It’s been a while since I posted a review on here! I’ve continued to do reviews for the Old Schoolhouse’s website, but nothing on my blog. I was given the opportunity to review Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year by Gena Suarez for The Old Schoolhouse® and received a planner in exchange for an unbiased review.
The Planner contains 188 spiral bound pages with room to plan for five students, calendar pages from July 2019 until June 2020, a place to record attendance, goals, and author Gena Suarez has her trademark Hey Mama! notes of encouragement spread throughout. There’s plenty of blank pages to make notes, record happenings, or journal progress or trials from the year to make it a testament of God’s faithfulness.
I love all the blank spaces! I have plenty of places for notes, spaces for recording subjects and lessons done, and the calendar squares are huge. That’s perfect for me. I appreciate the blank space and how it lets me plan it how I see best instead of looking busy and limiting my options.
Admission: I hate planners. First of all, they look all neat and clean and then I write on them and mess up beautiful blank space. Second, they don’t typically allow for my go-with-the-flow style. They become a log for me, since in the state of Missouri I need to record hours to be compliant with homeschool laws. We homeschool in a “do the next lesson” fashion, so they provide an easy way for me to keep up with where kids are and being sure proper progress is being made. These boxes are big enough to record grades in with lesson numbers, which I appreciate. It forces me to organize a little – something I struggle with finding time for. I’d rather spend time teaching that recording what I’ve taught, and this gives me a quick way to jot things down so I can get it recorded and move on.
The glaring issue for me is that I will homeschool seven of my children for the upcoming school year, and there’s space only for five. I’ve decided to use this planner for my younger five students and have the two in high school schedule themselves elsewhere. I don’t have a ton to do with their schooling anymore anyway. I realize I’m very much in the minority for family size – that issue won’t affect too many people!
I’ve used this planner once before a few years ago and reviewed it here if you’re curious to see what I thought last time. It’s changed a bit since then!
They’ve sold out of close to 98% of the print run, and after that, they don’t plan to print more until next year, so if you want one, order it soon! Cost is $29 if shipped to an address in the United States and can be ordered here.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in according with FTC regulations.
