Embracing a Healthy Family: Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year by The Old Schoolhouse® Review

Affiliate links are included in this review.

Every year, or even every semester. I struggle with keeping all the courses and records straight. I tell myself I will start using a planner and never do. I was provided the opportunity to review Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year by The Old Schoolhouse® and I was quite pleased! The Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner is 188 pages packed with so many resources that will aid in homeschool planning as well as my personal journey with faith. The author, Gena Suarez, is a homeschool mom to seven and the The Old Schoolhouse® Publisher. It really is a must have and it's something that I'm finally convinced I should have had a long time ago. I started completing the pages and will complete more as I move into the new year. The spiral bound is a favorite of mine allowing for ease in turning pages over without compromising the seam.

The Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year is not any ordinary planner either as it's a devotional planner. It is indexed by useful sections and can be used for many than one child. It's durable thus allowing for a record keeper for years to come. There are messages intermixed throughout the planner that help remind one to remember the One.

The Table of Contents alone shows how robust the planner is from forms to "Hey Mama! Devotionals." Forms include:

Creating an Academic Transcript
Academic Transcript
Checklist and Skills Learned
Other Courses
2019 Calendar
2020 Calendar
2021 Calendar
Monthly Calendars with Notes and Hey Mama! Devotionals
Weekly Planners
Child 1
Child 2
Child 3
Child 4
Child 5

There are over 20 devotionals ranging from "Field Trip" to "Fall Days" to "Persevere" and much more to help keep one on track and faithful. They really are nice messages to provide lifting encouragement through words that many of us experience on this homeschooling path. I'm including a sample from Fall Days:

"Hey Mama!
Fall days come. We all have them. They discourage us, bring us low, and even sometimes contribute to our temptation to stray from the course -- or even to give up entirely. It's a life from the pit, Mama. Don't but into it; don't go there."

Once I had a chance to thoroughly review the entire planner, I set my sights on what I could start utilizing now as I plan for the next semester. I also wanted to see what I could have my children utilize personally to partake on this devotional/planning journey with me. In the rest of the review, I will provide some of the key forms that I used to provide examples of why I really love this planner.

Forms and More

First I started with the calendar with the most important dates of my children's birthdays and then moved forward with any planned vacations or periods that I'm declaring no school days. Having the ability to look at the other years is also a nice feature so I can easily see dates in the future since the planner has multiple years as mentioned above.

Another section of forms that I found very useful for me, since my middle one is in high school, was "Creating an Academic Transcript." Here is the page showing how comprehensive and thorough the instructions are for having one as well as completing one:

I'm finding every form useful in the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year and this is another one that will ensure my children are keeping track of their work as well as I:

I love the flexibility and freedom I have in how I want to use it to include the number of children, maximum of five, that it can be used for. Other forms that I know I will use are "Curriculum Planning," "Attendance" and "Books Read This Year." She really has thought of everything to make this a one stop shop for all my homeschool information for my children.

The forms, "First Semester Goals," was a hit with my youngest. When I asked both of my younger children who wanted to be first to complete this, she was extremely eager and really enjoyed laying out goals for the first upcoming semester.

Overall, this is a must have! It's thorough, helpful and provides guidance and encouragement throughout the school year. I highly recommend it.

Note, Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year by The Old Schoolhouse® is 98% sold out of their print run and will not print more until next year.