I'm back! AND Planning for the new school year.

We recently moved and have endured 2 weeks of no internet, so needless to say, I've got a lot of catching up to do!

Today I went shopping for my planner.  Ok, last year I kicked my planner to the curb during the last part of the year through no fault of its own.  I just decided I was thankful to get things done regardless if it was on paper.  Missouri law kind of allows me to do that since I don't officially need to keep records until my dd is 7 years old.  But since we are starting out in a new place (which is also a lot smaller), I felt the need to try to get "more organized" on many levels. 

At the teacher supply store, I had many choices that worked well when I was in the classroom, but not what I had in mind until I came across and end cap that had The Well-Planned Day which is made by Home Educating Family Magazine and what was funny was that it wasn't until I got home that I realized that I had just received a free copy of the magazine in the mail this week!  If you'd like to request a free sample go here.

The planner is not cheap.  It's $25 although you can get the PDF file for only $20 on their site.  I don't know about you, but I will gladly pay $5 extra for them to print it all up in color and spiral bind it.

Once I got home and have had a chance to really explore it at leisure, I'm very impressed with all it entails.

Here's a list from their site:

• Over 200 Full Color Pages
• Available in an 8.5 X 11 Spiral Bound Printed Book or PDF Download
• Full Year Planner: July 2010 - June 2011
• Organize and Plan for up to 4 children in one convenient book.
• Four Student Class Plans: Schedule each student's class assignments.
• Four Student Time Schedules: Track each day by the hour.
• Weekly Schedule: Organize your week with class assignments, weekly priorities, prayer requests, dinner menu, and notes.
• Month at a Glance: Plan field trips, enrichment activities and books to read
• Semester Attendance & Progress Reports
• Perforated Report Cards
• Menu Planning: Plan weekly meals and conveniently shop with perforated shopping lists.
• Family Worship: Read through the Bible in a year.
• Insightful homeschool articles and tips to inspire you throughout the year.
• and much more....

 The articles are nice, but not a big selling point to me as far as a planner goes.  It also gives a weekly catechism question which I think is awesome.  There are perforated shopping lists which I think is handy;  jot it down while you remember instead of forgetting after the lesson.  I like that the planning lines are in a vertical format.    Just looks more calendar/dayplanner like to me. 

At the end of the semester, you have an attendance report.  For me, I'm going to jot our total hours down each day on the date and then write the total on the space given for total attendance.  There is also a progress report that allows you to jot down weekly grades for each subject during each week. 

Oh, and the report cards included are a nice heavy card stock.  You know, like a "real" report card.

I'd love to find out what others are using.  Please share if you have time!