I received a copy of this planner for free in order to provide a review. As always, all thoughts are 100 percent mine. Thanks for your support!
You may not know this about me, but I am a planner person! I feel like because of this, I am often asked, “What is your favorite planner?” And quite honestly, I don’t have any answer! I’ve tried a lot of planners and what often works best for my brain is to switch between planners. This keeps it fresh and exciting for my brain.
One thing I don’t often do, however, is to use homeschool specific planners. I have to admit that I have not always been that impressed with homeschool planners in the past. Often they just feel like a teacher planner rebranded to a homeschool planner without making any meaningful changes.
It’s not to say that we don’t have anything in common with classroom teachers – certainly we do. But there are often some big differences – and those differences often leave me with a desire to have a planner that is set up differently than a teacher planner.
However, when I opened the Homeschool Essentials Planner, I immediately felt excited. Just flipping through it I had the feeling right away that this was a homeschool planner designed by homeschoolers for homeschoolers. In fact, before I had even started using it, I had to send a video to one of my good friends (who also loves a good planner) showing it to her because I was completely pumped.

Clean Design Makes the Homeschool Essentials Planner Easy to Get Started Using
One thing that I appreciate about the planner is its clean design. Opening it, it feels like the pages have just the right amount of info. Each weekly spread has a place for every day (plus weekends), a notes section, and a reminders section. The lefthand side of the left page has a column where you can write the name or subject. Then those sections are further divided with lines and a small bubble you can check.
I found this a very easy format to adapt for our day. I divided it into sections, using the top section for our daily schedule (co-op classes, appointments, etc), the next section for our together activities, a section for each of my children and then the bottom section I use as a general to do list for my own personal items, putting our hour total for each day in the bottom row. (My state requires a certain number of hours per year – this is not necessarily something you need to track depending on where you live.)
In terms of homeschool planning, I actually don’t plan our day ahead of time. Instead, I use the planner for recording what we have done after the fact. We tend to have a more relaxed day to day style in our homeschool – using loop scheduling or jars or variations thereof.
So while I don’t use my planner for day to day planner, I do find it very helpful to record what we have done, so I can see at a glance what we have been working on and where we left off. So that is how I use this planner.

More than Just a Planner – Homeschool Essentials Planner Helps You Record Memories Too
One of the features I love about the Homeschool Essentials Planner is that after every week it has this beautiful spread to track your homeschool week. This is a great spot for keeping your memories as well as recording what you did.
The web form is free flowing, helping you to connect the dots, not just on the more formal learning you do, but on the opportunities. I love that it includes things like recording the people you saw, the music & podcasts you listened to, and the places you visited. It also has spots to record the moments you saw your kid “get it.” I love that the planner feels very holistic in this regard.
You can easily use these sections to keep a running list of all the books you read and the projects you do. The middle of the web says “It all counts as learning!” which is such a good reminder. No matter your homeschool style, you can use this format to record valuable parts of your homeschool, to look back and reflect on.

Quality Materials Make the Homeschool Essentials Planner Durable
One of the biggest questions when it comes to planners is – what is it made of?
The Homeschool Essentials planner is made from quality materials. Its spiral binding ensures that it lays flat. It’s plastic front and back cover help to protect the pages. The paper is thick and delightful feeling. (I know there has to be better ways to describe paper, but if you know that feeling of a smooth, quality piece of paper – you know!) The specs describe it as 32-pound paper, good for preventing bleed through and in my experience, this is the case! I’ve used all sorts of colored pens and never noticed any bleed through.
In terms of size, this is a full piece of paper sized. This gives you plenty of room to write everything you need. I neither measured nor weighed it, but Homeschool Essentials has thoughtfully provided that information. The planner is 7/8″ thick and weighs just over a pound. For me, it’s been very easy to throw it in my backpack when needed, especially because the plastic covers are protecting it!

How Can the Homeschool Essentials Planner Support Your Homeschool?
Not every person is a planner person – I can appreciate that! However, a planner can be a great tool to support your homeschool. Helping you to organize your thoughts and your days, the Homeschool Essentials Planner can help things in your homeschool go more smoothly.
The Homeschool Essentials Planner is designed to support your homeschool along the way. In the very front, there is a place for you to put your why. There are also inspirational quotes in every week to help motivate and encourage you. The one for this current week (as I write this post) says, “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.” – Mark Twain.
What I love most about this planner isn’t that it’s gorgeous (though it is). It is that it truly feels like a planner for homeschoolers designed by people who understand homeschooling. And that is what makes it a valuable and worthwhile homeschool planner.
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