Review: "The Ultimate Homeschool Planner" and "The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students"

I knew that being in a review group would mean I would sometimes review products that weren't as applicable to me and my family.  This was one of those products.

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner by Apologia 

ISBN: 978-1-935495-65-9

Retail Price: $28.00

Available in two cover designs: the one I received (Photo above) and the one below (from their website)

While I do not homeschool my children, as a former Kindergarten teacher, I can appreciate the value of this product.  The Ultimate Homeschool Planner has a very nice sturdy plastic cover with pockets in both the front and the back.  The very first page has school year calendars for 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, and 2015/16 so it would be easy to plan out long term type things.

I liked how The Ultimate Homeschool Planner begins with a 12 page user's guide on how to use the planning system. I thought that would be very helpful to homeschool families to see how the system fits together.  Following the user's guide are pages to plan out the whole year, list goals for your students (up to 6), family priorities, and resource lists.

There are 2 types of calendar pages:

Monthly:

 and weekly:

I personally prefer pre-dated calendars as they are less work for me, but I can see how having an undated planner is better since not everyone follows the same starting/stopping times for their homeschool year.   I liked how you can customize how you use the weekly planning pages listing students on the left and subjects on the top, or days on the left and students on the top (or a different arrangement altogether to suit your own needs)

One part that I really liked (and could use even as a non homeschooler) was the first page of the weekly planner that lists: Bible Plan, Battle Plan, Prayers, Hospitality/Outreach, This Week's Memorable Moments, Achievements, and Evidences of Grace. I especially liked the Memorable Moments and Evidences of Grace.  It is nice to have a spot (and the reminder) to keep track of those things.

The back of The Ultimate Homeschool Planner is full of helpful tips and record keeping areas such as grades, reading lists, activity lists, year in review, and high school planning guide.

One thing I thought it would be helpful to have was a bookmark like the student planner had.   I think that The Ultimate Homeschool Planner be great help to families who homeschool.  I used it as a master to-do list, which seemed like a "put down" for such a great planner!

Along with The Ultimate Homeschool Planner I also received  The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students.
ISBN: 978-1-935495-67-3
Retail price: $19.00

Sarah was excited to get The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students even though she doesn't use anything like it for school.  She used it to write down books she's read, things she wants to do, and even a note that said, "William popped Andy's balloon" !  And it has a glow in the dark spiral which all the kids loved!

The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students has weekly assignment pages with areas to mark when they are done, got it approved, and did their Quiet Time. 

The back has really cool information like the USA state capitals, Timeline of US and world history, world map, conversion chart...

Guide to punctuation, italics, and capitalization, Greek/Latin roots, multiplication chart, and more!

It also has areas to keep track of grades, reading lists, and an activity log. The cover of The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students does not have pockets, but the page that has the school year calendars on it does have one.  There was a handy bookmark/ruler that can easily be moved from week to week to keep track of what week they are on. There are also a bunch of stickers to go with the undated monthly calendar pages.  Sarah really liked filling in the dates and information for important days in our family. I think that The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students would be useful for homeschool children to keep track of what they need to do and to gain independence in their learning process.

There is going to be a Facebook party April 9th at 9 pm Eastern for the Apologia Homeschool Planners and they are even going to be giving away some planners!  

I received the above products in exchange for my honest opinion.  I did not receive any other type of compensation.  Your experience and opinion of the product may differ from mine.