2016-2017 Hey, Mama! Planner {TOS Review}

I haven't used planners much in our homeschool, but as my children are getting older {and more numerous} I am finding the need to have my plans all written out in advance. I have never bought a homeschool planner before; that's why I am so excited to be reviewing the Hey Mama! Print 2016-2017 Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse!

This planner is a sturdy, 192-page planner with a metal binding. This planner is more than just a calendar, though. It's full of helpful homeschool forms and checklists!

• 2016, 2017, and 2018 Calendars
• Monthly Calendars with Hey Mama! Letters
• Weekly Planners
• Monthly, Semester, and Weekly Goals
• Attendance Charts {for 5 children}
• Books Read This Year
• Curriculum Planning Sheet
• Homeschool Contact List
• 36 General Writing Prompts
• Story Starters
• The Thirteen Colonies by Date
• Timeline of Inventions
• U.S. Presidents and Their Wives
• Branches of Federal, State and Local Governments
• United States and Their Capitals
• Creating an Academic Transcript
• Checklists and Skills Learned
• Other Courses

As you can see, this planner is much different from most homeschool planners!

The Hey Mama! Letters are scattered through the planner, full of encouragement and wise words from one Mama to another. I imagine I'll be reading through these quite often, as I need lots of encouragement through the school year to keep on going!

Also throughout the planner are pictures of old-fashioned tools and cooking implements, along with fun information and history about them. Among them are cast iron skillets, butter churns, and pitchforks. I enjoyed reading the historical bits and helpful information, as well as admiring the pictures - I love old-fashioned pictures!

The Weekly Planner Pages are spread over 2 pages, and include a 7 rows of 5 columns. I haven't decided how I'm going to use these yet - I may write my children's names across the top and the different subjects down the side. If I do it this way, I will use this to record a simple day's lessons. For example, below I have written down what each of them should be doing each day in each subject. I plan to have this available to each of them during the day to look at it. {I have also printed off Weekly Checklists for them to keep in their binders and check off each lesson as they do it. This will show them exactly what to do, as the checklists just tells them which subjects to do.} You could also write the days across the top, and subjects or your children's names down the side. It's very versatile and flexible, which is awesome. The Weekly Checklists are not dated {which I love, as we don't follow a traditional school year}.

 

 

The Monthly Calendars will be great for recording doctor's appointments, field trip ideas, activities and volunteer work that we sign up for, among other things. This will be nice to have "at-a-glance" for us. With Mikaela starting 8th grade and Eli starting 6th, I have felt the need to be more thorough and detailed with their records. I want to start recording everything they do - from swimming lessons to volunteering at Vacation Bible School to the books they read, even the ones they read for fun. I think this planner will help me to be more organized. The Monthly Calendars run from July 2016-June 2017.

I love the way the Hey Mama! Planner is set up. The colors are nice and neutral, the font is easy to read and pleasing to look at, and the Hey Mama! pages are very encouraging. The helpful forms and information in the back of planner are also very well done! How nice to have all of this information at your fingertips. I plan to use these as drills and fun trivia games during our Morning Time. This planner is nice and thick, but not too heavy to carry around during the day - which I imagine I will be doing!

I am very excited to start using this planner to plan our weeks! You can grab this planner for only $19 {that's $10 off!} using the code CREWCODE!

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