I was so excited when I was asked to do a review for Debra Bell's Apologia planners. I just LOVE planners! When I got the shipment I practically ripped open the box! It was like I was a child on Christmas morning!
In doing this review I also got to be part of a conference call with Debra. While listening in, she shared the mission that was set between her and Apologia: staying on course, lightening our load and being easy to use. In writing these planners a main goal was set in wanting to make the user aware of God's faithfulness and activity through out their journey. She also wanted to help achieve in children the status of independent learner.
These three planners can be used independently or together that choice is completely up to you. I think the system works together very nicely. This may be in part because we have 4 children homeschooling this year and need multiple planners.
I am going to start with the Ultimate planner (or mom planner as I call it). This planner is nicely sized at 8.5 x 11 and soft spiral bound. One of my favorite parts of this planner is the pages in the beginning. This planner walks you through making a tentative plan for the year. Spending one entire weekend (maybe even like 4 days) laying out the school year. This is a great idea, in my opinion. She gives you a yearly planning grid. You can use this to track the days you won't have school scheduled-vacations, dr appointments, hubby is home. This is a great tool for us since the pro has a not so normal schedule for work. This is a great tool in making sure you get your 180 days of teaching in each year. The following page is for setting academic or character goals. Does your child need help with patience, sharing or motivation, for example? Write it down here and plan on working on that through the year. Some of the virtues like patience and self motivation are essential in my opinion.
I love writing down the things that need to be done. Setting family priorities is a great way to include everyone with the direction that the family should go. Debra reminds us in this section to use it for prayers for the upcoming year. How better to stay on track with the guidance of the Lord.
The monthly planner is laid out in and undated format so you can start it at any part of the year,
perfect for the school year that doesn't follow a traditional calendar. Moving through the book are the weekly pages. There are 4 pages to this section. The first two pages are your days of the week, pretty typical. The next page is unique, in my opinion. There is a quote/reflection, a bible plan, a battle plan, prayers and hospitality/outreach. I love the bible and battle plan. Why would you need a battle plan? Are you wondering what kind of homeschool setting we have or what we are studying that we need a battle plan? Well this is not that kind of battle plan. This section is there for you to work on your weaknesses. Your battles with your/the families struggles. Using Debra's example of anger I would write in this space some bible verses that address anger. How better to show our children how to be/act than direct them to the word.
Finally, on the 4th page of the weekly layout there is memorable moments/achievements with evidence of grace. I really like this layout. Debra, she says that she uses the memorable moments to record the accomplishments of a child or how God worked in their lives thru that week. At times it is easier to remember when or where we fail than it is to remember where we excel. This little section will help us to remember the good that we ourselves or our children accomplished through the week that can be so easily forgotten. We all like a little praise don't we?
Once you have your plan for the complete year you can move on to the teen planner, it is smaller than the Ultimate planner, about 7 inches by 8inches, (I didn't measure exactly). My teen liked the colors first off, because it wasn't "girly". The oldest caddy is more of a self motivator and goal setter. The beginning of this book starts off with a little "about you section". My best friends, favorite book, bible versus, adventures I want to have, people I want to meet and what I want to do when I grow up are some of the things that can be logged within the first few pages. As a mother I think this is neat feature, especially to be able to look back on these later.
In keeping with the teen/high school plan we then have a semester plan. I have heard that colleges are moving to semesters than quarters and I believe that our schools run on semesters as well. We do not run on semester here, however with the high schools years starting next year for us I am implementing this for next year for sure. I know that there are some homeschools who rotate classes like science and history. We do not do that either. We run these two classes on a 3 a week schedule. Yes we know that is 6 days a week. We either double up lessons on one day or go ahead and do one subject on the weekend. The caddies here don't really mind, it is how we have done it from the beginning so they don't really know it differently.
The undated days are laid out in week format with 5 squares going across. This can easily be
divided into more squares if needed. Listed here you will find a pie chart, for logging how much time is spent on each subject. This is an awesome tool for the states that require you to log your hours. You can also use this as a guide to know if you child is struggling, or needs to challenged more. When you look at what your child is logging, for example a 45 minute math lesson that takes 90 minutes is an area that you need to address with the child. Maybe slow down a bit or work through a few lessons with them, for example.
There is plenty of room for notes and chores as well! Finally this planner has very handy charts in the back that any teen would need like a grades tracker, high school checklist and college admission timeline. The teen planner has different quotes placed on the pages as well as a SAT word helps. You can never be too prepared, right?
Moving on to the student planner. At a first glance of the trio I was thinking this would be an elementary planner. This is so not the case. This is another awesome planner that can really be used for anyone. This one was more appealing to me than the teen at a first glance because of it's brighter colored appearance. The months are laid out like a regular undated calendar on half sheets of paper. I really like the bible verse and trivia that is placed on each page. Anything that we can do to keep our children in the word daily is awesome!
I think that the weekly layout for this is ideal. You have a two page spread that list the days as three blocks on each page. Of course we have to put Saturday and Sunday together to make it even. I think that is inevitable. However one of my favorite things is that there is two small columns to the left of the students work. The first column says done and the second approved. Now I was sold when I saw this. Why? In going with the independent
learner theme here you have your child's work logged. It doesn't matter if you write it in the planner for them as in the elementary years or if they do it themselves. When your child finishes their work they then check off the done box. They know then that they can move on. Once you check their work you make your little mark and it's over. I check my kids work daily this way I know for sure that we are ready to move on. I don't think it matters when you check it.
Now a big word that we have been learning here is accountability. These planners help your child to be accountable. When we graduate our children we want them to at least be accountable, self motivated capable adults, don't you? These planners are a great start. You can use them with any age. Yes that even means kindergarten! Of course, you would have to help an early learner with the reading and writing until they are capable to do it on their own. As Debra suggested checklists for the younger children is a great way to start. You write the work in their book and then they just check it done. How exciting to see your child move through their work independently and see their gratification when they realize they are doing it on their own and they can control when they are done for the day. I have told the caddies around here many times, "you know what school work and chores you have to do once they are done you can..(go outside, play a game whatever). Using these planner will teach them the responsibility of doing it on their own and being held accountable for it. I have to say a great big THANK YOU to Debra and Apologia. I Love these planners!
The Ultimate homeschool planner is priced at only $28. When you consider what you are getting and that you didn't have to put it together I think that isn't a bad price at all. The Ultimate Student and Teen planners are priced at $19. Once again I think they are well worth the price. You can check out the planner at
http://shop.apologia.com/77-planners
You can check out them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/apologiaworld?fref=ts
Check out Debra's blog!
http://debrabell.com/
Check out Apologia!
http://www.apologia.com/index.asp?proc=pg&pg=1
Blessings from the Clubbfarm!
