Apologia Educational Ministries - Review

Apologia Educational Ministries is definitely a huge name in the homeschooling community.



This time around, I got to try The Ultimate Homeschool Planner and not an actual curriculum product.



Seriously....for you people that know me in real life.....could they have picked a more perfect looking planner for me?   I mean, really, I could practically hang it on the wall in my living room for art.   LOL  It made me so happy just to look at it, I almost didn't want to open it up!

Let me give you some details of what is in the planner.  It starts strong (and perhaps a little scarily) with a calendar spread from 2015 -2023....for long term planning.

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner is meant to be used in conjunction with planners that your kids can use.

The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens (ages 7th - 12th grade)
The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students (ages 4th-8th grade)

These planners were created by home school moms Debra Bell and Zan Tyler.  I will admit that I was getting a little scared of the planner until I read a bit of their overview.  They said things like....planning doesn't get rid of chaos and disorder, but can reduce it.    They used the phrase "order brings peace".  I totally understood that.  Then, they got even deeper on me and talked about planning for your days being a way to bring a greater awareness of God's activity in my homeschool journey.

They moved from this overview into a 12 page user's guide to explain their recommendations or vision when they created it.  Yes, I started getting scared again.  But, it really made sense.  It helped that I knew right from the get go that these women understood my life.  They said one of the most profound and truthful statements ever on the first page of the "How To" section - they said, "There will always be more to do in homeschooling than you have time to do."  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  They get me and my mind.

Honestly, this whole thing planner experience was a roller coaster for me.  They would get me and reassure me - we would have the exhilarating ride up and then, they would bring me way back down plummeting me down the rails - with things like their recommended Plan for Peace recommendations:

1.  A yearly planning retreated (4-8 hours)
2.  Monthly planning sessions (2 hours)
3.  Weekly planning breaks (30 minutes)
4.  Monday morning tutorials (20 minutes per child)
5.  Friday afternoon weekly reviews (15 minutes per child)

Can you hear my screaming, hands in the air,  descent from wherever you are sitting?

Hahahahaha....just kidding.  But, those times did make me a wee bit nervous!  There was a section about prioritizing and it said something along the lines of this little tidbit....you are unlikely to have many school years where goals are realized.  Okay....feeling a little more grounded now.  Then, they moved on to "rejuvenate" with weekly planning sessions.  I liked the sound of the word "rejuvenate"....if you want me to spend 30 minutes a week "rejuvenating"....that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

I started getting a little more motivated and inspired when they explained how the Monday morning tutorials should go.  It is a fabulous idea to spend time with each of your children and discuss their upcoming week.  I love the idea of specific, scheduled, prayer time together.  Ties right into my Not Just  A Sunday Thing concept.

Okay.....this is turning into a nice, tame, not making me nauseous kind of ride.  It got better with the little 5 steps to independence - which, honestly, ties into how Rainman and I have kind of done things with our kids already.

If I was still having second thoughts about this planner - especially the 4 to 8 hours they recommend for yearly planning session.  It was much less scary when I looked at the 2 page spread of an example of how to tackle the Yearly Planning Retreat.  Seeing it in pictures made it seem way less scary somehow. (kind of like IKEA directions....)

Absolutely loved their recommendation to utilize the website DesiringGod.org and their list of "fighting" verses.  I also love that they recommend setting character goals and not just academic goals.

So, I was feeling pretty good about this planning system.  Not nearly as scared as before.

(Hmmm....my computer won't let me change this one so it is right side up!   The quote is worth having to work a little harder to read it though...)

I loved the inspirational quotes on the pages, love that it wasn't pre-dated, so I could start my year when it worked for me.  I loved that the weekly planner chart includes sections for your "battle plan" and encourages you to have a fighter verse AND sections for hospitality/outreach.

They have a separate section for your to document your "memorable moments"  (family funnies - victories - progress - promising signs - small beginnings - finished projects).  This is one that I love the idea, in theory, but I have to wonder if I would really do it.  But, I love the idea in its concept.

There is also a separate section for you to document "evidence of grace" (God's grace - God's mercy - God's faithfulness - God's protection - God's provision).  Can you imagine if you actually wrote all of that stuff down, so you wouldn't forget all that evidence?!?!?

So, using this planner has been a little off and on...a little of a roller coaster ride, if you will.  Ha!  I am sort of getting my sea legs and figuring out the best steps for us and setting up new routines and systems for us as individuals and as a family.  But, I am as excited about this as I have ever gotten about a planner....that is saying something!

Take a look and see what the other TOS reviewers thought of their Ultimate Homeschool Planners.

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What We Really Did on Monday

We had to be home from our time away by 10:00 a.m. on our anniversary.  So, on our actual anniversary, we really taught 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade.  We babysat adorable 9 month old twin baby girls.  And, we also went to a Key Club induction ceremony.

Have you heard of Key club.  I hadn't until D-man and A-girls school started a chapter.  It is part of the Kiwanis Clubs.  In simple terms, they are basically a service oriented volunteer organization.

Their school started a Key Club at the end of last year, so their official induction ceremony was this fall.  It was scheduled for the night of our anniversary.  We decided that since A-man's baseball game was cancelled, that we could all attend the ceremony and then we could pop over to a Mexican restaurant that we had a gift card for, for a family anniversary celebration.

D-man and A-girl had to be there early, so they took the car and we met them there later with the van.  When we arrived, we saw both A-girl and D-man buzzing around.  Busy with stuff, not just chatting.  I was pretty sure D-man was some sort of officer, but honestly couldn't quite remember which one.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are looking at your child and you can't quite figure out what was going on....where this kid has been hiding....how in the world they got so good at something?

Let me just say this about D-man, he has always been super smart.  Always.  Super smart. Homeschooled.  Non-homeschooled.  His brain just works in a way where he can remember and fit together all the stuff he needs to know to get it right on tests.

He has also always been a pretty funny and clever guy, but as he has gotten older, and more mature, I could see him quieting down and picking and choosing his times to be funny.  It is a good thing.  It is a mature thing.

Well, it turns out that  D-man is actually president of his chapter of Key Club, which means the bulk of the induction ceremony duties were on him.  He was basically the Master of Ceremonies behind the microphone.

He is a really good public speaker.

Who knew?

He spoke clearly.  He had inflection.  He looked around at his audience.  He made a few jokes.  He basically had command of the stage.

I sat there thinking....who is this kid?  I just didn't know he had this little piece of him in there.  The local head of the Kiwanis club spoke and shared part of his earlier conversation with my son.  It is interesting to hear what other people think about your "people".  It was interesting to hear what D-man had shared  with him.

A-girl also holds an office.  She is the fundraising coordinator.  Neither of us are completely sure what that means yet, but I know she will do awesome.  She is determined to do her best in absolutely everything she tackles.  So....look out world.

Side note:  A-girl has been eyeing one of the skirts in my closet for awhile now.  It is a skirt that hasn't fit me in forever, but has made all the moves with us because I can't quite let go of it.  She asked if she could possibly wear it to the induction ceremony.  I said yes.

The funny thing is....well....I guess in my mind there are 2 funny things.  The first funny thing is that I remember thinking I was big (fat) at the time I used to wear this skirt...but I wore it all the time.  It was my date outfit.  I wore it with this rust colored scoop necked t-shirt.  I had a lot of dates, so I wore it a lot.  The second funny thing is that both Rainman and I are pretty sure I actually wore it on our first date....20 something years ago......exactly.

Awwwww......or Ewwwww......depending on your outlook.  

Anyway, the induction ceremony went great.  We realized, at one point,  that A-man and D-man were wearing the same basic outfit.

D-man and A-girl finished up their duties and off we went to the Mexican restaurant....but it was closed.  Cones blocking the parking lot kind of closed.  Boo.

Luckily, there is another Mexican place nearby since we were all wanting chips/salsa (but we didn't have a gift card) - we decided to live dangerously and go anyway - because it was $1.00 taco night!  Yay!

Rainman and I both decided we would get a margarita in honor of our anniversary.  This place has them in like 5 different sizes....colossal, monster, jumbo, large, and regular....or something like that. Well, Rainman ordered a large and told me to get a jumbo...so I did.  (Peer pressure: apparently I am still susceptible.)

Oh, my word....it was practically larger than my head!  Can you even imagine with the colossal or monster sizes are?!?!?

Don't worry, I wasn't driving and I didn't finish it!  It was yummy though...I could have just had that and my chips and salsa and been a happy woman.

It was a good anniversary and I am glad we got to do something special with the kids too.  Strange to think back to both our first date and the day I married Rainman.... and see what has become of us....to see the 6 little people that have entered the world because of us....because of our first date at Baker's Square....because I said yes to a second date....because I agreed to marry this guy.....God is amazing, isn't He?

Our Itty Bitty Time Away

Like I told you yesterday, Rainman and I got to sneak away for a little bit for our anniversary.  Back in the early days of our marriage in Minnesota, we went to a Bed & Breakfast every year around our anniversary.  That stopped somewhere about 3 or 4 kids into the deal.  It just got harder and harder to coordinate childcare, our work schedules, and our money.  So, it sort of faded away.

Earlier this year, Rainman announced that he thought we should go to a B&B down here for our anniversary.  He even looked on-line and found a few for me to look at.  I told him I would research and see what I thought and see if we could figure out childcare.  Back in Minnesota....we had family that we could farm the kids out to....or Rainman's mom would fly up from Chicago and stay with the kids.

Georgia is different.  No family and friends that are busy with their own kids/jobs.  However, we also have sort of old kids now.  Rainman assured me that D-man and the other bigs could handle it.  I absolutely trust my kids to babysit other people's children...but, for some reason, I was hesitant about their own flesh and blood.  Ha!

Our biggest problem was finding time that would work.  But, we found a itty bitty time slot right at our anniversary.

Last week, Rainman kept asking me....so...are we going or not?  (Oops...I hadn't done anything) I looked on-line and found a little B&B south of Atlanta that I thought looked promising.  I contacted the inn keeper and she had vacancies.  So, we booked it.  Talked to the kids.  Figured out logistics of vehicles and which kid needed to be where and made sure D-man could handle it.

Rainman and I finally hit the road heading out about 4ish on Sunday afternoon.  At about 4:30, my cell phone rang.  It was D-man.  We had forgotten to leave him keys for the van.  Oops.  So, we turned around and drove home...again.  It was a lovely drive...both times.

We got to the town, followed our printed Mapquest directions that.....didn't take us to the B&B. Luckily, we had Rainman who has a brain for these types of things....we drove around a bit, looked at house numbers, he did some guess work, drove by many of the same houses 2 or 3 times,  and....we found our place....after driving around town for about 20 minutes. (I would have just stopped and asked for directions at the fire station, but that is me...where is the fun in that, right?)

We dropped off our bags in our room and decided to go try to find someplace to eat.  We were hungry.

But, that is the thing about small towns.....especially small towns in the south....lots of places are closed on Sundays.  So, we drove and drove....nothing....not many restaurants...and the ones we found, were closed.

We finally decided to drive to a nearby larger town and see if we could find anything there.  Then, we did the modern day problem solving technique (when you don't own a smart phone anyway)....we texted D-man and asked him to look on-line and see if he could actually find anything that was open and that looked good.  He found us a place that sounded good, but we couldn't find it.  Our car also doesn't have GPS either.

So, we resorted to the unthinkable....we actually called D-man on the phone, so he could describe the map to us on the phone. After a few false turns, we finally found this great little steak house in a strip mall by Rite Aid.  Despite its very odd location, it was really good.

We didn't try to have any big talks or discuss big lists on this anniversary.  We have done both of those before with mixed results.  Sometimes it has been fantastic and sometimes we have spent money to be at a B&B only to be completely annoyed with each other and our time filled with awkward silences!

This time, we were just together.  We just chatted about stuff we thought about.  The kids.  Work.  My writing.  Just chatting.  No "discussions".

It was nice.

I think we both had a good time.

We loved our inn keeper, Jenny, (by the way - small world moment here - after I booked with Jenny, I was looking on-line at reviews and things and found one from a friend of mine from church - who it turned out had been friends with Jenny since kindergarten!)  Rainman and I  decided Jenny had a very interesting, adventurous life.  Plus, she was super fun and super sweet.



She is also a caterer and has had some cool clients.

How you christen a room when you have been  married for 19 years.....like this....LOL!

Jenny left us yummy chocolate cake for our anniversary.  The frosting was like my mom's chocolate frosting.  That thick kind that hardens.   Yummmmmm......

The bathroom was spectacular.  Although it took Rainman a minute to figure out how to flush the toilet.  Apparently I have been in a lot more old houses than him because I coached him through what to look for from the hallway!

I was so excited about getting into this tub.  So excited.....

.....but, I was too tall for it to be comfortable.  I ended up having my knees up in my face, but, if you were a shorter person than me...it would have been fantastic!

There was even a music room, which, if we had had more time, I would have sat down and played the piano for a bit.

We sat outside on the porch for a bit.  It had a comfy love seat and this cool lighting.

Jenny served us a beautiful and delicious breakfast, but apparently I am showing my age again, because I just.... ate it when it came.....and didn't remember that I should have taken a picture of it until I was almost done.  It was far less pretty then.  So, use your imagination....

Jenny even sat with us for a bit and chatted.  We were in a hurry to get home because we had obligations and children waiting for us.  But, it was good.  It was really nice, just a bit more rushed than I would have liked.


If you are ever south of Atlanta, near Barnesville....check out the Rumble Seat Bed and Breakfast and say hi to Jenny.  Tell her I sent you.  She is awesome!

On a side note:  Remember she is a caterer too and she also does cooking classes and not just regular, old cooking classes...check this out...



...she also does destination classes.  Last year, she took a group to Tuscany for a week.  See?  Fun, adventurous life.