Planning for Your Homeschooling Year Couldn’t Be Easier

As some of you know, I am returning to my traditional homeschooling roots this year. I did my experimentation into cyberschooling and found it lacking. But I also live in PA, one of the high documentation homeschooling states (also known as "Big PAin in the neck states") so I've been wondering how I was going to pull a curriculum together to present to the Lords of Education so they'll go away. So, once we made our decision to get away from cyberschools I began looking at different curriculum. I have been looking at complete year curriculum as well as a more eclectic collection of resources. But now I don't have to look any further because I just discovered The Old Schoolhouse 2009-2010 Planner!

First off, let me confess that I have not been the most organized homeschooler. I've purchased programs to keep records on the girls work, I've set up schedules (that I then proceeded to ignore after about a week), and changed my mind a couple of times during the course of the year on some of the books that we had chosen to use for learning. But after reading through this 375 page masterpiece of planning I am finally content. Each month is based upon a theme and all the activities and subjects that are taught in that month follow that theme. This would be just about perfect for new homeschooling families. When you start out homeschooling you always worry that you won't get everything done. The planner is designed to help you not only get yourself organized, but to have fun while you teach and learn.

For example, July's theme is American History. So, there is an introductory article with notes to introduce the theme to the kids. After the introductory article there is usually a fact sheet that can be printed and displayed for perhaps memorization work or whatever clever idea you may have. After that you get a list of resources that can be used to teach the theme effectively. These resources touch on American History but from different standpoints. The resource guide contains links to the historical materials that you can use to expand your subject, literature that you can use to make the time period come to life, lap book activities, craft activities, math activities and science activities. So, all disciplines are covered while you stay within that theme. And how could I forget about the great recipes that are included each month to break up the monotony of cooking? I've seen several recipes that I can't wait to try! Maybe since the recipes are tied in with the monthly themes I can get my "picky, picky" people to give the new dishes a try in the name of "education". (Click here to see the TOC and plans for each month.)

Why does this work for my crew? We're not (okay I'm not) good with follow-through when I have very little maneuverability. You know, it becomes like those dreaded worksheets that our teachers in public school would pass out to keep you quiet while they did administrative work. Overly structured schedules start to feel like busy work to me and then I get rebellious and end up doing something totally different (which isn't really a good habit to develop and really hard to break!) But this – this monthly theme outline allows us to figure out what we want to concentrate on each day. Maybe we'll do crafts and talk about what it must have been like to live in those days. Or perhaps we'll read the excellent book, "Ben Franklin: Inventing America" and try some of the experiments that Benjamin Franklin indulged in at various points of his life. Who knows? But that's the great thing – it doesn't matter because at the end of the month we'll have a comprehensive understanding with a lot less stress getting it all done. And after two years of cyberschooling and dealing with artificial learning deadlines that is really important to me this year.

Okay, so I know that there are organization masters in our vast homeschooling community who are probably thinking:

"What a waste of money! That's a no brainer. Just sit down, decide what you want to do, schedule it and get it done. What does this planner have that would interest me?"

Well how about 186 pages of forms, glorious, reproducible forms? There are forms for curriculum records, forms for report cards, forms for high school transcripts, forms for evaluations. Then there are forms for creating schedules for 1, 2, and 3+ children in your homeschool. There are forms for chores, grocery shopping, supply shopping, volunteer activities, bible readings, and discipleship records. There are forms for people who like to plan their school year monthly. There are forms for organizing your coop, planning field trips, as well as science lab and journal forms. There are forms for people who like to plan annually. Weekly schedules, daily schedules – and last but not least – a checklist/shopping list for your garden and even a graph to plot out how your garden grows! I mean, for people who love organization, you'll be in form heaven.

Although I am no longer a cyberschooler (yea!), I can't forget about my friends over there. This planner would be a great addition to whatever school curriculum you are using from the state. Why? For one thing, since all of the subjects are covered you will have a plethora of ideas to add a little spice to your homeschooling days. We all know how dry conventional textbooks are, so this would be a good way to re-energize yourself and your kids while maintaining your mandated work schedule. The forms are also useful because with all the activities our "unsocialized" children are engaged in, I'm sure you'll appreciate the extra help in keeping everything straight. The planner also contains 12 "Must Know" reference sheets that cover everything from word roots (something not normally taught in schools these days), emergency preparedness, as a whole lot more.

In addition to the monthly activities outlined in the planner, The Old School house also has additional modules for each monthly theme. These can be purchased separately if you want to expand your lessons for the month. These modules contain extra activities, recipes, and pertinent information for each month's theme. From what I can see, everything has provided in the Planner to having a productive and fun educational experience. The one downside of this is that I can no longer be excused for my lack of organization because the The Old Schoolhouse 2009-2010 Planner does everything but teach the kids the courses. At this rate, I may actually be able to organize my cluttered brain -- isn't that a scary thought.