Hey Mama! Let’s Plan {TOS Crew Review}

Hey Mama!  Let’s Plan!  Are you ready for the new school year to begin?  It’s coming up fast starting on July 1st here for us.  That brings me to a great new product review for you.  As a member of the TOS Crew we received a physical copy of Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 to review from The Old Schoolhouse.  It begins on July 1st for our new school year so it’s perfect for jump starting your planning.

First off, the front cover of the planner guys.  I love it.  It’s pretty and appeals to me even though it’s not super bright or colorful.  I’m a farm wife.  I’m old fashioned and I love this cover!  Okay, so onto the inside of the front cover.  There is a wonderful letter of encouragement from Gena Suarez.  Love that touch.  Makes it feel personal like this planner was created just for me!

Hey Mama!  Let’s plan!  So if you’re like me you now want to know what specifically is in this planner because that makes all the difference.  I’ve got 10 kids now(yes little one has been born!!) and by state standards I have to keep records for the oldest six of those children.

This planner gives you three yearly calendars for 2016, 2017, and 2018.  I like having those long range calendars to plan things like field trips and know the weekends that my husband might be gone.  Positives in my opinion that these are in the planner.  You also get monthly calendars for each month that the planner covers.  So monthly calendars from July 2016 through June 2017.  These calendars are two pages each so you can make notes and plan on them too.  Also you get a monthly note of encouragement as well as a page for you to make planning notes for that month.

Next you’re going to find your weekly planning pages.  These are totally blank.  The one thing I don’t like about this planner is that it does not have enough weeks for families who homeschool year round.  The way I get around this is by going online to my membership and printing off some of the digital weekly pages.  I can then paperclip those in so all our weeks can be in the same book.

Because I’m using this with six kids when it’s recommended for five maximum, I’m going to be using my weekly pages a bit differently than most.  The five areas across the top I’m labeling with the subject.  I’m using math, english/spelling vocab/reading, science, history, and then extras. Obviously my reading/english section gets a lot fuller but that gives me an extra column to put in our art and dance and such.  I also add notecards to the planner via clips that include our dance schedule and our piano schedule or sticky notes.  I’m not sure which is going to work the best yet for us but we’re working on it.  Down the side of the weekly pages there are seven boxes.  Six of these have children’s names in them.  The seventh I use for group activities.  There are several things we do together so I write them down there.

It might seem like a mess in my planner to you, but hey mama! let’s plan!!  You show me what works for you and I’ll tell you what works for me.  I like having an extra space to pencil in when we went to which library, when books are due and what our read aloud and read aloud activities are for each week.  That way they’re in there and I know how to count them when recording hours.

Lastly, there are fun encouraging letters and pages of information throughout the planner.  You’re also going to have pages where you can track attendance, goals for semester, books read, as well as planning curriculums.  There are so many extras in this planner I really can’t name them all.  It’s perfectly made for a busy homeschool mama and has built in encouraging posts to help you get through the year.

Don’t just take my word for how wonderful this planner is.  Check out the Main TOS Crew page and look at all the other reviews.  All reviewers received the same product but since we’re all different with different kids you’re sure to find a perspective you can relate to.  You can also check out The Old Schoolhouse on facebook, instagram, twitter, and google +.