We had the opportunity to review the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 by The Old Schoolhouse.
Are you lesson planning right now. Do you use an online program, write it down or fly by the seat of your pants? Flying by the seat of my pants no longer works for me. Despite all of the conveniences of online planners, I am still a pencil and paper kind of girl. I like writing things down and having “my life” right in front of me. If you are the same, the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 may work for you while in the planning trenches.
We homeschool year-round and I have been working on our summer schedule for the past three weeks. Summer school begins on Wednesday. June 1. Am I ready? No! Planning a life, let alone an academic school year is hard. Even though that is true, I enjoy it and have also been working on the lesson plans for our upcoming school year.
Gena Suarez of The Old Schoolhouse has put together a planner, from “just another mama”, to you. She has a heart for homeschool families (mamas especially) as seen through the numerous homeschool publications she and her husband have created as well as the Schoolhouse Review Crew. The Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 is just another extension of her love of homeschool mothers. As a homeschool mother herself, Gena understands the challenges and successes of everyday homeschooling. I see the planner as another way to make that experience a little bit easier.
The planner begins with July 2016, which is typically the first month many homeschoolers are legally able to begin a new school year. Anything done after May and into June is usually considered summer school and those days may or may not count towards the required days needed to complete a school year. We are required to complete 180 days.
The planner includes pages for notes starting July 2016 and going through June 2017.
Gena begins each Notes section with a message that has a lead that begins with a “Hey Mama” page. The message contains encouragement for the mom to use into the next month. Along with a page for writing notes, there is a page of a boxed calendar, so you may quickly see your month at-a-glance.
The next section is a week-by-week glance at the school year. You may opt to use it to list your daily schedule or that of your children.
Some other sections included in the planner are Semester Goals, Yearly Goals and Attendance Chart, Curriculum Planning Sheet and a Homeschooling Contact List. There is also a section on Creating an Academic Transcript with pages for you to write information for one of your children.
At the beginning of the book are at-a-glance calendars for 2016-2018 allowing you to plan further into the next few years. Gena includes quick reference sheets in the back of the planner that may be handy during your school year. Some of the sheets include:
36 General Writing Prompts
Story Starters
Timeline of Inventions
U.S. Presidents and Their Wives
United States and Capitals
Branches of Federal, State and Local Governments
Thirteen Colonies by Date
Since the planner begins in July, I have not started writing in it. Another reason is because, even though I can write in pencil, I prefer not to have to do a lot of erasing after I add items to any planner I use. I am very methodical when it comes to setting up my planner and once my July plan is set, I will add that information and continue for the following months. I am still working on June.
A couple of changes I would like to see in the next planner is to have the Notes, Week of and Monthly Goals sections, for each month, be back-to-back. It would reduce the need to flip back and forth through all of the pages to get to the section of the month you are planning. I would also like to see Monthly Goals pages for each month through June 2017. There are only five as there are of the Semester Goals, Yearly Goals and Attendance Chart pages. I will have to create my own pages for the remaining months and find a way to keep everything together. Having more than four pages of monthly goals, one for each month, would be great.
Depending on your needs in a planner, the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 may work for you. See a sample.
The Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 starts at $29. Take advantage of the coupon offer.
You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members.
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