I try to keep my job separate from my blog; but, because it’s so much a part of my everyday life, sometimes that’s difficult to do. So, for my newer readers who may not already know this, I work part-time (from home) for The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, as their Special Projects Manager.
That role encompasses several really fun job responsibilities. Today I’d like to talk to you specifically about The Schoolhouse Planner. For the past three years, I have co-created The Schoolhouse Planner. Each year, we listen to our customers’ questions and advice and manage to put together a “bigger and better” planner each year. 2010 is certainly no exception, as this year’s planner is 614 pages long!
So what makes our planner different from the planners you might pick up on office or school supply stores? The main thing is that our planners are designed primarily with the homeschooler in mind! Second, and one of my favorite features (that sets our planner apart from the others I’ve seen) is that, though our planner follows a typical school year schedule (running July – June), it does NOT lay out a specific schedule for you to follow – that’s up to you!
The front section of our planner is filled with great information and encouragement for the homeschool mom. We have divided it up by month and have included 2 interesting articles from some of the top names in homeschooling. You’ll probably want to sit down and read through them all; but if you save them to read each month, the encouragement will “keep on coming” throughout your school year (and beyond – because these articles are timeless!) This section also contains what we call “must know lists” – these are things that are important for homeschoolers to know (our Miscellaneous Education section, which comes next in our planner, contains must-know lists from our previous planners – all together in one handy-dandy place). If you like menu planning (and, if your schedule is anything like mine, you should!), you’ll love that we’ve included many new recipes for you to try each month. These recipes fall under various categories – such as beef & pork, poultry & fish, meatless, ethnic, dessert, and GFCF – so there’s definitely something for every family each month. You’ll also find resource lists to items sold at the Schoolhouse Store that will help you “further the learning” each month.
We provide you with calendars in various forms. The 2-page spreads are great because they have lots of room for writing all of your daily commitments and things to remember. We give them to you both in blank boxes and lined boxes (for those who prefer to print them out and write on them – the old fashioned way).
I briefly mentioned the Miscellaneous Education section above. Here is a sampling of what you’ll see in this section:
Next up, you’ll find our homeschool-related forms. Just about any form that you can possibly think of is included here (probably even some that you never would have thought of!) We’ve got daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly planning forms – and there are even 12-year planning forms in there so that you can plan out your child’s entire school life in advance! We’ve included forms for tracking things like library books, books read, movies watched, and many, many more.
The household section completes our planner and contains forms for inventory, finances, Christmas lists, holiday and party planning, car maintenance schedules, health and fitness records, and even an address book.
I like to think that we’ve thought of just about everything! And the best thing about the Schoolhouse Planner is that each person who purchases it has the ability to take the 614 pages of the planner and use them to create a planner that is entirely their own. 1,000 people can buy the planner and create 1,000 distinctly different planners! I find that amazing, and yes – I’m proud to call it “mine”. You can use your planner entirely on your computer – and type directly into the fields – or you can print out blank sheets and bind them or put them in a folder and write on them as you use/need them.
And because I’m sure that you’re going to want one, let me tell you how to purchase the planner - - -
It is available online at the Schoolhouse Store – both in instant download format and as a cd-rom. If you order the cd, though, you’ll have to wait for shipping – and I know you’re going to want it right away, aren’t you?
I hope you love The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner. If you’ve purchased it, and have something you’d like to see in the 2011 version, please e-mail me.
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