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Planners for Homeschooling moms

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It is that time of year again where homeschooling families are starting to plan for next year. In order to keep everything organize the first purchase made is usually a planner. With the amount available, the choice can be overwhelming. Sara over at Classically Homeschooling has put together a list of 7 great planners for every homeschooling family.

Have you picked out your homeschool planner for the 2020-2021 school year? It’s planning season again and time to find the best homeschool planners to use!

7 BEST PAPER HOMESCHOOL PLANNERS

Some of these planners are printed and shipped to you, while others are digital downloads that you can print. Some planners are expensive and have all sorts of whistles and bells. Other planners are free and are able to be customized to fit your specific needs.

Take your pick. These are six of my favorite planners. And in the last 18 years of homeschooling, I’ve tested quite a few!

1. HOMESCHOOL AND DAY PLANNER

The Homeschool and Day Planner is the dated planner I created and use.

There are dated monthly pages and dated weekly pages. Each weekly page spread is immediately followed by that week’s homeschool planning pages. Personally, I keep a paper clip to mark my spot so I can easily flip between my weekly homeschool plans and my weekly appointments and to-do list.

There are lined note pages throughout the planner. You can use these for brain dumps as I do, monthly to-do lists, books to read, books read, or simply an easy spot to jot a quick note to yourself.

In addition, the Homeschool and Day Planner includes pages to plan your homeschool year! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been caught at the library and needed to know what topics a child would cover. Having my homeschool plans on my has saved my bacon more than once!

You’ll find samples of the Homeschool & Day Planner in my free resource library for subscribers!

2. WEEKLY HOMESCHOOL PLANNER

The Weekly Homeschool Planner is not dated. And it’s an editable, and printable e-book. This means you can edit the pdf document to include months, subjects, lesson plans, and more.

Then you print it up for the year and can either keep it in a 3-ring binder or take it to be spiral bound.

There are many handy pages, such as a page to track what the legal requirements for your state are. The weekly pages are in grid form with a journal section able to be placed across from it.

I’m falling in love with the format. I have the grid to track individual assignments, but the journal to note preschool plans, needed discussions, and points I want to remember.

Click here to continue looking at her top 7 Homeschooling Planners

3 ways Pokémon Go can be a great family activity

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What is this thing anyway? Vox describes Pokémon Go this way:

“After a few years lying relatively low, Pokémon is making a bit of a comeback. The Nintendo-owned franchise, which exploded in popularity in the late 1990s, is again taking America by storm — this time through Pokémon Go, its biggest entry into the mobile space, now available for a free download on Android and iOS. It’s so popular that it’s on the verge of overtaking Twitter in terms of daily active users on Android.

In simple terms, Pokémon Go uses your phone’s GPS and clock to detect where and when you are in the game and make Pokémon ‘appear’ around you (on your phone screen) so you can go and catch them. As you move around, different and more types of Pokémon will appear depending on where you are and what time it is. The idea is to encourage you to travel around the real world to catch Pokémon in the game.”

The idea is to encourage you to travel around the real world to catch Pokémon in the game.

Families used to go for walks or bike rides in the evening and now spend time watching TV. Bring back the fun by downloading this app and joining a team with your whole family. Then go out and catch some Pokémon!

1. Make it a challenge. And give rewards.

Setup a family challenge to find 10 Pokémon. Maybe even divide up into teams to make the challenge more interesting. First one to meet the goal gets to pick the dessert. Make it fun to work as a team and achieve a goal. Not only will it make your kids better friends with each other, it will help you learn more about them and better connect with them.

Ice cream as a reward for reaching a goal

2. Plan a day trip.

Large groups of Pokémon are often organized around parks, monuments, and landmarks. Take a day to visit a new city as a family. Take a picnic, and make a day of site-seeing and capturing Pokémon.

Many cities have blogs or online archives of kids activities that are available on any given day. Make sure you check those resources before you plan your activity. Who knows…maybe you’ll get lucky and find a free museum or another cool attraction in your town that ends up making your trip fun for the family and super cheap. It’s always good not to break the budget when planning family activities. If you’re in Greenville, SC, you can check http://kiddingaroundgreenville.com/ for deals on activities near you.

3. Expand the game by using real life activities while playing.

Teach your kids to count by having them count with you as you look for Pokémon or level up at a gym. Maybe have them draw pictures of their favorite Pokémon, and talk about what your kids imagine themselves doing with their Pokémon. Go to a craft store like Hobby Lobby and get some styrofoam balls to paint and make into Pokeballs.

Pokeballs as an activity for kids

In an age where our mobile devices keep us tuned out to the activities around us, parents can use Pokémon Go to capture their kids attention again and work together as a team. Enjoy their interests. Work together. Play together.

Looking for ways to keep you and your kids safe while playing Pokémon Go? Here’s 5 Must-read safety tips while playing Pokémon Go with your kids.

5 Must-read safety tips while playing Pokémon Go with your kids

Posted by & filed under Family.

Pokémon Go is all the rage these days. So much so that it’s already passed the popular app Tinder in number of downloads, and it will soon pass Twitter in daily active users! With this many people enjoying this game, safety is quickly becoming a real concern. Follow these 5 simple safety tips to make your gaming experience more fun and most importantly safe for your family.

1. Never #PokemonGo Alone.

The best way to get yourself in trouble is to wander around in unfamiliar places all by yourself. Add to this the excitement of finding a new Pokémon while staring diligently at your phone, and you’re sure to end up doing something unsafe. To be safe, make sure to go out in groups of at least 2. If you’re going to be somewhere unfamiliar, it’s best to make sure there’s an adult accompanying any minors.

PokemonGo Working as a Team

2. Be aware of your surroundings.

There are already several news stories of people getting injured by walking into signs, trees, and curbs because they just weren’t watching where they were going. This seems a little silly, but it doesn’t take long to get so into looking for a new Pokémon that you just stop watching where you’re walking. There’s even been some reports of people randomly walking out into the road while staring at their phone. Be safe. Pay attention.

3. Stay in well lit areas

This may seem like a no-brainer, but if you or your kids are playing at night, there’s a good chance you’ll be led off the well-lit path to find a rare Pokémon. Don’t take unnecessary risks by walking into a dark place where there could be someone hiding. As unbelievable as it might seem, there have already been reports of burglaries and assaults while playing Pokémon Go.

Bring a flashlight so you can see and stay in well lit areas as best you can.

4. Never play while driving a vehicle or riding a bicycle

In the age of always-connected devices, we tend to get distracted quickly by dings and pops on our phones letting us know that something new is waiting for us. This is even more pronounced when playing PokémonGo. The temptation to pull out your phone and scan your surroundings everywhere you go is getting stronger every day. And it only seems to make sense that you can cover more ground if you play while driving or biking. DON’T. Resist the urge. Warn your kids of the dangers of distracted driving. More than 3,000 teens die each year in texting and driving accidents. That’s more than are caused by drunk drivers. In 5 seconds of distraction, you could go the distance of a football field without seeing the road. Pokémon Go is a real danger in distracted driving. Don’t drive distracted.

5. Set boundaries for your kids

While most of the places this game will take you are public places or landmarks, there have been reports of a few being found in places that are not kid-friendly (e.g. adult stores and night clubs). Give your kids some simple limits that help them have fun while keeping them close to safe and age-appropriate locations.

The Pokemon Company International and Niantic, Inc. released the following statement:

We are aware that some incidents have occurred involving fans playing Pokémon GO. We encourage all people playing Pokémon GO to be aware of their surroundings and to play with friends when going to new or unfamiliar places. Please remember to be safe and alert at all times. We are humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response to Pokémon GO and greatly appreciate the support of our fans.

Check out 3 ways Pokémon Go can be a great family activity and get the fun started!