Lord Heritage - Review

Lord Heritage is a company that has put together a product called HomeSchool Office that I got to try out.


The mission statement for Lord Heritage says, "To preserve and teach God's Truth in education by following His commandments in instruction so that,

"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord;
and great shall be the peace of thy children."
Isaiah 54:13

The HomeSchool Office product is an on-line planning/organizing tool that is designed specifically with homeschooling in mind.
Its premise is wonderful and based on what they call the POWER strategy.

P - Plan
O - Order
W - Work
E - Evaluate
R - Report

Sounds good, but what does that actually mean?  Well, for Planning - that would cover  setting up your lessons and your schedules.  Order would be where you create your lists and reminders (I used this the most!) and the place that you can integrate both sides of your life - school and home.  Work is where you can print schedules and the students can follow their lessons.  Evaluate is where you can keep track of stuff like attendance (if you need to keep track of that where you live), time and grades. Report is the area where you can keep all the transcripts and reports that you may need to meet your local state requirements for homeschooling.  

(Think I could have anymore tabs open on my desktop?!?)

If the idea of the POWER strategy  isn't enough awesomeness for you, each letter also has a Bible verse(that I have paraphrased below) attached to its premise also.

P - Jeremiah 29:11 (This is "my" verse that my parents sent me off to college with! For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future )
O - Corinthians 14:40 (But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way)
W - John 17:4 (I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do)
E - Matthew 28:20 (...and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.)
R - Romans 14:12 (So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God)

I know.  Sounds awesome and inspiring, doesn't it?

I was so excited about trying this system out.  So excited.

But, I neglected to take into account a few things.  First that I am, at heart, still a paper and pencil kind of gal.  Second, that in order to successfully use this fantastic system, it was going to take some time/effort to get things set up and entered on-line successfully.  The third thing that I failed to take into consideration was that my thyroid surgery was going to kick my butt so badly.

The first thing to do it to get your Team set up.  That is basically getting all your kids/students information put into the system.  This also where you can also put in the "type" of grade you will be giving your students.  For example, grade letter, percentage, or descriptive.  We do percentages around here that we translate into a letter grade....except in Kindergarten where we do our own description and star system.   Inputting all these details on your kids,  will  enable you to see all their different things that they have to do....it can even be color coded on the calendar.

This screen is from the Plan portion.  Notice there are tabs for Subjects, School Year Plan, Master Schedule, Projects and Budget.   LOTS of detail can go in here.  Here is where the time and thyroid surgery issue reared its ugly head.  :(  I just didn't have it in me to enter everything we had going on into this system.  I just didn't.

One of the best things I saw about HomeSchool Office is that you can do (and keep) everything in one place.  You can have each member of your family's schedule there.  You can do all your lesson planning and reminders to yourself about what needs to be reported or turned in for credit.  If I had decided to homeschool all through high school, this would have been a fabulous product to keep track of everything so I could have created their transcripts and not have to rely on my memory of what we had done in years past.

Unfortunately, taking into consideration the 3 things I listed above that I hadn't thought about (love of paper and pencil, time to input our lives/schedule, and my thyroid surgery) HomeSchool Office ended up not being a good fit for me....right now.  And, I just thought of a 4th reason.  Rainman.  Rainman is way less technologically savvy than I am (he still has a flip phone...and is happy about it!).  Rainman is also the one that creates our lesson plans and yearly schedule....on paper.  I just follow and implement them.  I think if he would have had the chance to try this out back in July/August when we were setting up our school year, it would have had a better likelihood of succeeding.  I think.

With that being said, I really do think it is a fantastic premise and there were pieces of it, that even with all my reasons, including my post surgery stupor/brain fog, that came in handy.  My most frequently used portion of this program was the"To Do Lists",  "Reminder" and "Family Messages" features.  That was were I did actually type in things for myself and the kids so I wouldn't forget.  I guess it was sort of a step up from my usual  paper and pencil To Do list...but, it did work.  It showed up on the front page whenever I logged into Lord Heritage.  The other part of this that I almost came to love (and, again....if I would have been able to enter more of our actual lives into) was the calendar section - where you can see as much or as little as you want....and each thing is color coded.

I think if you were already someone who relied on an on-line app or calendar program, you will absolutely be in love with HomeSchool Office, because it has everything you need to run both a smooth home and school.  Everything.

I also think that if you are homeschooling in the high school years, this is something you absolutely need for keeping track of everything to make sure you are complying with laws and creating a great, usable transcript. But, for me to go from my hard copy, paper/pencil versions of everything we do, it was too big of a leap for my first foray into organizing and planning with the help of technology.  Make sense?

HomeSchool Office is web based and can be accessed from any device that has a browser, for me, I just used it on my computer.....plain and simple.

Go take a look and see what other TOS Reviewers thought.

You can try HomeSchool Office free  for 30 days, or go ahead and take the jump for $79/year.

7 Minute Life - Review

The 7 Minute Life is a calendar/organizing/planning solution....or, in their official terms....time management strategies to prioritize, organize & simplify your life. 



I got to try a 7 Minute Life Daily Planner for about a month.....because this was for me....an adult.




The idea behind this planner is, basically, that time management is a process of planning - which means you take time to "think" about what you want to do....then you set goals.....the "what" comes before the "when".....as in, you aren't ready to actually put anything on your schedule yet.  Now, you need to take the "what" and break it down into action steps....the micro-actions that you can actually accomplish.  The point is to keep all of this is on a single piece of paper, so you can see yourself completing the goal.....and not lose track of the goal.

How about the "7 Minute" part of it, you say?  Well, that stems from a study that shows the average attention span of an adult....yes, an adult....is 7 minutes.  I was discussing this concept with my friend Lydia and she was sort of horrified if that was the case.  We were both left a little sad by the idea that we only have a 7 minute attention span.  So, the idea is that you spend 7 minutes a day, planning or prioritizing how you will spend your time to accomplish your goals.

One of the other interesting concepts of this Daily Planner is the 5 before 11 list.  This means you choose 5 high value activities (that you allow in your life) for each day to accomplish by 11:00 a.m.




This video is a mini-breakdown of the whole system and the mentality behind the system by the creator, herself, Allyson Lewis.  It is well worth the time, and will leave you newly motivated to start your own 7 Minute Life.

In case you need a little more assistance getting started, here are a series of little, short videos that will walk you through how to initially tackle The 7 Minute Life.

Let me give you a few key points from the introduction section of the 7 Minute Life Daily Planner. Yes, there is about a 20 page introduction section to the Daily Planner.  You can't just jump in and voila!.....you life is organized and productive.



Nope.  You have to do a bit of homework before you get started.  The first thing Ms. Lewis recommends is slowing down.  Yes.  Slowing down.  She wants you to slow down and think.  Think about what is truly important in your life.

The goal with making yourself slow down and truly think, is that it will help you re-connect with things in your life and rediscover your purpose.  The goal is to cut through the noise of life and end the insanity by clearly identifying your purpose, values, goals, etc.

Sounds pretty lofty, doesn't it.  But, Ms. Lewis does a great job of explaining how you can get there in small, bite sized pieces.

You still have to do the personal work yourself, but she gives you the carrot stick of the possibility of having a different life/day/hour/minute at the end of the work.  You know, the old, Dr. Phil-ism....which, I think, Albert Einstein actually said first....."insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".

So, yes, you will have to make changes...to get different results.

The first step to your new life is prioritizing your top 10 values.  

Does this have anything to do with time management and planning?  Well, actually, it does....or, more accurately, it should.  You should be spending the majority of your time on things that matter to you....things that line up with your values.  I had never thought of things in quite this way before, but the way it was explained, made a lot of sense to me.

So, for instance, someone's daily planner  whose personal values included values like "achievement", "excitement", and "power", shouldn't be the same as my daily planner, whose value words include "friendship", "joy", and "financial security".  

Once you have your values narrowed down, you jump into discovering your purpose.  You know, what you do for others, or how your use your gifts and talents to change the world.  Little things like that.  

There is a sentence prompt at the end of this section that really threw me.

At the age of 85, I will know I have fulfilled my purpose when.......

See what I mean?  How do you even begin to answer that one.  This Daily Planner takes a lot of thought and......homework.  

One of the best parts of this beginning homework section for me was the Your Highest and Best section where you are asked about what is the best use of your time right now, and to describe what you love the most, your strengths, your highest value activities, AND, how you want to be rewarded.

In this day and age where we are asked to fit more and more into our days....whether it is work responsibilities, personal ones.....or church volunteer activities.  You cannot do everything.  You do have to say no to some things.  Thinking of these things in the "highest and best way"....highest value....best use of your time....right now....is awesome.  Taking on that project or saying yes to teaching that class at church, may NOT be the highest and best for you....and that is absolutely, positively, 100% okay.

I had a light bulb moment when Allyson talked about the evils of "unfinished tasks" in your life.  She quotes from a book by David Allen, where he calls unfinished tasks "open loops" in your brain.  I knew exactly what they were talking about.  These open loops just continually circle in the back of your mind....popping in to the front of your mind every now and again....making you think you need to get that done....now.....sometimes you smack it back into the recesses of your mind, but it will continue to fester and send out distress signals to your mind....making you miserable..... until you complete whatever that unfinished task is.  

I totally, totally, totally got that one.  It is so true.  I am a list keeper by nature, so I do already keep a list of things that I have "To Do", because it helps empty my mind of some of those "open loops" I have going in my brain.   But, I don't keep them in one place....so, I lose my lists....a lot....adding another "open loop" of having to find my latest list....or remembering what is on it!


As much as I agreed with so much of what was said in the introduction of the Daily Planner and after watching Allyson explain things in the video, I was scared to start using it.  I was scared to do the homework.  I was even scared to actually write in the planner.


I took me awhile to get through  the homework.  Longer than it should have.  And, I will be honest, I didn't finished ALL of it (like setting 90 day goals), but, I did enough to learn quite a bit about myself.....and to get started using the Daily Planner.

I like a lot of things about the Daily Planner.  I like that it has everything about your life all on one page.  Look again.....



See?  It has 5 before 11:00, Unfinished Tasks, What I Spent....and even the bottom section that shows how much water I drank, whether I slept enough, exercised, had reflection/devotion time, or even read.  And ends with a simple, but profound question that sometimes depressed me when I had to say "no".  The questions was:  Did I do what I said I would do today?

I did have to answer "No" quite a bit.  But instead of letting myself sink into the depths of despair that I am a total loser that can't get anything done, I just gave myself permission to set smaller goals for myself.  Okay, sometimes, I did let myself sink into the "total loser" category....but I didn't stay there long.

There are sections that didn't necessarily apply to where I am in life right now.  I do work from home, and I do want to grow my business...some... eventually.....but, I don't necessarily need to have contacts or connections or do networking....everyday.  You know?  Yes, I need to make dentist and doctor appointments and even an occasional contact with someone I am doing work for, but until I am at the point where I am going to expand my business, those sections didn't need to be quite so large....or even there.  

There is section on the next page that is for your actual appointments and voice mails.  Right now, the appointments section was too small for me.....because we have a family calendar that we use for all 8 of us.  But, I love the idea of "my" stuff being in one place...so I will be tweaking this.  The voice mail piece I love, because usually, I am scrambling for a piece of paper and pencil wherever I happen to be when I listen to the message.  Again, it keeps things simple.....all in one place....all in one book.  
The look of the Daily Planner is awesome.  I love the green, however, now that I am in my mid-40's, my eyes don't work as well as they used to....so, in the places when the printing is in the lime green.....I had a hard time reading it and usually had to do the dance in front of my face where I moved in closer, tilted it so the light hit it better and figured out what it said.  !!!!  

I like that you can start the Daily Planner whenever you want.....you aren't tied into a specific date, month, or year.  You just write the date on top and start.  





Here is a way to close up some of those "open loops"!

There is a lot of support behind The 7 Minute Daily Planner, like access to free time management strategy tools.  

You can get your life under control, with less chaos, or even just do your own homework to find out your purpose in life, by getting your own 7 Minute Daily Planner for $24.95.

See what other TOS moms thought of the 7 Minute Daily Planner.