Our Homeschool Studio
Jun. 30, 2009
The best planner for home and school!
Posted in TOS Crew Reviews
 In January I finally bought the Homeschool Planner from The Old Schoolhouse. I had been reading about it in various places, hearing how great and truly useful it was. I also loved the modules the could be used as mini-unit studies, starting points for something bigger or a fill-in while I got my act together for the 'real' school work  . I was thrilled to find out I would have the opportunity to review the new, improved TOS 2009 Schoolhouse Planner. I wasn't sure how it could be improved but was willing to check it out. I no longer have access to my 2008 planner--I never can seem to get around to backing things up before something goes wrong with the computer  . I can tell that there are many more options in the layouts of the school forms. You can use one form per child per day, up to five children on one form per day, up to nine children on a weekly form and many combinations in between. I did not use these from last year's planner because I was not that organized and we are very relaxed schoolers. As my children are getting older and I will have 1 1/2 more children included in the lesson time, I will be using these forms. My 3 1/2 yo son probably won't be doing much paperwork, but he does not like to be left out of what his sisters are doing. There are many wonderful pages regarding preschoolers--planning pages which include common topics of letters, colors and shapes plus space for adding in your own. There is a checklist page of common skills-sorting, number, letters, etc and a place to put the date when this skill was mastered. There is even a page and a half devoted to putting together a preschool activity box. My above mentioned son is child number four, but I still struggle to remember what sorts of things to put together to keep him busy, interested and learning. Now before you start thinking this planner only pertains to schoolers of young children, let me tell you about some of the other great things found inside. There are pages covering high school transcripts and high school hours tracking log. There are pages devoted to test score recording, daily grades, report cards, progress reports, end-of-year evaluations and more. I think regardless of the way you school, the requirements of your state and the size of your family, you will find many useful things here in the planner. Did I mention that the forms are set up so you can type right into them--before printing them out. My new computer (a Mac) has a function when I go to print (say I have chosen to print just one page that I have filled in) that I can choose instead to save it or e-mail it as a PDF. I could fill out the form for yearly goals for one child and save it for each one with their own information. I believe the free download from cutepdf.com would also work great for this. I had this on our previous computer (an HP) and used it in this fashion. This feature is also really helpful for the household forms.  I have been using some of the household forms ever since I first downloaded this 2009 Schoolhouse Planner. I have been using the weekly menu planning list to post the current weeks menu for dinner then using the lines along the right to jot down things needed for the next grocery run. It seems I never had a good place to keep track of what we ran out of that was not a regular purchase or an item we try to keep on hand. I would get to the store and know there was something I was needing that was not on my list. There is also a form to use that you can have all of your regular items on to just print or have already printed. There are many options for those of us that plan menus in advance and keep a stocked pantry. There are budget sheets to help you stay on track and if needed, get out of debt. It is so much fun to see those monthly bills being eliminated! There are chore lists and charts to track your weekly cleaning, monthly cleaning and seasonal cleaning. With the cute graphics and layouts you just might have those little helpers cheerfully accomplishing their tasks. There are also the expected pages for address, phone numbers, babysitter information, emergency information. Some handy additional forms are the garden check list, Bible reading schedule, loaned and borrowed list and the all important (in our house) website login and password reference. I did not even cover all of the additional information not related to the forms and checklists. There are topics written for each month by a well known author from the homeschool community. This article is followed by additional information on the topic--a resource list for further study, as well as some sort of chart or checklist pertaining to the topic. Then there are two recipes. Each month! The monthly modules that can be purchased seperately or as a membership here coordinate with about half of these topics.  There is still so much I did not cover, you will just have to find out for yourself!  Here is where you can pick up your own TOS 2009 Schoolhouse Planner. If you purchase before July 12, you will get excerpts from last years planner free! Be sure to check out what my fellow Crew mates have to say on this awesome planner on the TOS Crew Homepage. |
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