I would like to thank Apologia for sending me these planners at no charge for the purpose of this review.
Planners are so important to keep on track both in the home and in the homeschool. I have tried several different planners over the years with each one having a few differences to them. The Ultimate Homeschool Planner by Deb Bell through Apologia has some unique features that I haven’t seen in the planners I have tried before.
Deb Bell includes quite a few helps and suggestions for planning the homeschool year in this planner. She also includes some spiritual quotes and encouragement along the way.
As you can see above, the monthly view is not month-specific. In other words, you have to fill in the month and dates. At first, I wasn’t sure about it, but then, I realized that I didn’t have to fill in the months that we take off for vacation, so the planner lasts longer this way.
The above picture is of the weekly page. There are six sections across and six sections down, so you can either have the subjects across the top or along the sides. Since I don’t have six kids, I will likely use some columns for my husband’s schedule and my obligations. There are also areas on the far right for “Notes”, “Supplies”, and “Appointments”.
The second part of the weekly view is a place to record your personal family life: Bible Plan, Battle Plan, Prayers, and Hospitality/Outreach. The two sections on the next page are for recording memorable moments and “Evidences of Grace”. I really like that the “Evidences of Grace” is included because that would be so neat to be able to go back and read years down the line. One of the things that I found odd about this planner is that all the monthly pages are together and all the weekly pages are together. I prefer to have my month page followed by the weekly pages for that month. It’s usable this way, but it is a lot of flipping back and forth.
Apologia also has The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens. DD13 and I liked the trendy color scheme of this planner. DD13’s favorite part of the planner is the removable ruler inside the cover. It keeps it handy and could also be used as a book mark if moved through the planner as the student progresses through.
The teen version is like the mom’s version in that the month and dates are added in manually.
The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens also has lots of reference information like Algebra helps, Physics helps, and citing references.
The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students is geared for the younger set and utilizes bright colors in its help sections. I can’t wait for DS10 to do keep track of some of his own school work.
I think there are a lot of great aspects about these planners! I really like the kids’ versions, and my daughter is looking forward to switching over to hers after her current one is finished. For the most part, I like The Ultimate Homeschool Planner. I think the main downfalls are the fact that the weekly pages are separate from the monthly ones and the flexibility of the cover. The cover is a flexible plastic, so while it won’t rip, it is not rigid. These are the only two drawbacks to this planner that I can see. I do like it and will be using it when I finish the one that I am currently using for this year.
These planners are available at Apologia:
- The Ultimate Homeschool Planner is available in two different cover styles. $28.00
- The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens. $19.00
- The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students. $19.00
Disclosure: I received the above three planners free of charge from Apologia for the purpose of this review as part of the Mosaic Reviews team. I received no other compensation nor was I required to give a positive review. All opinions are 100% mine and my children’s.
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