I’ll go ahead and say it. I’ve not always been a planner type of gal. In fact, it wasn’t until this past year, our fourth year of homeschooling, that I finally decided that it was time to start using one. In the past, I had only homeschooled one child and I it was pretty easy to keep up with his work. However, as he’s gotten older,our youngest is now in school, and lets just say my days went from running smooth to running chaotic.
Homeschool Planet
Being new to the planner word, I started with just a paper planner because it seemed like a good idea. I see all these other people using one and thought to myself, “I can do this. It looks easy enough.” Then reality hit! That’s right..I realized that life happens and just because I have it written in a planner doesn’t by mean that it’s going to be doable on that day. You could say that I easily spent hours erasing, rewriting, rescheduling…you get the picture. That’s why when I was given the opportunity to review Homeschool Planet from Homeschool Buyers Co-op I couldn’t resist.
What is Homeschool Planet?
I’m so glad you asked! Homeschool Planet is an online, browser based homeschool planner that offers a considerable assortment of tools that truly help make planning and tracking your homeschool year effortless.
I probably know one question that you may want an answer to and that is, “Is it also an app?” “What if I’m out of the house and I realize I have to schedule an appointment or activity with my kids?” While Homeschool Planet doesn’t offer an app, you can pull it up on your browser on your phone and enter appointment and activities that way. It’s actually pretty simple to do and so far I haven’t had any problems with doing that.
You can check our my video to more of how we use Homeschool Planet:
What makes this planner stand out above the rest?
Add appointments, classes, chores, extra-curriculular activities and so much more!
This feature is one that I’ve use quit often. I add our homeschool field trips, doctor appointments, vacations, chores..you name it and I’ve added it to this section. You have the option to simply add an item to the schedule for a particular time, or have it as an item that will be completed throughout your day.
Track attendance, grades, hours, resources, etc
Adding classes to a planner has never been easier. You can put it as simple or as detailed as you need it to me. You can make notes for you, your student or both on resources that might be needed, what pages, etc.
Did your student start an assignment, but wasn’t able to finish it? By simply clicking the box beside the assignment, you can show that it’s either not complete, complete or partially completed.
Need to incorporate a website or video
You can incorporate a website or video for your student to view as part of the lesson. There is actually a drop-down menu that will let you add those things with ease. You can also choose what days you want to do certain subjects and if you miss a day because life happens, then you can easily move all or just one of the classes to the next day and leave the rest of the planner alone, or you can shift the entire planner forward for that class or all the classes. The choice is up to you.
Homeschool Planet also offers widgets where you can add your: to do list, shopping list, daily motivational, daily Bible quote, weather, reading list, and so much more. Not only that, but depending on the widget you can email, print or both. This has been very handy.
I know I’ve listed some pretty awesome things that this program is capable of performing, but did you know that you can purchase pre-made lessons plans from many of the popular programs out there. This seriously has been one of the most impressive features for me. Once you purchase the lesson plans, you can choose how you want to set it up (daily, weekly, or even monthly) and the program puts it in the calendar for you.
If that isn’t cool enough, once we inserted our IEW into the planner, on the days that we’re doing it I have the option to click on the audio, the PDF of the page. Everything is literally at my fingertips.
Overall thoughts
All in all we have really loved this program. As I mentioned earlier, I love the ease of use, I love that I can email the kids, my husband and myself with schedules, appointments, etc. I can have it email daily or weekly. I can print the layout if I prefer. The options are endless with this program.
While this planner is a great fit for our family, it may not be right for yours. That’s why Homeschool Buyers Co-op offers a FREE 30-Day trial. Not only that but through the month of June, when you sign up for a FREE 30-day trial, you’ll receive a FREE lesson plan (valued at $5-$15)
To find out what other homeschool moms are saying about Homeschool Planet, be sure to hit the image below.
