TOS Schoolhouse Planner Review

Moving across country has completely thrown off our schedule. Organization? Hmm… we’re trying to be organized, but somehow complete organization has gone out the window. A new state, a new climate, a new time zone, a new house… It’s time to regroup and rethink a few things. This new beginning allows us to start fresh. We can add in new things and take away things that won’t work.

I was thrilled when I learned that I would have the opportunity to review the TOS 2009 Schoolhouse Planner. Having seen some of the preview pages, I thought this might be exactly what we need to get organized.

I was shocked at how much was included in the 375 page planner. This really is more of a household planner rather than just a homeschool planner. I loved the fact that I could print out only the pages that I wanted to use at that time. Plus, I could either type in the information before printing or write in the information after printing.

For Munchkin, I set up a student planner. In it, I placed the calendar pages, assignment pages, chore pages, and journal pages. She also wants me to add some of the educational information pages as she loves that type of thing. I made sure to leave room for expansion as I know that we’ll be adding more of the many different forms and pages during the school year.

For myself, I set up a household planner. I took a binder and made sections for the calendar, home (home maintenance, favorite recipes…), school (assignments, plans for the year…), and other (book lists, to do lists, passwords…). I’ll continue to add more to mine as needed. For now, I’m focused on getting the house organized and a routine established. With so much going on, these ready to use forms will be a great help.

The Schoolhouse Planner starts out with a full calendar for 2009-2012. Then, it breaks down the calendar in a month-at-a-glance type calendar for the 2009-2010 calendar year. Each month has a themed article, many resource links, and recipes. The next section includes various educational information including Presidents, State & Capitals, Composers, Inventions, Artists, and much more.

The monthly themes include:

• The Thirteen Colonies
• Decimal System
• Weather
• Emergency Preparedness
• American Government
• The Planets
• Letter Writing
• Miracles and Parables of Jesus
• Latin and Greek
• Lapbooks
• College Preparation
• Homeschooling around the World (geography)

The homeschool section is filled with forms and pages for preschool up to high school (and beyond). These forms include:

• Annual Plans
• Yearly Goals
• Curriculum Planning
• Report Cards
• Evaluation Forms
• Tracking Forms
• Weekly Planning
• Daily Schedule
• Record & Log Forms
• Field Trip Planning
• Nature Journal
• Science Lab
• Book Report
• Preschool Practice Sheets
• Teaching Supplies (Inventory & Wish List)
• and many, many more…

The final section includes forms for the household. You will find forms such as:

• Chore/housekeeping forms
• Emergency forms
• Grocery lists
• Home maintenance lists
• Bible reading schedule
• Prayer Journal
• Inventory lists
• Menu planning
• Garden planning
• Website login/password list
• Address book
• and numerous other useful forms.

You can purchase the 2009 Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse Store for $39.00. If you purchase before July 12, 2009, you will receive as a bonus the 2008 Schoolhouse Planner Useful Excerpts ebook.