She looked a little woozy as she walked and it took all of my strength not to run over there and rescue her.

see the swelling on the bridge?

They sat her down on the bench and tended to her. But she was benched for the rest of the game. :(  But at least it was only about five minutes. But that entire five minutes she was sitting there looking at the ground. She barely even watched the game. I knew then that she was hurting more than she let on.
The girls on field held on to the tie for all they were worth. We were thrilled with a tie! A win would be better but a tie is nothing to sneeze at, right? We were celebrating the tie when another parent told us they were going for overtime.

Ugh, our girls were tired and I could tell that Bethany was frustrated she wasn't going to get to play. But the refs called them back on the field for two 5min quarters. There would be no shoot out so whoever scored the most in these extra quarters would win.

No pressure, right?

Well, our girls stepped up. They fought hard and fired shots on the goal while defending theirs. The first five minute quarter passed with no score. The next quarter started with much anxiety on the field and off. We were on pins and needles.

The five minutes was flying by with no score when with just about a minute left one of our girls broke away, passed and we scored! It was fantastic. The girl fought until the end and came out the victors.

All in all it was a great game. Thankfully Bethany will be able to play next week in all three games. I don't know if we could have lived with her if they had told she couldn't play! She does love this game!!

Renita

Exciting times

Mosaic Reviews is really amping up and some great things are coming.  I am super excited about some of the upcoming things I get to review.

We are still looking for reviewers if you are interested in working with some great people.  You have to be serious about reviewing and actually post reviews on your blog.  If you can do that then this would be a neat opportunity for you.



At the top of the page is a tab with Team Applications on it.

Really? You're gonna say that to me?

So I was at the doctors office for quite a while today getting some tests done and I encountered something I wish I hadn't.

I had been there for almost four hours when the tech came back in to take out my iv. She was chit-chatting and it came around to us homeschooling. Now, normally I am not one to shy away from telling people we homeschool. I am proud of the fact and I love to talk about it.

But today that backfired.

As soon as I said we homeschooled she started lecturing me and telling me all the bad things about homeschooling.

Seriously. I'm not even kidding.

I sat there for a few minutes listening to her tell me how important socialization is and that they can only really get that in public school. Being around their friends was at the top of her list for reasons for going to school. Not get an outstanding education-socializing with friends. Bleh, what a load of...

I can't even say what I was thinking. :(

I listened to her telling me about how if you farm out the subjects like Math, Science, English, History, and 'subjects like those', then you could probably homeschool just fine. "You wouldn't want to get outside your knowledge base you know." "I mean how could you teach your children things like Math and Science when you don't have any training." Yes, she really said these things. I was getting more and more angry with each new ridiculous thing she said.

She made mention of 'those' types of homeschoolers that never get out of their houses and so their kids never learn to be with their peers...this is when I couldn't keep silent any longer.

I just couldn't.

She brought up socialization again and so I said with as much calm and respect as I could, "I wouldn't send my kids to school to be socialized. I've seen how those peer groups act and I don't want my kids acting like that. I don't want that kind of influence in their lives." She looked at me dumbfounded and I went on. "Socialization isn't the reason kids are in school, education is and frankly my kids are better off at home with me."

Yeah, not sure I won any points with her but I get so tired of people speaking from a place of complete ignorance regarding homeschooling that I just couldn't take it anymore. Tell me where in the real world do people only interact with others in their peer group? College maybe? It certainly isn't that way in the workplace so why is it the best model for education? Life is about getting along with people of ALL age groups, races, abilities, etc not just the ones that are the same age as you.

She has obviously never met my kids and has no idea that they are just about the most social kids there are yet they have never set foot in a school setting. So her theory about going to public school to learn to socialize is complete bunk.

Now, before anyone gets all up in arms mad at me let me be clear. Yes, I homeschool and yes I think it is the best for our family. I also think the public school system is broken and is failing. Not every school is bad and not every teacher is awful. I happen to know some fantastic teachers in the public schools and the students in their classes are fortunate to have them. It's just the system as a whole that's the problem.

No, I don't think every family should homeschool and I don't try to make people feel bad for sending their kids to school. Each family needs to decide what is best for their kids and family. For us it is homeschooling. But when people talk about homeschooling with authority and they really have no stinking idea what they are talking about through personal experience then I get mad. I went to public school and I can tell you firsthand how it failed me. I can speak to the holes in their system because I fell through them. I can also speak about the bad influence some of the public school kids have had on my own kids because I have seen it firsthand.

I can also tell you that some of my children's best friends over the years have been public schooled kids and I have loved them dearly. But they introduced things into my kids' lives that stole a piece of their innocence and that is not okay with me.

My job as a mother is to protect them long enough that they get to be kids and innocent as long as possible. No, not everyone agrees with me and that's okay. I'm their mother and you are not. Blunt? Yes, but true. Why would we force our children to lose their innocence and grow up before they are ready? That is the exact opposite of what a parent should be doing.

Okay, enough of my rant. I'm done complaining about rude ignorant people for now! lol

While I welcome comments if they are snarky or rude I will delete them. I like to have discussions but won't tolerate nastiness.

Renita