Don’t miss the giveaway at the end! (This product was provided to Cindy in exchange for an honest review. As always, her thoughts are entirely her own. There are affiliate links located in the post.)
Less of a review and more of and ode to my new companion, The Well Planned Day.
I’m an organized person by nature. I love being organized – it keeps me calm and clears my mind. Once my sweet little Eli joined our troop, though, I lost all sense of organization. Something about adding a third child to the mix threw my otherwise organized self into a tizzy. (And that was six years ago!)
I haven’t planned meals like I should. I can’t seem to stay caught up on the laundry. I feel like I’m constantly juggling appointments, field trips, practices and other events. And, it surely takes greater brain strength to think through lesson plans for three very different age levels. Throw my love for writing, blogging and curriculum reviewing into the mix and my mind is nothing but mush most of the time.
Enter The Well Planned Day
I cannot describe to you the order this power-packed, spiral notebook has brought back into my life. Pretty much everything that turns my mind to mush can be lassoed up in the pretty pages so they aren’t constantly rolling around in my brain. All except the laundry that is.
What Do I Keep in My Family Planner?
- Our family calendar
- Weekly menu lists
- My shopping list (on convenient tear-out papers)
- Special reminder notes
- Weekly lesson plans
- Our reading lists
- Field trip notes and contact numbers
- Grades
- Report Cards
- Blogging Schedule
- Business To-Do’s
- When Reviews are Due
- Pretty Much Everything To Keep My Life Well Planned!
Heck, there are even places for me to make holiday plans – menus, gifts lists and more! Not to mention, the monthly encouragement articles tucked into the precious pages of this book that constantly bring me back to the Truth.
I simply can’t say anything more than thank you. Thank you, Well Planned Day! You have made it easy for me to bring my organized self back. Now, if you could work on tackling my laundry issue next…
Now for the Giveaway!
Home Educating Family is giving away one (1) Family Homeschool Planner! Just follow the instructions in the rafflecopter widget below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three from Central KY. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her creative homeschooling curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.
The biggest reason Cindy chose to homeschool was because she loves experiencing life with her children and watching them grow inside and out. She's sure that’s why the Charlotte Mason method first caught her attention. It allows her to be creative in scheduling, rigorous in learning, yet opens the door for plenty of close-knit time, opportunities for her children to explore their interests and offers enough free time for them to be children. She implements many of Charlotte Mason's methods with an eclectic twist of things that work for her family! At Cindy's website, Our Journey Westward, you will find a blog packed with fun learning ideas and a shop full of creative curriculum, including the NaturExplorers studies.
First, I plan in big chunks. Then, Sunday evening, I look at the week ahead and adjust any of the planning we’ve made. During the week, I look at the next day’s plan and see if adjustments need to be made.
I’ve contemplated getting this planner for a while. Nice to see it so useful to you!
I find it helps to have a set day to do a bulk of the planning for the week (for me, that’s the weekend). For me, that includes menu planning, checking the budget, writing out expected outings and work you plan to cover with the children. I then review the day’s plans each morning (with a cuppa .. wink!)
Thank you for this review. As a fairly new homeschool mom, I am a bit overwhelmed this year. I am currently using a planner that has too many blank blocks for my comfort. I thought I wanted that, but sometimes I need more guidance. This planner may just be the answer! 🙂
My goal is to plan by the week, though sometimes I just go day by day.
I was planning every week but I have just been going day-by-day for a few weeks. I do miss having my week at a glance plans!
I have wanted this planner since the moment I came across it at the True Woman Conference. I’m really hoping that I win =)
I plan weekly, usually on Friday afternoon so that I don’t have to spend the weekend with my mind on the week ahead. I don’t do as well at scheduling the rest of our week, and so meals and errands and grocery shopping, etc. just sort of happen randomly and I’d like to work on that!
I would love to win this planner! I need to be more organized! 😀
what a wonderful giveaway thank u, that is what is hardest for me, organization.
Honestly, I am desperate for something to help my planning methods. Ever since I gave up my planner book (a couple years ago) for my Smartphone, my lesson planning, meal planning and chore planning have suffered greatly…and so has my sanity. Been considering this planner anyway…it would be a blessing to win it.
We are first year homeschoolers and I’ve been curious which planner would best fit our needs. After reading this review, I believe that this is just the thing for us! I am a paper/pencil type of girl, so having everything written out in one book would be fabulous! Thanks for the giveaway. 🙂
I have this planner & love it! This is the 1st planner I used when I started homeschooling. I used free printable planners for 2 years and decided to go back to the well planned day planner this year because I love having everything all in one book, & I love the encouraging articles & the beauty of it! This will be the planner I choose from now on! 🙂
I start out with a big picture plan, then I break it down
I have been looking at the well planned day planner for a while. I have been hesitant to buy one because I can’t get my hands on it before I buy. I think this would be perfect for me though!
I used to plan daily, maybe even hourly. Was never a huge planner. However now that I am homeschooling all of my (3) children, planning is a must. I started doing it weekly but I have upped it to one month at a time. It makes me stick to the schedule more and keeps me acceptable to my schedule.
I plan in about three month chunks
I am not very good at planning. What has saved me is “keep doing the next thing.” The next lesson, or the next worksheet and so on.
I plan daily, but I wish I could get it planned out atleast weekly. But with five kids running around I really am lucky to get the daily done.
I plan on Sundays for the week.
I try to plan a few weeks at a time so that I can stay on top of it.
I try to plan out my day. I usually plan daily. It is much better for me to do it at this pace, especially with my middle child who has some special needs.
I try to plan monthly right now.
The best planning change I’ve ever made was to plan a month of meals ahead of time. Then each week I can write a quick grocery list and only make one trip to the store instead of several. Makes the week go sooo much smoother. I would love to try this awesome planner!
Thank you for this great review and giveaway! We are brand-new to homeschooling, so our planning happens as we go right now. I like the tear-out shopping lists and the monthly devotionals.
I want to get one of these for next year when we officially start homeschooling. It looks like a great tool!
I plan by year, month, week, then actual day by day. This allows me to go with the flow if something doesn’t go the way we plan.
I plan only one week at a time! I find with small children it is too hard to plan more than that, and I usually have to change it all anyway because things don’t usually go according to my plan.
I don’t plan. I really need this planner!
I like to plan out not only my lesson plans, but also daily chores. It helps me not let things slide. It’s something new I’ve been doing the past few weeks and it’s really working! 🙂
I plan everything… From lesson plans to meetings to dinner! I’d love to have one of these!
I plan in totally random spurts and use it somewhat erratically. 🙁
I would love to win! I feel so disorganized some days.
I plan weekly for my 7th grader and daily for my preschooler.