I’ve always prided myself on being an organized person and I’ve always relied on my planner to help me do that. Besides being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom and blogger, I started a business and began working as a Virtual Assistant which has required a whole new level of planning and leaves me little time to organize my home and homeschool.

Planning Eliminates Overwhelm

As a homeschooling mom, I have learned that if I don’t stay on top of my schedule I’ll begin to get overwhelmed and frustrated. It’s important to me that I keep up with the demands of homeschooling, caring for my family and my home. I want to make sure that I don’t forget anything. More importantly, I want to be purposeful about the things that I schedule each day so that I’m not missing out on the important things in life.

I received these products for free and the following review is from my personal experience and the opinions stated are mine alone. Just so you know, this post contains affiliate links which help me keep my blog up and running. Thank you for using them. 

Using The Organized Homeschool Life

As it would happen, I received a copy of The Organized Homeschool Life Planner about the same time as I began my business. It’s the perfect companion to my copy of The Organized Homeschool Life Week-by-Week Guide

Dr. Melanie Wilson, from Psycho with 6, is homeschool mom to six so she fully understands the nitty-gritty of homeschooling, taking care of her home and running a business all at the same time. She was also a Christian Psychologist and is crazy passionate about time management and keeping her sanity.

Thankfully, she’s also passionate about sharing what she’s learned with us. In Melanie’s week-by-week guide and planner, she keeps us focused on what’s most important and that is keeping God full front and center! She has organized all the tasks we would need to do to be organized in our homes and homeschool for the year and breaks them down into small tasks for each week. It’s totally doable and completely stress-free, especially for the busy homeschool mom life!

What I Love About the Planner

I love that this planner comes in digital download and print version, I mean, who doesn’t love options? I started out with a digital copy because I’m working towards a paperless life. Don’t laugh, I honestly have the best intentions but sometimes I feel as though I have even more paper. Maybe it’s just because I notice it more.

While the digital planner is fabulous, not every page is editable. I also realized that when it comes to planning, I have to write things down. So, I printed a month at a time using the B5 option in my printer settings, this way I could easily cut and fit the planner pages into my Happy Planner™.

Melanie later sent me the print version of her planner and I began using it to see which one I preferred. The print version gives me much more room to write because the pages are a full 8 1/2″ x 11″. I love having the planner ready without having to print, cut, and punch holes in my pages but it takes up a lot more room on my desk. As is the case for most people with blogs and businesses, I’m finding it necessary to use both planners. I can keep business and personal appointments and tasks separate.

What’s Inside

The Organized Life Planner has a large, beautiful, spiral binding and gorgeous monthly tabs. It comes as two separate books with January through June in the first book and July through December in the second. Each month begins with a short devotion which goes along with The Organized Homeschool Life Week-by-Week Guide. The week-by-week guide goes into further detail and includes links for printable forms.

Melanie focuses on achievable sized goals for your home and homeschool. I love this because I’m able to focus on what’s important and not feel overwhelmed by my never-ending to-do list. The best part is the tasks we’re encouraged to complete go right along with a typical school year. So, planning curriculum will be scheduled right at the time I would be doing that anyway!

Surprise! Surprise!

Planning my days this way has minimized my freak-out moments. You know those moments when you realize that it’s already time for a new school year and you still have a bazillion things to do to get ready? When you’re planning ahead, doing a little at a time, you end up being more productive than when you make a list of twenty-five things to do in a day. Overscheduling causes overwhelm and frustration!

This planner includes monthly checklists to keep track of assigned tasks and goals as well as space to write your own tasks. There is a brainstorming area for potential obstacles that might get in the way, like doctor’s appointments or out of town guests. There’s also space to write down how you might overcome those obstacles.

Each week has a meal plan worksheet followed by daily worksheets where you will record something you’re thankful for, God’s word for you that day, three main priorities to focus on, along with you organizing and relationship focus. You’ll have plenty of space to write your to-do’s, your goals, your appointments, and even school notes. At the bottom of each daily page, you’ll find a space for habit tracking.

I preferred using the digital version of the menu planning pages because I like to hang them on my fridge and it looks a lot neater than my handwriting.

Personal Opinion

This planner has already helped me with my organization. I’ve shared the features I love about it but I have mixed feelings about having two large planner books for one year. I keep my old planners but saving books this size could start to take up a lot of room. It also takes up a good chunk of space on my small desk.

I found out that I can have the digital planner printed and cut to fit my Happy Planner™ rings. My local Staples quoted my $23 for 150 pages. I’m going to wait for a sale and use my Teacher’s Discount. Hopefully, I can get all the pages printed for under $30. I plan to use my own Happy Planner™ hole punch along with supplies that I currently have to bind my pages.

Final Thoughts

Melanie has truly thought of everything with this set. You can use each book separately but they work so well together. Having the set will help you maximize your home and life organization! The planner is much more than a place to keep a schedule, it’s a systematic way of organizing. The Organized Homeschool Life Planner will help you accomplish more in an organized and focused way without feeling overwhelmed.