Lobster Network

Summer is a great time for homeschool families to get organized. Our family is usually so busy with school and activities during the typical school year that our house tends to suffer from "clutter-itis", "i'll deal with it later syndrome" and "throw it over there disorder". Stacks of things to be dealt with grow taller and taller on my desk and I begin to dream of long, summer days with nothing to do but, get organized.

This summer as I sit at the beach relaxing I know I have a new tool to help me re-capture order once I return. It's LOBSTER NETWORK found at http://www.lobsternetwork.com/. Making use of the facets of this FREE website can refresh a stressed out disorganized homeschool parent just like a day at the beach.

Lobster Network, created by Canadian homeschool parents, Isabelle and Robert Lussier, is a "one of a kind item networking" system that allows you to keep track of important items, share them with friends or borrow new things from others. If you can imagine maintaining a library of valuables while networking with other like-minded families you can imagine the possibilities of Lobster Network. LOBSTER is actually an acronym for Lend it/ Organize it/ Buy/ Borrow it, Sell it, Trade it, Exchange it, Request it. LOBSTER NETWORK is like a support group, garage sale and Facebook wrapped up in one handy website.

Creating an account on LOBSTER network is simple and FREE. Once registered you can join "communities" or create a new community for your friends to join. The most useful aspect, I think, is the ability to inventory all of your books, cds, educational games, etc. I have homeschooled for nearly 15 years and have an unbelieveable supply of educational resources. During the summer months I generally create lesson plans and begin to develop the ensuing school year. Many times I neglect items in my vast collection of resources and regret it later simply because I have lost track of it. Utilizing LOBSTER Network in the planning process will ensure I never do that again.

If time is limited and the thought of rifling through all of your "valuables" turns your heart to ice, never fear. Simply enter a few items every day and soon a wonderful list will develop ensuring you are well underway to optimum organization. I was amazed when I used LOBSTER network for the purpose of this review how quickly and efficiently the inventory process was. I also was able to quickly glance through the needs of members of my TOS Review Crew community to determine if I could fill a need.

Since I am a member of The Homeschool Review Crew for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine a special community group was created for us to use. My youngest child will enter 1st grade next year and I am finally willing to begin to part with some of my educational supplies. I listed these specific items to be searchable in the "Marketplace" for friends in my community. This allowed my friends to search my inventory and the inventory of other connected homeschool families when shopping for new homeschool supplies. Lobster Network allows users to search for products by name, category, purpose or distance.

LOBSTER network members can advertise items to other users. This advertising can include, for sale, for FREE, for lending,for trade or "I want this"in the listing. Lending and borrowing items with other homeschool families is a great way to frugally homeschool, but sometimes tracking those transactions can turn into a major waste of time. It is at best difficult to manage. LOBSTER network allows users to easily keep track of items lent, due dates, send messages to borrowers for due date reminders and request an extension on a loaned item. All communication can be managed right on the site.

When I return from my beach vacation and begin to tackle those stacks on my desk one of my first priorities will be to add to my Lobster Network. It's free. It's fast and efficient and it will help me refresh and re-organize my homeschool journey.

The OldSchoolhouse Planner 2009-2010

Anyone that knows me understands that I suffer from "bright shiny object" syndrome. You might recognize it when you see it. It can be very detrimental when dealing with scheduled activities and timed events, but a wonderful asset for keeping up with six different kids aged 19-5 and their various activities and interests. There is never a dull moment at our house and it seems that life is always re-inventing itself. Suffering from "BSOS" actually helps me cope with the constant flexibility required of me as "Supermom". :-)

Thank goodness, however, that The OldSchoolhouse has my back! Their latest planner for the 2009-2010 school year is designed to assist even disorganized me keep track of life in the most organized fashion. Available as a digital download (read instant shopping gratification) TOS Planner contains 375 pages of resources, calendars, recipes, household forms, school forms and an almost mind boggling amount of planning forms. The planner is designed around an academic year rather than calendar year beginning with July 2009. Yearly calendars for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 are included as well for the super planner in all of us.

Each month of the school year, through June 2010, contains a topical article, The Schoolhouse Resource List to accompany the topic and two handy new tried and true recipes to assist in answering the "what's for dinner?' dilemma. For example, the month of March 2010 features an article entitled "What's So Great About Dead Languages". Following the article are lists of common Greek and Latin roots and a Schoolhouse Store Resource list containing 33 live links for optimum internet surfing and shopping. Following the resource list are two delicious recipes, Crockpot Potato soup and Chicken Penne Pesto Pasta, one of our family favorites.

For those still searching for inspiration during the school year TOS has included an additional 18 page research based section of handy miscellaneous educational information following the topical months. Lists of dates and works of famous composers, timeline of inventions, countries and capitals, a kitchen conversions cheat sheet and other valuable trivia are included in the miscellaneous section.

My favorite portion of the planner, Homeschool Forms (121 different ones!) and Household Forms (64 different forms) make up the bulk of this amazing organizational too. I dare you to think of a necessary form for organizing busy homeschool households that isn't included. One of the exciting aspects of being in digital format is the ability to type on the form, personalizing it for your home before you print. Once printed the forms have a professional quality guaranteed to inspire an organized spirit within your home.

Annual plans, yearly goals, curriculum planning sheets, high school transcript samples, weekly and daily schedules for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 children, Bible Memorization records, memory work records, crafts completed record sheet, field trip planning, co-op planning sheets, book report forms for early elementary ages, a homeschool book inventory, alphabet practice sheet, educational activities for pre-schoolers, teaching supplies and inventory list and an all purpose wish list are just a few of the Homeschool Forms. Just reading through the list made me realize how much organization help I probably am in need of and grateful that a highly skilled organized soul has created these forms anticipating my needs.

Since July is nearly upon us I printed out the Curriculum Planning Sheet to organize my thoughts regarding academic choices I've made for all four of my students next school year. Although the form is simple and direct it instantly showed me any holes I still needed to fill and helped me realize I have a better handle on curriculum planning than I had earlier thought.

The Household Forms include a record sheet for recording important phone numbers and contacts, Family health record form, homekeeping weekly schedule and chore charts, menu planners in monthly and weekly formats, Christmas card list, budget sheets, garden plans and record keeping, vacation plans, party planning forms and even forms for record keeping the health of family pets. Making use of these organizational tools will definitely assist in keeping on top of household management in the midst of an already busy career of home education.

I find the unique forms section of this planner and the ability to print customized versions of them for my family extremely motivating and valuable. Over the years I have never found a dayplanner or calendar that truly fits my needs as a homeschooling mom, wife, homemaker, part-time writer, co-op teacher, etc. Not being gifted with the skill of organization I usually end up with oodles of unnecessary stress in my family's academic year as nagging thoughts of "I think I'm forgetting something" or simply being overwhelmed by the burden of all the work needing to be done take over. TOS Planner, designed by homeschoolers for homeschoolers fills a tremendous need for organizationally challenged BSOS homeschoolers like me and will even provide inspiration for "Martha" wannabees. TOS 2009-2010 Planner is available exclusively at the TOS Store for $39.00. If you purchase before July 12, you will receive bonus excerpts of the 2008 planner free of charge. Get ready for the most amazing school year ever with a little help from The OldSchoolhouse.

The Old Schoolhouse Planner

For those of you who love to get organized do I have a planner for you! For those of you who love the idea of being organized, but find it a bit overwhelming (cough, me) do I have a planner for you! I just had the opportunity to view the new 247 page Schoolhouse Planner offered by “The Old Schoolhouse Magazine”, http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/ It is one of their numerous e-commerce products being offered on their website which provide instant gratification after purchase as you don’t have to wait for the items to be shipped. The planner can be instantly downloaded to your computer, is easy to navigate, and so if you are inspired and in the mood to organize you can get started right away. Nifty huh?!

I had heard great things, but my initial skeptical reaction was “how different can this planner really be from all the others? And $39?!!” After viewing just a few of the pages I soon realized that this was definitely the “superman” of all planners/organizers and that $39.00 was an incredible bargain. With this one tool you can record keep for your homeschool, organize your personal life, keep track of the history of all sorts of appliances, your garden, books/videos read, keep an inventory of your pantry and homeschool library, and on and on. The best part for an organizationally challenged person like me is that the forms are all “fill in the blank” formats so as long as you can fill out a form you can get your life organized. An added bonus of the planner being in e-book format is that all of the links mentioned throughout are live taking you immediately to schoolhouse store products, blogs and websites of authors or curriculum, home-making sites, etc. This planner is not only an organizational tool, but a huge resource list of everything you ever needed to know about homeschooling.

The table of contents provides you with instant access to any page by simply clicking on the title of the page. I found this extremely helpful as I navigated through the planner for the first few times. I did not need to waste precious time scrolling through pages of irrelevant information just to find that recipe I saw in the month of August for Cheeseburger Pie. Everything included in the planner, no matter how insignificant is included in the Table of Contents.

The calendar section of the planner is presented in a two page spread format. The pages are easily customized on your computer allowing you to add important events before printing out the 81/2 x 11 sheets. I loved typing in our family’s important dates, but did find the scrolling up and down as I searched for the correct side of the calendar to be a bit tedious. The larger calendar size was perfect for posting onto our school room wall serving as a beautiful solution to the family calendar. Being a visual person I especially liked the bold dark red gridlines and the bright black type of the days and memos I had added. Everything looked clean, crisp and official when I printed it out and hung it up. An added touch is a watermark of an old one room schoolhouse which runs across the middle of both pages; great for those who prefer a bit of style for their posted calendars.

Scattered between each month of the school year are articles from home education experts. This feature wove the inspiration of a mini homeschool conference throughout the months of the school year. The articles were short, relevant and inspiring. Topics included unit study education, writing instruction, foreign language study, math, science, geography, communication, history, chore training, art and homeschooling through high school. The beauty of these articles are the point and click live links which allow you to finish your research or shopping recommended by the article without having to get up and run to your computer. This simple feature helps the homeschool parent streamline their efforts and save time, a precious commodity for any family.

Mixed throughout the calendar pages and articles each month is a plethora of reference lists. These lists include such things as Famous Composers, Countries and Capitals, Kitchen Conversion charts, Measurement conversions chart, the Periodic Table of Elements, U.S. States and Capitals, U.S. Presidents, U.S. Presidents and their wives, a History Time-line, the 7 wonders of the Ancient and Modern World, and Famous Artists. Although a bit quirky to have in a planner, I loved the idea of including it for the knowledge thirsty homeschooling family. I don’t know how many times I have been eating lunch or dinner with my family and a random question has surfaced in our conversation paralyzing the knowledge quest because I have to answer, “I don’t know. That’s a good question, let’s look that up later”. In addition the author has included a copy of “The Declaration of Independence”, “The Constitution”, “The Transcript of the Louisiana Purchase”, “The Transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation” and “The Gettysburg Address”. With all of this information neatly arranged in my handy planner I am now armed and ready for any trivia or historical question.

Finally, I would be remiss without mentioning the tremendous “Forms” section offered within this planner. I have always been a fan of forms, because they help me organize my often scattered thoughts. All of the forms within The Schoolhouse Planner are able to be filled out on your computer and then printed if you so desire. The forms are designed to take even the most organizationally challenged of us and walk us through the planning process step by step for a successful home education year.

Beginning with an Annual Plans Chart followed by a yearly goals form the homeschool teacher can get the big picture established customizing each form for each child. There are curriculum planning sheets, course of study sheets, a 12 year planning page, curriculum record sheets designed to help you review your purchases, and best of all a “Beginning/Ending Page” which is designed to act as scrapbook inspiration to record each students vital statistics and likes and dislikes the first and last days of the school year.

Many of the other record keeping forms like lesson planners come in several formats in an effort to please us all. There is definitely more than anyone could need in the 120 pages of different forms. Once again the beauty of an e-book format planner is that you simply click through anything that doesn’t apply. I found forms that could support all philosophies of education from textbook families to unschoolers; quite refreshing for the families who are a mixture of styles.

A household forms section rounded out the planner. This section provided the perfect system for creating a household reference notebook to maintain records of all kinds including important contact information, chores, menus, house cleaning/maintenance schedules, personal and spiritual growth and goal setting forms. I especially thought the “Directions to Favorite Places” form was a clever idea. No more wasting time map questing directions. They will be right within your planner.

You can look at samples of this wonderful planner at http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/. If you are skeptical like I was at first you will soon realize that the $39.00 investment is worth every penny. Whether you are teaching a pre-schooler or high schooler this planner will help you have a great, organized school year!!