Thursday, April 11, 2013

Apologia–The Ultimate Homeschool planners

Debra Bell has made keeping track of the homeschoolers schedules very easy and fun.  She has designed one for parent’s, students and teens.

I am not a planner.  I am not even going to pretend I like it.  But being a homeschool mom makes it necessary.   There are so many things to keep track of in our daily lives while doing school.   

I remember when I was in school I always loved the teacher’s planner that kept our grades and assignments .   I enjoyed looking at all of the neat little rows of numbers (grades) and then the squares that told what we were going to do each day for each assignment.

This kind of planning simply doesn’t work for homeschoolers.  Each child is usually doing a different schedule.  We, like a lot of homeschoolers, don’t even keep grades.  I see no need for it when my children are required to fix their mistakes as they happen. 

Debra Bell, along with Apologia, has came up with three different planners that we have really enjoyed using . 

Ultimate hs plan

The first is the Ultimate Homeschool Planner.   This has everything you need to chart your homeschool journey with this day planner.  There is a place for lessons, assignments, and activities as well as academic and personal goals for all of your children.  This is spiral bound and seems very durable.  This is too big to carry in your purse but fits in a book bag well.

My favorite things about this planner is there is plenty of space, a place for memorable moments, and evidence of God’s grace.  I feel like it is so easy to get overwhelmed with life and not take time to remember all of God’s blessings.  

I have used this as a daily planner as well as for our homeschool things.  I personally didn’t put the kids lessons in this one but in the individual ones they received to use as their own.  They suggest writing them in The Ultimate planner and then letting the kids copy their lessons.  I didn’t take the time to do this step although I agree that this would be to help children learn responsibility.

You can see a sample and table of contents by clicking the links below. 

This sells for $28 and comes in two different colors.

Next is the Ultimate Daily planner for Students101_1106.

This one is $19 and is designed for the student to keep track of their daily plans.  There is trivia on each page.  Bella, my 10 year old, used this one, and I have listened as she read every single trivia fact to me.  She loves that part of the book.   My favorite part of this one is the Bible verse on each page. 

This is a picture of Bella using the Ultimate Daily Planner for Students and Griffin is using the Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens.

The teen planner helps teens keep track of credit hours and has a place to keep all of their lessons for the week.  We used both of these as a way to keep track of what they did instead of what they are supposed to do.  Each of them are required to do a certain number of pages in each of their books and they know this.  So, I didn’t see any reason in writing this down every day.   Instead, they used the books to keep track of books they are reading, pages they complete, and trips we have taken.  I also have them write down physical activity such as gymnastics and outside activities to fulfill our physical education requirements.  

The teem planner also has helpful tips, SAT word building,  and study aides to keep them growing in responsibility.

All three of the planners are spiral bound and this keeps the pages neat.  One of the neat things about the student planner is the spiral is glow in the dark.  Pretty cool, huh?

I have loved everything Debra Bella has written and these planners are no exception.  If you are looking for a way to help reduce stress and keep yourself and your kiddos on tract, then these planners may be just what you are looking for.

                                                                                                         Our family gives Homeschool planners

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Smiley guide
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1 Smiley - Product not really for our family. Probably wouldn’t buy. This really should probably be a frown face but we hate to be negative.
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2 Smileys - Would maybe buy this product if on sale. Not a great fit for our family.
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3 Smileys - We really liked this product and would probably recommend this to friends and fellow homeschoolers.
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4 – Smileys – Definitely would buy this if the budget would allow. We suggest you check this out to see if it is a fit for your family.
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5 Smileys – Would sell the family pets to get this one (just kidding). A must have for our family and we think you should get it too.

Thank you to Apologia and Mosaics Review for the opportunity to try this product. 
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great review! Love the smiley system!

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