The 2009 Schoolhouse Planner is just loaded with much more then you would initially think you’d find in a “planner”. It's offered by The Old Schoolhouse Store for $39. This is a downloadable ebook which makes printing off just what you need (and not printing what you don’t) very easy. When I think of a “planner” my mind thinks first calendar or datebook but that’s not really what this is at all. It has so much to it.
The best feature by far is the enormous amount of forms that you can actually type right into. Over the years I’ve found many sites with “planning forms” but not many that allow you to “type” right into them as they are protected which means you can print but not alter. The ones in this planner say at the top of your Adobe screen ,”You can add comments and mark ups to this document.” Without this feature you’d have to print and write in what you want but with this feature you can print and write or type it in and have a neater looking copy. I Love it!
Many of the forms are ones I’ve either had to locate or create myself and they’ve got them all put together for you. Trust me, over the 10+ years I’ve been homeschooling this would have been great to have to START with. Just some of the ones I’ve found necessary to create that they’ve included are transcript lists, yearly planners, weekly planners, due dates, library books, book report forms, freezer inventory, menu plans and a lot more. A few of the ones I haven’t got around to creating that I’ll use are the report card (my daughters have been asking me for one), test score recording sheet, high school hours (I’ll make my son use this one), progress reports and Bible memorization records.
Besides the forms they have lots of “fun” stuff. You know all the extra charts and things you get in datebook or cookbook. You might normally find measurements charts, substitutions, state abbreviations etc… Well in here you’ve got those type of things but for homeschoolers. Who else but a homeschool mom would like charts of the thirteen colonies, explanations of the branches of government and the solar system. Along with these “school” related helps are the home related things like car maintenance records, gift logs and chore charts.
With a $39 price tag you do expect to get a lot and you really do. Besides all that I’ve mentioned so far they’ve included articles from favorite homeschool authors like Jay Wile and Amanda Bennett. If that weren’t enough they’ve also thrown in some recipes for good measure and who doesn’t love to at least think about trying some new recipes (even if you never, “get around to it!”)
Yes, if you think like I do and expect calendar pages in a planner they are there too though if I were to make a criticism it would be in this area. They have one page calendars of the next couple years which come in handy for long range planning and they have a two page month by month calendar but that’s it. I would have liked to see more options here.
So bottom line, will I use it and should you buy it? I will defiantly use parts of it. I’ve however become a creature of habit and do already have many similar forms that I’m accustomed to so I’ll keep those but will defiantly add some from this planner! You should defiantly consider buying it if you’re just starting out or just starting out getting organized. If you’re fairly organized like me and have a system that works well with forms you’ve created or found along the way you may not get the whole bang for your buck (although I guarantee you will find some things to use!) Though if you’re an organized type already you’re probably fairly addicted and what could be more fun then more forms?!?!?!
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