The Old Schoolhouse has so generously provided members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew with a copy of their brand new planner for the coming school year! I received a copy of the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 to use and review. Just in time, because my current planner closes at the end of June!

I personally LOVE office supplies. And school supplies. So getting my hands on the newest planning tool from The Old Schoolhouse—exciting!

What is the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017?

This wonderful new publication is a homeschool print planner for this upcoming school year, starting in July 2016 and running through June 2017. (It’s also available from SchoolhouseTeachers.com in a digital version.) The print version is spiral-bound, with smooth, shiny card stock front and back covers. And through July 15, The Old Schoolhouse is providing a code so that you can get it at a nice discount! (Just keep reading for more information on that.)

What will you find in the Hey Mama! planner?

In the Hey Mama! planner, you’ll find the following sections:

2016-2018 yearly calendars, one page each
Monthly calendars
Fun & encouraging Hey Mama! letters from Gena Suarez, “just another mama” and publisher @TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Weekly planners for your daily and weekly homeschool lesson plans
Goal pages for the year, the semesters, and the months
Photos and descriptions of the vintage items on the front cover
Information on how to create an academic transcript
Key information on the U.S., and America’s history and political system
and more!

How I used it:

We were blessed to receive this neat planner in late May. Since it starts in July, I’m not using it yet for recording the homeschool lessons we’re doing this summer. What I have done, though, is to begin to calendar our upcoming schedules for the summer and fall (coop registration, volunteer days, piano lessons, and so on). I’ve also used the “Notes” pages (there’s one for each month) to start to list the to-do items I’d like to accomplish during those months.

I’ve also looked over some of the fun facts pages. There is a really neat writing prompts section (SO creative!) as well as some story starter pages. I always love utilizing these for our creative writing times. And, since the summer reading program in our city started yesterday, I’m looking forward to filling up those “Books Read This Year” pages!

My thoughts:

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I LOVE homeschool and office supplies. I also love paper lesson and calendar planners. I have dipped my toes into the world of online planners, but I keep coming back to the paper ones. I love having something in my hands, first of all. I find it so much easier to change or alter lesson plans when I write them down on paper (with pencil) to begin with. And I love how easy they are for me to access, whether I’m near a computer or not; all I have to do is pick up the planner and write!

I love the smooth covers of the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017. They’re very comfortable to hold. (Nice if you’re a person who notices tactile things!) And while the planner contains a year’s worth of pages, it’s still not heavy and is very easy to carry around. The spiral binding is very high-quality, and allowed me to either lay the planner out on the table open, or to flip the front around so that only one page is in view (like you would a spiral notebook).

I love Gena Suarez’ wise and thoughtful letters that are scattered throughout the planner. I have received The Old Schoolhouse emails for years, even before I began reviewing for TOS‘ Schoolhouse Review Crew, and I have enjoyed her kind and thoughtful words of encouragement and blessing for as long as I’ve been getting them. Here, it’s really nice to have those thoughts at hand, and I know that they will encourage me throughout the year.

I like the way the Attendance Chart is laid out. So clear, and easy for me to use (and for my mind to process or calculate). I like the Weekly Planner layouts, the goals pages, the contact lists page and all the little historical extras that are included. This year, I’ll be replacing the current brand I’ve been using with the Hey Mama! planner. I love it!

How you can get your own Hey Mama! planner!

The Old Schoolhouse has generously provided a code which will enable you to purchase your own Hey Mama! planner for only $19, including shipping! You can purchase the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 from The Old Schoolhouse. Use CREWCODE for the discount (this code expires on July 15, so don’t wait!). I really think you’ll enjoy this wonderful planner!