Today is the day.  We are back to school. My girls will devour the donuts, I will drink an extra cup of coffee and we will dream of what the year holds for us.  I don’t write about it much, but homeschooling is a huge part of our lives. I think finally, as I start my 7th year of teaching my girls {wow!} I am settling into my own brand of homeschooling.

So, what is my homeschool brand?

• I love the big picture.
• Vision planning their year is my favorite part.
• I don’t really have a super structured daily plan.
• I write down what we DID instead of what I think we will DO.
• We partner with an umbrella school.  They keep my records and me sane.
• My girls go 1 day each week and take classes through this umbrella school.
• I thoroughly enjoy my 1 day off from teaching.  {I am looking forward to lots of Starbuck this year with my 2 year old!}
• I am pretty much a unit study based girl.
• My girls have basically done the same curriculum, because I know it and can tailor it to their needs. {Does that make me lazy?}
• We love to read, and my passion is that they will be life long readers! {So far, so good!}
• Yes, I’m in this for the long haul.
• I thrive on encouragement from those who have stayed the course and finished.{like her and her}
• I try not to sweat the little things.

: : :

Now how about a fun giveaway? My friend, Jolanthe, from Homeschool Creations is brilliant.  She has an amazing blog devoted to all the amazing things she does with her kids in their homeschool.  I drool every time I read one of her posts.    She has created a homeschool planner for every type of homeschool mom!  {Including, me!}

I have been using it in my planning this past week and I love that it is a pdf that you can edit! Can I get an amen???  Ok, this is huge for me!  Here is what I did.  I saved it as a pdf to keep the original.  Then I saved it a second time as a “save as” and put “2011/2012 school year” as the title.  So next year, I can do the same thing but, change the name!  Brilliant! {Also, Jolanthe’s idea.}

Here is the nitty gritty:

What’s inside this editable pdf planner:

* 138 planning pages ~ 8 1/2″ x 11″ sized
* 12 blank month-at-a-glance pages
* 40 weeks of weekly planning and journal sheets: each page can be customized to the
subjects that your family studies and can be saved to your computer!
* Preschool planning sheets
* Field trip/Event plan sheets
* Yearly curriculum planning sheets
* Yearly planning and evaluation sheets
* Yearly attendance tracking sheets
* Field trip/Event plan sheets
* Daily to-do lists
* Main dish menu planner
* Customizable chore charts
* Important contacts info
* Additional note space
* Standardized testing and yearly assessment result tracking
* Homeschooling requirement planning

I’m still playing around with mine, but I am excited to use it this year. The neat thing is that today and tomorrow only, Jolanthe has slashed the price for you from $20 to $12. And one lucky person, who leaves a comment here, will win one for free.

Tell me, what type of planner are you?  Do you know your homeschool brand yet? Leave a comment, and be sure to get your copy of the planner for only $12. As usual, if you share this on Facebook and Twitter, you can leave an extra comment. Tell your friends about the sale, too! Since I know you have to get your planning on, I’ll announce the winner tomorrow! I’ll be sharing about our curriculum for the year!

{To buy your own planner. Click here.}