Thursday, June 22, 2017

Homeschool Buyers Co-op: Homeschool Planet {Homeschool Review Crew}

Here it is! Our first review, back on the Crew! I'm glad you stopped by.

A couple years ago, we were introduced, via review, to Homeschool Planet, from the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. Up until then, I preferred paper planners. Since then, I've discovered that I honestly believe I would not be able to homeschool without the Homeschool Planner! In fact, I don't think I'd be able to function at life in general without this planner. <grin>

We received a one-year subscription to this online planner. We also received a free lesson plan from the Lesson Plan Marketplace, for Rosetta Stone, as well as the Virtual Field Trips.

You can set up profiles for each person in the household. After that, you can set up your school year.

Then you can begin adding in school assignments, chores, church activities, birthdays, teens' work schedules, you name it! The planner has literally become my "brain!"
After you choose what you want to add, whether it's a school/class assignment, dentist appointment, birthday, what ever, then you can choose what subject or category it falls under. And you can color code it!
It is simple to add assignments. You choose for whom the assignment will be, the subject, the title (perhaps the name of the textbook), and choose what days of the week the class takes place, the start and end dates of the course, and then simply fill in the assignments.

You can add a batch! Either repeat the same assignment/task over and over (by choosing "repeat assignment"), or set it up with a recurring pattern (I use this for Math U See, for my youngest), or divide a book out over several days or weeks (by choosing that it is a long reading, to be covered within a certain time frame).
 There are school subjects...
 ...or categories, which can cover the rest of "life." I use this to schedule church activities, the boys' chores, my review due dates, my older children's work schedules (since carpooling occurs). I even have a category for the Library, so I can keep track of when books are due!
You can view the planner in calendar mode, either by the month, week, or day. You can have things scheduled to take place at a certain time (I pretend that's how it is with our meals...). You could have your classes scheduled that way, by marking a specific time. Or you can do like me, and mark them as "all day" events; they won't show any specific time to occur.
Do you see those widgets down the side? Those are pretty awesome. I like having a Bible verse pop up at the top, so I can see a new verse each day. There is a widget for quotes from famous people, one that shows the weather and current temperature.
I recently discovered the widget for the reading list. I can make a list for each of the boys, and one for me! So now I can keep track of our summer reading! There is the ability to print those lists, too!
You may want to choose the planner mode, to view the schedule. You can choose "all" to see everyone's schedule, or click an individual person.

I have each boy's daily plan emailed to him. I also print off each boy's daily plan, so they can check off their accomplished tasks. They can also log in to view their own calendar, and mark off their completed tasks, but they seem to prefer the paper schedules.

I mentioned earlier about the lesson plans you can purchase through the Marketplace. After you've made your purchase, you will click on Lesson Plans in the drop-down menu. Then you choose what days of the week you want the lessons to take place, and the start date. Click "submit" and there the plans are, like magic, in your planner!
There is space to have more widgets across the bottom, if you wish: shopping lists, to-do lists, even the ability to send messages (via text or email). So, I can type in my grocery list, and send it as a text message to my phone, or to my daughter's phone so she can pick up a few things from the store on her way home from work.

One of the handiest features is the rescheduling helper! Every morning when I first log in to Homeschool Planet, the rescheduling helper pops up if we haven't finished all of the previous days assignment, or if I haven't marked them as completed. A window pops up, and I can choose to mark them all as completed, or shift an assignment to today or some future day (either by adding it to today's task and leaving the rest of the schedule alone, or by shifting the whole schedule out).

Another feature I like, you can "share in" your other online calendars (think Google or Yahoo calendars). You can also share your calendar out to others. So if I am at the doctor's office, and a new appointment is made, I enter it in to my Google calendar on my phone or Kindle, and it automatically shows up in my Homeschool Planet planner!

Do you see why I call this thing my brain?!

During the month of June, if you sign up for a free one-month trial, you may also choose a free lesson plan. These lesson plans cover curriculum from such companies as Alpha Omega, BJU Press, Rosetta Stone, All About Spelling, The Mystery of History, and Teaching Textbooks. So if you already are planning to use any of these curricula, you'll want to add the lesson plan in!

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Homeschool Planet {Homeschool Buyers Co-op Reviews}

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