Homeschool Product Reviews and a Giveaway

I've been given a chance to test and review 2 different products from the Old Schoolhouse Magazine. http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/ And I get to give away a one year digital subscription of their magazine. So if you are interested in the drawing, leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name out of a hat.

The first product I get to review is the Old Schoolhouse Magazine itself. It is available in both digital ($16.95 a year) and printed ($25.00 a year) formats and is printed quarterly. New subscribers also get a bunch of freebies, which are actually worth a lot more than the subscription price. It is a Christian based homeschool magazine filled with well written articles, practical ideas, and reviews of homeschool products. There is also a complete homeschool unit study in each issue-- the Summer 2008 one was on flight. I don't tend to buy a lot of magazine subscriptions, but after looking through the free online back issue from Summer 2007 on the website, I decided to subscribe a few months ago. To tell the truth, the deciding factor was a couple of the freebies that cost more than the magazine.

I went with the print magazine because I don't have a laptop and one of the pluses of a magazine for me is being able to haul it with me to the park or keep it in the car for those waiting times when I have a few minutes to read. I was very impressed with the Summer 2008 issue. I liked the Christian focus and didn't find anything that conflicted with LDS beliefs. I grabbed it out of the mailbox on the way to the park and ended up letting the kids play for almost 3 hours while I read most of it. It's sat near the computer since then as I've looked up some of the advertised products that I flagged. The one con is that I will probably find some fun new curriculum and end up spending more money. :)

My favorite thing about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is reading about other families who are living the same lifestyle we are and getting practical ideas and advice for the lifestyle we've chosen.


The 2nd product I get to review is The Schoolhouse Planner ($39.00). I have to say this is the most complete planner I have ever seen!!!! It's huge, 247 pages. But, because it is an e-book I can print just the stuff I need and want and customize it to fit my family. In addition to your basic calendar, address/phone book, and daily schedule forms, it includes just about every homeschool or household form you could possible imagine: from field trip and reading logs to chore charts and menu planning, it's all there. One big plus for me is that it's in a pdf fill in format. I can type in the information, then save and print it. But when something changes, I can just go fix it and reprint that page. It's also nice to have all the forms you can imagine in one place. Instead of having 200 files, I have 1.

There are also forms for some of the things I've always known I should have on hand, but just never taken the time to create. For example, there is a personal financial inventory sheet where you list your regular monthly bills, account number, normal due date, address and phone number of the company, and whether it is automatically paid. Most of this is information that I have floating around in my head. I know if a certain bill doesn't show up by say the 15th then I had better do some checking and pay it anyway. I may be able to find the account number and address in the shred box, unless it's caught up, then I get to spend forever on the phone trying to get it straightened out and dealing with customer service reps who say, "It's not in your name, I have to talk to your husband." Having all of the info I need in one place could save me hours of searching-- and if anything ever happened to me, my husband, who never pays the bills, would at least have a starting place.

There are also lots of other little extras: recipes, timelines, a chart for reading the Bible in a year, and lots more. You won't find a more complete planner than this. Here is a link where you can preview a whole bunch of pages from the planner. http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2499

Have fun planning and don't forget to leave a comment if you want to win the magazine subscription. If you leave an anonymous post, make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.