I downloaded my copy of The Schoolhouse Planner yesterday morning. I had to update my Adobe Reader 2 or 3 times in a row to get to a version that would let me use The Schoolhouse Planner, but it wasn't really a problem. I should have updated sooner.
I spent the early part of yesterday afternoon reading the whole thing, just getting acquainted with it: the essays by different homeschool leaders, the handy lists, the recipes, the homeschool and homekeeping forms. Wow! It has more forms than I would have ever thought to create. Some are lists I've created in a spiral notebook each year, but not really kept beyond the first few months. Some are similar to forms I have used and preserved. Many are things I haven't used, but can see how helpful they'd be.
We've been very relaxed in our homeschooling, thus far. But, as my oldest daughter has entered junior high, we've been trying to become more organized and structured. I really appreciate the grading and record keeping forms that The Schoolhouse Planner has, and can see how helpful they will be over 12 yo A's last 5 years of school, as we will need to complete high school transcripts and do more testing and grading than we have been. Wow ... only 5 years left!
This morning I printed out some of the school year planning forms, the monthly calendars, and the presidents and states/capitols lists. We're studying the presidents and states at the moment, and those lists are going to be so helpful. I like that I can either print the entire planner (with extra copies of certain sheets for multiple children), or just print out the pages I want to use at that time.
Now, I'm going to sit down and work on organizing my school year. Some of this planning has already been done in spiral notebooks, my blog, my head, and documents on my computer. But it will be very nice to get it neatly organized onto these forms, and together in one place.
I've never officially recorded goals for each child's academic year, other than listing the curriculum they would study for each subject. But today I am going to fill in these educational objectives sheets and the yearly goal sheets, for each of my school-age children, including my 4.5 yo preschooler. I can see how helpful it would be to have a goal to aim for, a purpose and focus to return to when we get bogged down and discouraged in the middle of the school year.
I'll update you again later, about my school planning, and The Schoolhouse Planner.
Trusting in Him,
April
