Mommy Plannerista

Planning. Passions. Parenthood.

Customized Homeschool Planner by One Stop Planner Shop (Giveaway!)

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Guess what? I have a new customized homeschool planner! Just look at how pretty and big it is!

For those of you who have been following me on my planner IG account, @mommyplannerista.plans, and on my YouTube channel, I started this school year using my Kikki.K personal size ring planner as my homeschool planner. I really had no major complaints about it. I customized it according to my liking and it worked well for me.

Why change planners then?

Well, the truth is that I joined a giveaway hosted by fellow homeschool mom, Annie of @awifenmother, on her Instagram account (follow her ‘coz she’s amazing!). The prize was a one-year subscription to the One Stop Planner Shop, specifically for a customized teacher planner. Lucky me, I won!

I didn’t mind trying out a new planner because I’m forever on the hunt for new tools or systems to use that will make my planner work better for me. Homeschooling can become quite overwhelming sometimes especially if you’re disorganized. Using planners help me lessen the overwhelm which means that my kids and I get to actually enjoy homeschooling.

So as soon as I was given access to the subscription, I immediately started crafting the perfect homeschool planner for me and I’ve been using it for about 2 weeks now.

What’s inside my customized homeschool planner?

If you want to learn how I customized my homeschool planner, please watch this flip through video that I uploaded on my YouTube channel. In the video, I explained the process involved as well as showed the specific templates I used for my planner.

If you wish to know more about how I use specific aspects of the planner, please leave me a comment on this blog post or on my channel. I’ll try to address your questions or requests on a future blog post or video.

Why do I love my customized homeschool planner from One Stop Planner Shop?

To be honest, I didn’t know I was going to really enjoy this planner because I have never used one this big before. The planner is printed on letter size paper and initially I felt it was going to be too big. I pleasantly realized that I actually like it.

Also, I have customized my planners before but I have never done one with inserts from just one shop. So, I wasn’t sure if I was going to find everything I needed entirely from One Stop Planner Shop.

Now that I’m actually using the homeschool planner I created, let me tell you what I liked about the process and the planner itself. Let me count the ways!

  1. I like that the portal is very organized and user-friendly. Everything is properly labeled. Plus, there are tutorials or how-to videos that will guide you throughout the entire process.
  2. There are numerous cover design choices. I also love that there are matching dividers, plus spines for binders too. Plus points for the tabs!
  3. Most of the elements on the planning pages can be easily customized according to your needs. You can change the type, size, and colors of the font. You can add or delete rows and columns on the tables. You can rearrange things. The only things you can’t edit are the decorative elements, which are based on the two styles that are available – Modern and Whimsical.
  4. Editing was easy for me. I edited the pages using Powerpoint but there’s another option using Google Slides as well.
  5. You can bind it any way you want. I just chose to use a binder because it was the easiest and fastest option for me.
  6. I chose to print my entire planner but you can also go all digital if you wish.
  7. The planner pages aren’t just for homeschooling. In fact, there are many templates available that can be used by teachers from regular schools too.
  8. You can save all your planner pages on your laptop or computer. This means that you can print or use them again multiple times.
  9. For my fellow sticker addicts, you’d be happy to know that there are digital stickers that you can use on the planner too.
  10. There are monthly freebies available for all subscribers for as long as you are subscribed.
  11. The subscription is good for one year. So, if you choose to change something in your planner at some point, you can just keep downloading other templates to try.
  12. There’s a Facebook group that you can join. The members there regularly share photos of their own customized planners plus tips on how they did things.

Suffice it to say that I am loving my homeschool planner. I highly recommend homeschool parents to at least check it out if it’s something that will work for you.

It may sound like it will take lots of time and effort to customize your own planner. To be honest, it is but the product is a planner that is created around what you need to make homeschooling a bit easier for you. It has truly helped lessen the overwhelm I sometimes feel in homeschooling. I can relax knowing that I have everything I need in my planner. So, I think it’s so worth it.

How can you get your own customized homeschool planner?

I can give you two ways.

First, you can subscribe to the One Stop Teacher Planner Club. The subscription fee is only $30 for the first year and then just $12 every year after. The annual membership fee includes:

  • Access to the membership website
  • Over 1,500 pages to help you customize the perfect planner
  • Exclusive “Monthly Bonuses”, for club members only
  • A library of How-To Videos to help you get your planner just the way you want it.
  • Access to their Planner Community for support and inspiration

Members get access to new and updated planners every single year! So, I assure you that it’s definitely worth it. Just click here to go to the site and sign up! (Disclaimer: I am an affiliate of the One Stop Planner Shop, which means I will receive a small percentage if you subscribe using this link.)

There’s a second option, though, and that is to join my giveaway!

Kristin, of the One Stop Planner Shop, was so generous to sponsor one (1) winner a teacher planner subscription! That’s good for one year. Yay!

I’ll be hosting the giveaway over on my main Instagram account, @mommyplannerista. Click this link now to learn how to join.

Good luck! Happy planning and happy homeschooling!

No Place Like Home: The Philippine Homeschool Convention 2019

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This year is our 6th year homeschooling. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long. I honestly didn’t think at first that we would last this long in this journey. The fact that we are still doing it and still enjoying it makes me so happy.

It hasn’t been a walk in the park though. There are definitely lots of ups and downs. However, I can honestly say that homeschooling has been a great experience for us.

Last year, I had feelings of overwhelm already and was questioning whether we should still continue homeschooling. What helped clarify things for me was attending the Philippine Homeschool Convention in September. (You can read about my experience at the convention here.)

As it turns out, all I needed was a little inspiration and a little reminder of WHY we do what we do. The convention renewed my love for homeschooling and gave me the motivation to make our experience better.

So, I guess it goes without saying that I do highly recommend attending the annual convention whether you are still thinking about homeschooling, a newbie homeschooler or even a veteran. It is my hope that the convention will help you in your homeschooling journey as well.

With that said, I am so EXCITED for this year’s convention coming next month! Here’s what you need to know.

No Place Like Home: The Philippine Homeschool Convention 2019

Educating for Life (EFL), the organizer of homeschool conferences in the Philippines since 2014, is proud to present the 2019 Philippine Homeschool Convention, “No Place Like Home”.

To be held on September 7, 2019 at the SMX Aura Convention Center, Taguig City, we gather in this annual event to further pursue our vocation as homeschoolers and celebrate the essence of home, of family, of this virtuous calling of educating our children.

The Convention’s theme is inspired by this quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “There is no school equal to a decent home, and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.”

Believing that there is no place like home—especially when it comes to teaching our children—let’s equip ourselves so we can forge ahead in the difficult but extremely rewarding task of educating our children not just academically, but in other aspects too. Character. Virtues. Life lessons. Things that they don’t normally learn from textbooks and within classroom walls.

It is the essence of home, of family, of this virtuous calling of educating our children that we celebrate in No Place Like Home: the Philippine Homeschool Convention 2019.

Our line-up of speakers consists of both international and local speakers who will leave the participants inspired, encouraged, empowered, and equipped to start or continue their respective homeschooling journeys with even greater passion than before.

You can view all the PHC topics and speakers here. You can also view the schedule of the PHC here.

Right now, until September 1, you can avail of the Early Bird Rate of only P1000 for the All-Access Pass (access to all plenary sessions and breakout sessions, plus the PHC Expo featuring different products and services that are helpful to homeschooling families). To register, just go here.

If you have any questions about the PHC, please feel free to visit our website’s FAQs section.

Hope to see you guys there!

Charlotte Mason-inspired Homeschool Planner Flip Through

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A new homeschool year started for us a week ago. Planning for it is what kept me so busy these past several weeks. Homeschool planning is definitely not a walk in the park. However, I find that it can be made more manageable if you have a tool to use that helps you organize things. In my case, it’s a planner. (What else, right? I’m a planner addict. Duh!)

If you’ve been following me on this blog and on my Instagram accounts, you’d know that for the past couple of years, I’ve been using a pocket size travelers notebook as a homeschool planner. This year, I decided to go for a personal ring planner instead because I’ve been using a ring planner (pocket size) for my everyday planning too.

I was lucky enough to have found this Kikki.K personal ring planner on super sale at National Book Store online for only PHP 100.00 (approximately $2). Super cheap! Originally, this planner would have cost me around PHP 4,000.00. So anyway, I figured it would be perfect for homeschool planning so I decided to use it for that purpose.

I also decided to make my homeschool planner Charlotte Mason – inspired. We’ve been incorporating Charlotte Mason methods to our homeschool last year. This year, I wanted to immerse ourselves more on the methods.

So I included some CM-type sections in the planner that I didn’t have in my previous homeschool planners, such as:

  • Charlotte Mason quotes to inspire me
  • Process lists (ex. how to do narration, how to do dictation, picture and composer study, etc)
  • Preschool priorities
  • List of living books for family read-alouds
  • List of living books for independent reading
  • List of additional books to read per subject
  • List of afternoon occupations

It is by no means a complete Charlotte Mason homeschool planner. That’s why I’m saying it’s only a Charlotte Mason-inspired one. I actually researched for ready-made ones online but decided not to purchase any of them. There are quite a selection to choose from but they’re also expensive especially if you add in the cost of freight. All of the CM planners I’ve seen are from abroad so the freight cost is expensive.

I’ve also found a few printable ones online but I just felt like I could save money by customizing my own using free planner inserts that can be downloaded online. There are a lot of generic and free printable inserts that you can definitely turn into anything you need. I just took note of the common sections from the CM planners and incorporated those I would need into my planner.

Aside from the CM sections though, I still included general sections such as some calendars, notes and lists, lesson plan lists, field trip planner, and grading sheets.

I really like how the planner is working for me so far. If you wish to see a flip through of it, please watch the video I published on my YouTube channel, which you can see below.

I hope you enjoy the flip through and that you will find it helpful for your own homeschool planning. Please let me know what you think of my planner and don’t hesitate to give some suggestions on how you think I can improve it. If you have questions about my set up, please let me know too.

Happy homeschool planning!

Shop for your School Supplies at the National Bookstore Grand Back to School Fair

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Yes, it’s that time of the year again when parents of school kids are busy back-to-school shopping. Even though we are homeschooling we are not free from that because we still need to stock up on our own school supplies too.

Aside from the supplies though, I’m also currently re-organizing our homeschool room. So, I’m going to need a lot of storage items to properly organize all our new books and supplies.

That said, I’m so happy to learn that the National Book Store Grand Back to School Fair is happening this weekend. Yay! It’s the perfect venue for parents like me to go and shop for school supplies.

National Book Store is inviting you all to shop for the school supplies you need at their Grand Back to School Fair, happening from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM on May 24 to 26, 2019 at the Glorietta Palm Drive Activity Center in Makati City.

There is so much to look forward to at the event! Enjoy all of the special offers for the back-to-school season. Get a backpack for Php 100 or a lunch bag for Php 75 with every Php 300 single-receipt transaction with any participating item. You will also be gifted a Php 100 NBS Gift Card with every Php 3,000 single-receipt transaction. Be one of 6 winners of Php 5,000 NBS gift card or 30 winners of Php 1,000 worth of school supplies.

Save time and energy with the Grab & Go packs and get big savings with the Budget Bundles. For quick and easy shopping, get the Backpack to School for Grades 1 to 3 (P345) and Grades 4 to 6 (P445).

Shop for the supplies and accessories you need for the new school year, whether your kids are in elementary, high school, or college.

Special thanks to all of the participating brands: Adventurer, Berkley, Bic, Biotop, Canson, Deli, Dong-A, Dymo, Faber-Castell, Fabriano, Limelight, Liquitex, Livinbox, Mongol, PaperOne, Pilot, Sakura, Sharpie, Titus, Tombow, Veco, Uni, and Winsor & Newton.

We are definitely not going to miss this! Hope to see you at the National Book Store Grand Back to School Fair! Happy shopping!

How We Inject Christmas In Our Homeschool

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Each year, I try to find more ways to be more intentional in our homeschool. So I thought, why not do something to be more intentional in celebrating Christmas, right? We want our kids to be reminded of what Christmas is really about aside from just giving and receiving gifts.

Like other families, we have our own Christmas traditions. However, this year I tried to start new traditions by incorporating them into our homeschool. Here’s what we’ve done so far this Christmas season.

DIY Advent Wreath

I remember making my own advent wreath as a Christmas project in school when I was a kid. I thought it would be fun to help Ziggy do the same. Besides, he’ll be having his First Communion already next year and I wanted him to be more familiar with Catholic traditions.

We made this advent wreath by reusing some random materials we found at home after I looked at some photos on Pinterest. We didn’t spend a thing on this, except for our time and effort. We made it in time for the 1st Sunday of Advent. Ziggy, and even two-year-old Zander, enjoy the activity because it involves lighting and blowing out candles. But we say our advent prayers too, of course. That is the whole point, after all.

DIY Parol

For this project, I had the hubby assist Ziggy. He actually had some wood shaped into a star from last year’s Christmas. It was supposed to be for his office but was never used. So we only had to buy some cellophane and other papers to wrap the star with.

Too bad we weren’t able to light it up. But that’s okay because we weren’t planning on putting it outside anyway. We just placed it behind our Christmas tree.

Christmas-themed Worksheets

While I usually follow the lessons in Ziggy’s textbooks, every so often I also get lessons and worksheets from other sources. There are lots of Christmas-themed ones online. The ones I found were even free.

I got a Christmas activity sheet for Ziggy’s math lesson on geometry. He had to cut out and color some shapes and combine them to make a Christmas tree and a reindeer.

I also found one for his English lesson on adjectives. It involved completing a Christmas-themed story by throwing candy (ideally a candy cane) on a sheet full of adjectives. When the candy lands on an adjective, you’re supposed to use it on one of the blanks in the story. It was actually such a fun and silly game and Ziggy really enjoyed it.

Christmas Stories and Carols

I was searching our collection of books to look for Christmas-themed ones and found this book called The Lion Book of Christmas Carols. It contains the story of Jesus’ birth starting from the Angel Gabriel telling Mary that she was to be the mother of our Savior. Each Bible story has its corresponding carols.

I started reading the stories to the boys a week before Christmas, one story each day. Then I found videos of the carols on YouTube so that we could sing them with music. We really love this activity because we are a music-loving family. I think reading the Bible stories also made Ziggy learn more about the origins of Christmas, making it more meaningful to him.

Visiting Christmas Light Shows

We make field trips a part of our homeschool as often as we can. For this quarter, we made visiting Christmas light shows a homeschool field trip too. We first visited Pixar Playtown in Bonifacio High Street. Too bad we didn’t have our girls with us then.

At least, Zoe and Ziya were finally able to join us when we went to the Ayala Triangle Gardens Lights and Sounds Show. We enjoyed this one more because of the Disney theme. Plus, the light show was grander and longer than the one at Bonifacio High Street.

All these activities have really made our Christmas celebration more fun and most importantly, more meaningful. We’re not done yet though. We’ve actually been decluttering our house lately and have already segregated a lot of items that we plan to donate. We’ll be donating clothes and toys but haven’t decided where yet. But for sure, we’ll be including our kids in that activity too.

You don’t have to homeschool though to do these activities. There’s lots of things you can do as a family. Next year, I’m actually planning on doing an advent calendar activity too. How do you make Christmas more meaningful for your family? Do give me some ideas.

For now though, let us greet you all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!!!!

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