The Homeschool Series - How I Lesson Plan + Erin Condren Teacher Planner Review

When I first started homeschooling, lesson plans were a little bit intimidating to me. It took me a few years to really find a good system that worked for us. The first year, I tried to plan everything out at the very beginning. Yeah, that wasn't smart. Plans and schedules change. I now plan out when we are going to take breaks and holidays, and then only lesson plan once a week.

My curriculum comes with detailed curriculum plans, but I still needed something to keep up with what lesson we are on each day, a place to add notes, a place to keep up with attendance, grades, extra reading, PE classes and meetups, and field trips.

This year I decided that the Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner would be the perfect fit for everything I wanted to keep up with. Last year I used the free printable that I liked, but I really wanted something that was already printed and spiral bound. I do think that this particular planner is pricey, but I have been using it for a two months so far and am very happy with my purchase. The layout is perfect for how I like to plan. I look forward to getting out this planner each week and filling it in with our plans for the coming week. That is worth a lot to me!

I am going to take you through each section of the planner and show you how I use it. Since this is a Teacher/Lesson Planner there were a few sections that didn't apply to homeschool planning, but I will show you how I tweaked them to work for me.

 

One of the fun things about the Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planners is that you can choose your cover and have it personalized or customized. I went with a standard cover, chose the color I wanted,  and then chose the personalization that I wanted.  

There are a few pages for personal info, frequently used websites, and passwords. I have filled these in, so I am not going to show them to you. 

  I used the plain stickers from the back to relabel the sections that I am using differently.

The first main section is "dates". I don't have a classroom full of students, so I use this section to keep track of the Bible verses that we are memorizing each month. 

The next section is "absent", but I don't need that either. I thought it would be useful to use as a log for extra reading. I just used more stickers from the back and changed the name of the headings. You can see we haven't done much extra reading yet this year.

There is a "graph" section that it really nice, but I haven't used it for anything just yet. I will most likely use it for doodles. 

Next up is the "yearly plan". I decided to use this for planning our Art Projects for the year. Last year Cade took an art class  at a local place. This year I decided that I would do one fun art project each month with the boys. I like that I can look at them all in one place, and have plenty of room to write down any extra supplies that I may need.

The "calendar" section is really nice. I guess I didn't take picture of the whole spread, but it is two pages. You have to fill in the dates yourself, but that works for me. It use it to keep up with planned days off and extra activities like PE class and field trips.  

 At the end of each month in the "calendar" section there are a few note pages. These are great for making lists and taking notes. I used this to plan our curriculum I needed for the year. It was very helpful. I will also be able to look back at the end of the year and know what curriculum was borrowed and be able to return it.

The "lessons" section is the reason I wanted to planner. I like the way it is set up. I like that the weeks are numbered. I like that it is super fun and colorful. This is the section that I use the most.

I sit down sometime on Sunday afternoon or evening and fill this out for the coming week. I fill in the dates and subjects at the top. I then write in the Lesson # and pertinent page numbers. This becomes our To Do List for the week. I highlight each item/lesson as it is completed. It makes it easy to tell what comes next and what it left at a glance. If we don't finish something during the week, I simply add it to the next week. This system has worked really well for us. 

 The last section is the "check list". I use this for keeping track of grades. There are several pages, so it would work well for multiple children or for keep up with multiple things.

There are a few other fun things in the back of the planner. There is a little plastic pouch, a pocket folder, and 2 clear sleeves for keeping up with whatever you want to keep up with, and a few pages of pre-printed and plain stickers.

The Review

Overall 

 I am very pleased with the planner overall. It is beautiful, it meets my needs, and the quality is excellent.

Price

I would rather it not cost as much as it does, but after using the planner, I can say that I will happily buy one each year. It really is worth the money.

Customer Service

I made a mistake when I ordered my planner, but realized it within an hour of placing the order. I forgot to change the start month from January to August. I immediately went to the website to see what I needed to do. There is no phone # for customer service. You have fill out a form online. I did this. It took several days for them to contact me, but I was eventually contacted and assured that the change would be made. I received my order, but the mistake had not been correct as I had been assured that it would be. My planner started in January instead of August. It takes several weeks for orders to be processed, and I didn't have another several weeks to wait for another planner. I filled out another form and told them then I didn't have time to wait for a re-print, and requested a credit to use for another purchase at another time. Since the dates were not pre-filled, I decided to just use the planner as is. I was contacted again. Customer service for very nice. They apologized for their mistake and gave me the credit that I had requested. I am a happy customer and will continue to order from them. 

Why I Chose the EC Teacher Planner instead of the Plum Paper Teacher Planner

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you may remember that I chose the Plum Paper Planner to use as my everyday planner. You can see that review and follow up review here and here. 

 It all came down to the size when picking a Lesson Planner. The Erin Condren Teacher Planner is a full size planner. The Plum Paper Teacher Planner is the a good bit smaller. It is the same size as the everyday planner. I personally prefer the larger size for lesson planning.

Is this Planner Necessary for Successful Homeschool Planning?

Nope. There are many great options out there for homeschool planning. Last year I used a free printable planner from Confessions of a Homeschooler. It was great, I just wanted something that was already done for me this year. I figure by the time I printed all of the pages I would have spent nearly the same money on ink and paper. I also prefer a spiral bound planner. I buy new books and supplies every year for my kiddos, so Mama can have a pretty planner to use everyday.

Disclaimer

I was not paid for writing this review. I did contact EC and asked for a Free planner to review, but I did not receive one. I was given a partial credit towards part of the purchase since I reached out to them.  All opinions are my own.

If you are new to Erin Condren products, and are interested in purchasing a planner of your own, please use this referral code. You will receive $10 off of your first purchase, and I will receive a credit to use on a future purchase.

Referral Code - https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/nicolecotton0528-5356

The Homeschool Series - Intro
The Homeschool Series - Our Curriculum Choices
The Homeschool Series - Unexpected Encouragement

Linking to:
What You Wish Wednesday

The Homeschool Series - Unexpected Encouragement

I hope you are enjoying this series. I had every intention of posting the next part of this series on Tuesday, but it just  didn't happen.  This post wasn't a planned part of the series, but I want to include it. Come back next week to see how I plan for each week.

This has been one of the hardest weeks I have had in a long time. I hurt my shoulder, lots of house stuff going on, lots of personal stuff going on. I pretty much wanted to kill my dog. (He was not harmed, but I did list him on Craigslist and then backed out). The stuff just kept coming and I was completely overwhelmed I cried a lot. I know it sounds like a big old pity-party. I'm not fond of them, but this is where I found myself this week.

Ok, so what does this have to do with homeschooling?

Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with life, it is easy to start to second guess my decision to homeschool my boys. Am I really cut out for this? Is this really what I am called to do? Did I miss it? Surely, I missed it, because this is just too hard.

I know that these are all lies from the devil, and I did the most important thing I can do when I find myself here. I got myself in the Word of God and reminded myself of what the Word says, and who I am in Christ.

But, Unexpected Encouragement in still nice.

Unexpected Encouragement

 Today, the boys and I took a load of stuff to donate to the local Rescue Mission. Since we were already there, the boys asked if we could go in and look around. I decided it was a good idea. We needed a break. I found a few things to purchase and was waiting in line to checkout. There was an older lady that asked the same question we hear almost every time we go somewhere during the day. "Is today some kind of Holiday? Why aren't you at school?" I responded with, "We homeschool, and got done a little early today". I expected the confused or judgey look that I normally get, but today was different. This lady smiled, and then proceeded to have a conversation with my boys. She put her hand on Cade's shoulder and told him that she was a retired school teacher. She told him that he had a very special Mom for her to decide to spend her time each day teaching him. She just went on and on about how blessed he was. I'm not sure she even looked at me, but it was such a blessing to me. I needed to hear those things.

I am thankful that when I am discouraged, and ready to throw in the towel, the Lord knows. He knows just how to send the encouragement that I need.

The Homeschool Series - Intro
The Homeschool Series - Our Curriculum Choices




Linking:

The Homeschool Series - Our Curriculum for 2014 -2015

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend! I am feeling really behind on everything. I ended up working all weekend on some commissioned furniture. I didn't take any pictures, but I am hoping to get some to share with you once the furniture is back in it's home sporting it's new paint job.

I am going to pick back up with The Homeschool Series today. Be sure to come back tomorrow for What You Wish Wednesday!

One of my favorite things about homeschooling our boys is that I get to choose our curriculum each year. The first few years I just went with straight A Beka for Cade. I used A Beka as a kid when I was homeschooled, and went to a private school that used A Beka. It was familiar to me.

The last few years I have found myself being more open to other options for curriculum. I have researched other options for our core subjects. I was really close to going with Bob Jones for Grammar/Writing this year, Teaching Textbooks for Math, and Writing Without Tears for Cursive Writing. After much thought, prayer, and talking to my husband; I realized A Beka really is the best fit for us at this time. It's okay that I don't mix it all up. It doesn't mean that I can't put stuff together on my own, or that other options aren't good. This just works really well for us at this time. Our choices my look really boring, but I'm okay with that. I really do believe that every family has to find what works for them.

Source

3rd Grade - Cade

- Bible - This will be a combination of A Beka, and memory work that Asher and I have put together. I have the A Beka Curriculum to use as a guide, but will be reading straight from the Bible, a Story Bible, and adding our own memory work.
- Spelling/Poetry - A Beka
- Writing - A Beka Cursive
- Language - A Beka
- Reading - A Beka + some of our own
- Math - A Beka
- History - A Beka
- Science - A Beka
- Health - A Beka
- Art - I will come up with my own weekly art projects

K4 - Henry

- Bible - Will be with Cade. He will also have memory work, but it will be on his level. I really believe that it is important for our kids to memorize the Word of God early on.
- ABC -123 Workbook ( I did not order the teacher's curriculum. We will just work through the workbooks)
- Writing with Phonics Workbook (Manuscript)
- Art - I will come up with my own weekly art projects



How I Purchase My Curriculum

1. I do not order the A Beka kit.
2. I order the workbooks from A Beka, and then purchase the Teacher's Curriculum and Keys from eBay or borrow from friends. It saves a ton of money.
3. I do my own thing for Art and Bible.

*This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.




I will be sharing this post here:

The Homeschool Series - Intro

What? Homeschooling?

I know that I normally post about something that I just painted, crafted, rearranged, or even our current meal plan, but I have been wanting to blog about more than just that. When I set up my blog (many years ago), my vision was to blog about Life as Wife & Mommy, Decorating, Cooking, Cleaning, Crafting, and Organizing. You know, the stuff that you end up doing because you are a stay at home wife and mom. I have never really added Homeschooling much to the mix, but I have been homeschooling Cade since he started K4. He will soon be in the 3rd grade and Henry will be starting K4 this year. It is a big part of our lives, so I wanted to start sharing more about it. This is not going to turn into a homeschooling blog, but I am going to do a small series, and the topic may show up from time to time.

The Beginning

I had no desire to homeschool my kids. I was the mom that said, "I will never homeschool my children. They will go to real school." I was homeschooled as a child for three years, and hated it. Two of my closest friends started homeschooling their children, and I still said, "never". Fast forward to registration time for Kindergarten. I started the process to pre-register Cade so that he could go to the Magnet school. He was accepted, and everything was on track. Once it was time to finalize everything, it just didn't feel right.  Everything about it seemed wrong. The Lord started working on my heart about homeschooling. I wasn't interested, but I knew I couldn't just ignore it. I finally had a heart change and knew that I needed to homeschool Cade for Kindergarden. I had such a peace about it. We have continued with the homeschooling thing and haven't looked back. It is a lot of work, but there are so many rewards that come with it.

The Early Years

K4 - I did K4 with Cade at home, but didn't really plan to continue to homeschool.

K - Kindergarten was fun once we made the decision to homeschool. Everything was still very new, and our days were very relaxed.

1st Grade - First grade was the year that I thought we may find our groove, but it was also the year that my mom was sick and died. It ended up being a really hard year for me, and that made it hard to really focus on school. We got through it, but I can't say that it was super fun.

2nd Grade - Second Grade was the year that we really found our groove. I  figured out how I like to lesson plan, I learned a lot about the way Cade learns, and we really started to figure out a good routine that worked for us.

This Year

This will be my first year homeschooling more than one child at a time. Cade will be in the 3rd Grade, and Henry will be starting K4. It may take us a little bit to really find our new groove, but it is the first year that I feel really confident in myself as their teacher. I feel like our school days will be much longer than they were last year, but I know that we will adjust. I am really looking forward to a great year. 

Do any of you homeschool your children?

*Please Note - I am not an expert. I do not think that every mom should homeschool her children. I know that there are many schools that have wonderful teachers.I have friends and family members that are teachers and love what they do. I have a lot of respect for them. They are called to teach children. I do not think that moms that homeschool their children are better than moms that go to work or stay home and send their children to school. I am just a mom that is called to teach her children, and want to share my experiences with you in hopes that it may help someone. What works for my family may not be what works for your family, and that is okay. I have to rely on the Holy Spirit to help guide me through this each and everyday just like everything else that I do.

First Day of School 2014-2015

Today was the first of our the new school year!

We started the day off with the obligatory "First Day of School" pictures.

You can tell by their expressions how they really feel. Cade isn't ready for Summer to end, and Henry is ready to START SCHOOL.

 Cade - 3rd Grade

 Henry - K4 (He wore the mustache all day long.)

Mrs. Mama

We had a great day, and are looking forward to a great year. I'm blessed to be able to stay home with these sweet blessings and teach them. They are such a joy!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Intro the the New Homeschool Series!




I'll be linking-up this post to:

Dining Room/Homeschool Room Plans

I have been trying to gear of for the new school year. I have been thinking about curriculum, schedules, planners, and our dining room.

 I really, really, really like our dining room. I like the color, I like the table that my husband built, I like the curtains, I like the artwork, I like the chairs I bought from my neighbor and recovered with a shower curtain panel. I like it all!

We are a homeschool family that tends to "do school" at the dining room table. We have the space for a dedicated homeschool room, but that really isn't our style. We have plenty of room for our books and supplies in a combination of closets/cabinets, and that works well for us. Sometimes we do different subjects in various places throughout our house, but we mostly sit down at the dining room table. I keep thinking that because this room does do double duty that it might be better for it to be light and bright. I like a nice dark, moody dining room, but I'm not sure that makes the best atmosphere for learning.

 
I am leaning towards Behr Lime Light. It looks like it will be one of those moody gray/blue/green colors that changes from blue to green throughout the day. Or, I could paint it the same color (or maybe a shade lighter) as the rest of the house. I'm definitely leaning towards lime light, but still trying to feel sure before I whip out the paint brush and roller.

If you have a color suggestion that I should check out, I am all ears!

I still don't want the room to look like a classroom with stuff all over the walls, but I am thinking about adding an oversized chalkboard to the space.

1. It would be super functional for school.
2. As long as it isn't covered in math problems and spelling words when we have guests over, it won't look like a school room.
3. Sometimes the mirror that is there now can be distracting during school. Little boys like to watch themselves make funny faces.

 (image source, Pottery Barn)

This one looks like several chalkboards all together, but I like the scale of it. I think I have a piece of lauan in the garage leftover from another project that might work. The biggest thing I will have to decide is if I want to frame the chalkboard or not.

I'm not sure exactly when this will happen. Ideally it would happen this weekend, or next, but that may not be how it goes. I will keep you posted.

What kind of colors do you like for your dining room?

First Day of School, 2013

We started school today! We are a homeschooling family, but I like to stick with, or pretty close to, the city school schedule. We start when they do, but finish a good bit earlier.

Can you tell they were excited?

Curriculum

We are using the A Beka Curriculum for the 3rd year in a row. I am a huge fan of A Beka. I was homeschooled using A Beka, went to a private school that used A Beka, and I just like it. I am not a very creative teacher and do prefer a more classic type of home education. I like how most of the prep work is done for me, and all of the subjects flow well together. I like knowing that if for some reason we felt like we needed to send Cade or Henry to a private or public school, the transition would be relatively smooth as far as academics go.

Schedule

In years past, we I have been very laid back as far as a schedule goes. Last year we had a good start, but my mom had many surgeries, spent months out of town in the hospital, and passed away all with in the first 3 months of school. Needless to say, things didn't continue to run very smooth. I never really did get it all back together. Yes, we finished on time, and did everything that needed to be done, but I wasn't as organized as I should have been. That led to days that were not filled with as much fun as they should have been.

This year is a fresh start and I am committed to making it a great year. I am learning that we really do function better with a schedule. I also get a lot more done when I have a plan and stick to it. Will everyday looking exactly the same? I'm going to say no. I'm sure there will be days that we choose to do other things, but for the most part, here is what we are doing.

 7:00 - everyone up, showered, dressed, breakfast, beds made, dishwasher emptied, breakfast cleanup
 8:30 - we start school and work our way through the lessons for each subject
11:00-11:30 - we should be done with most of school and I work on my daily housecleaning chores. The boys go outside to play.
12:00 - Lunch time and then any quick errands we have
1:00 - Henry's nap time. Cade finishes up any reading that needs to be done and we can work on any school work that was too hard to do with Henry around. Henry is included in our Bible, History, Science and Health lessons, and does a pretty good job coloring and playing while we work on Grammar and Math, but I know that there will be days that don't go just as planned.

 Today was great! Everything went just as planned. It actually didn't rain this afternoon so we were able to get some pool time in, followed by a little ice cream. Happy first day of school!

1st day of school 2011-2012

My baby started kindergarten today! Yes, we are homeschooling and he isn't leaving the house every morning, but it's still a big deal. I'm really excited.

This cracks me up, doesn't it look like a mug shot?

He was REALLY excited!

This little boy wanted to do what 'brother" was doing so he colored for about 5 minutes.

It was an enjoyable first day. I'm looking forward to settling into our new routine and expecting a great year.

Completely Random

Instead of a bunch of different short posts you get one long random one.

- I haven't been in the mood to post lately, and I'm completely okay with that. Friday Favs are officially dead. You are welcome. I have about 10-15 house/decor related projects that I could post about (some are pretty great), but I'm just not in the mood. I already said that.  I have no desire to write about them right now. Decor/DIY type stuff is still my fav thing to do, but for now I'm just not feeling it when it comes time to sit down and write about.  I'm sure it will show up at some point, but for now, I'm not going to feel pressured to do Decor/DIY type posts.d

- I think that part of the reason I'm not into writing about Decor/DIY stuff at the moment is because I'm working really hard at being more intentional with my children. I want to enjoy them growing up and really be present with them each day. I don't want to be halfway playing with them and really thinking about some DIY project that I could be working on.

- Henry was sick all of last week. Having a miserable baby makes it really hard to eat well and exercise.  I realized during that week that the whole Body for Life eating plan would not be a lifestyle change for me. Normally at this point I would just choose to bale and start eating everything in sight. Nope. Not this time. I will push through. (ok, the real truth is I did eat whatever while Henry was sick, but I'm back on track now and have been all week.) I'm back to counting calories. I haven't been successful with it before, but this time around I have a smart phone so it's been much easier to keep track of. So far, so good. I was scared to weigh myself and give an update on monday so I chose not to.

- Henry's vocabulary is starting to grow. This week he has added cookie (he started yelling it as soon as we walked into publix - he wanted his free cookie), popcorn, and Mimi.

- Cade starts Kindergarten, and we are going to home school. I said that I would NEVER home school my children. Some of my closest friend home school their children, but I was still very closed to the idea. I purchased a K-4 curriculum last fall so that I would have something productive to do with Cade each day. You know, just for something to do, not because I wanted to home school. My heart started to change. I still wasn't sure that we would home school, but I was more open to the idea. By the time it was time to register Cade to see if he would be accepted into the magnet school I was pretty sure that I was going to home school. I still registered for the magnet school and of course he was accepted. I was still leaning towards home schooling. I didn't know "why?" I felt it was the right thing, but I still felt like it was the right direction. Cade is extremely social and smart and I knew that he would with out a doubt enjoy regular school, but I just couldn't get settled on it. So I gave up his spot in the magnet school and decided to home school. FOR SURE.  It still bugged me that when someone would ask my Why?, I didn't feel like I had a good reason. I just knew that I would trust God and do it anyway. I am so glad that I trusted God on this one. One night this week Cade brought me a book by E. H. Kenyon and asked me to read it to him. The title of the book is Identification (A Romance in Redemption). This is a deep book that I have never attempted to read, but have heard about. I read the first 7 chapters to him that night. He didn't want me to quit reading. A day or two later he brought me a stack of books to read to him, a few new books that he had just gotten, The Pokey Little Puppy, and Identification. He reminded me that we were on Chapter 8. We read Chapter 8. I looked at the stack of books and the Lord said to me (in that still small voice) This is why you are going to home school him. I realized that the reason I was going to home school Cade was so that I could determine what is taught to him. God is so good. It's always nice when you know you are doing the right thing that he shows you why. I was happy to know that I didn't miss it. I can now say that I am excited about this new school year. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us.

Have a great weekend!