5 Fantastic Benefits of Using a Digital Homeschool Planner
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A digital homeschool planner can be a smart way to boost your learning adventures at home.
With the right online homeschool planning resource, you'll be able to easily organize, plan, and schedule so you can relax and make the most of these special times with your kids.
Find out why I've switched to online homeschool planning and how this approach has helped reduce stress, save time, and much more!
Disclaimer: I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. As always, I’m sharing my honest opinions and was not required to provide a positive review.
I'm sharing our experiences with Syllabird, a digital homeschool planner. As you read through our review (thank you!), please jot down any questions that you have about this resource and let me know if I can be of any help. Oh, and make sure to sign up for the FREE 14 day trial (no credit card required!) so you can experience the benefits, too!
Easily Take Your Homeschool Planning to the Next Level
I'm a planner girl. I've always loved having at least one planner to use to help me stay focused and better manage my time.
I grew up using paper planners. I remember getting a basic academic planner in middle school and thinking it was so cool. I have such fond memories of using my 4-color Bic pen and stickers to mark off all of my important stuff (like homework, soccer practices, and roller skating parties).
My love and appreciation of planning continued through high school, college, and grad school. I swear my planners got me through it all!
When we started homeschooling 11+ years ago, I naturally used a paper planner. I've tried many planners (notebooks, printable, and store-bought) over the years. I even tried to make my own online homeschool planner with things like Trello and iCal. As much as I appreciated features in each of those planners, none of them worked for me.
Our homeschool continues to evolve. My boys are older - in fact, I have one homeschool graduate who's working and another boy who is graduating this Spring and soon off to college!
My 3 younger boys are wrapping up third, sixth, and eighth grades - time really does fly when you're having fun! When I started to think about our 2023-2024 homeschool year, I realized that I needed to revamp my homeschool planning system.
I started a search for a homeschool planner that I could use WITH my boys. I know that planning and time management are essential life skills that I want to teach my boys to use and enjoy.
As much as I love my paper planners (and a good ol' fashioned checklist), I knew that approach would be time-consuming for me and probably not used by my boys. So, I began to look for an online homeschool planning system that is:
- Affordable
- Customizable
- Flexible
- Easy-to-use and update
- Simple
- Great for beginners - and more advanced planners (like me!)
I did a major happy dance when I found Syllabird - a digital homeschool planner that makes it easy to plan, schedule, track grades, and more.
Before I share all about Syllabird, let's take a closer look at what a digital homeschool planner is and why you should give this planning approach a try 😊
What Is a Digital Homeschool Planner?
A planner is basically a tool that you use to manage your time by recording important events, activities, and appointments. You can find a wide variety of planners, including paper, digital, and online.
A digital planner is one that you access and use via an app or website on an electronic device. You can use a keyboard, screen, and/or stylus to add and edit your information.
A digital homeschool planner includes online ways for you to organize and manage your learning adventures at home. These types of planners vary in aesthetic and design but often include areas for:
- Yearly, monthly, and weekly layout (or spread)
- Weekly schedule or list
- Daily schedule or list
- Attendance
- Grades
- Goal setting
- Curriculum
- Reading list
- Budget
- Chores
- Important Dates (like birthdays, holidays, etc.)
- Contacts
- Passwords
Not all digital planners contain these areas. And, if you're like me, you don't want your planner to have all of that because it can get overwhelming and distracting!
5 Benefits of Using a Digital Homeschool Planner
1. Flexible
A digital planner makes it so easy to change your plans. Instead of crossing out or erasing (and putting a hole in paper like I often do), you can simply move your activity or delete.
2. Affordable
When you consider all that a digital homeschool planner can do, the price is well worth it. You can have all your information in one safe place (that you can't lose or forget at the park) that can easily be shared with others.
3. Simple communication with others
With a digital homeschool planner, you can set up accounts for your students. You only have to type out a lesson, direction, or activity once. If sharing with multiple students, simply duplicate or copy-and-paste. Oh, and you'll find it easy to share and synch updates. Gone are the days where your kids lose a checklist or planning page, too!
4. On-the-go
No need to carry around a bulky paper planner with tons of sticky notes and lists falling out of it. Or leaving your homeschool planner at home when you're out and about.
How often do you leave your phone at home? I bet not often! With a digital homeschool planner, you can access your plans and lists with just a tap of a screen.
5. Customizable
With a digital homeschool planner, you aren't boxed into a number of pages or length of entry. Also, you can color code (per student and course) which can make it super fast to find what you're looking for.
If you need to go in and change or update anything, you quickly hit the edit option (and not have to go and manually change it all). Oh, and you're not stuck with having a section (like Courses or Curriculum) in a particular order like you would in most paper planners. You can shuffle your subjects or lessons as you like or need.
Why Syllabird Is the BEST Online Homeschool Planner
One of my favorite things about Syllabird is that it was made by a homeschooler for homeschoolers. The creator and his team totally get what homeschool life is like and what type of planning is essential (and what is just fluff).
Syllabird is super easy to set up and use. First, you need to use a web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge are supported). You can use your email, Facebook account, or Google account to set up your Syllabird account.
The Get Started section on the Syllabird help page leads you through setting up a student account, adding courses, creating assignments, and more. I found the steps to be intuitive and didn't often even need the directions.
A major perk is that Syllabird is an incredibly customizable digital homeschool planner. For example, if you have a student that is studying homeschool geography once a week for 9 weeks, you can easily assign that course for every Monday (or whatever day you want) for that period of time.
Or maybe you have a student who is working on grammar skills twice a week. You can add "grammar" under Course, provide details (if desired), and assign to the days of the week you want. If necessary, you can also override that initial assignment if you need to change the days for a particular week (due to sickness, holiday or vacation).
Speaking of vacation... Syllabird makes it a snap to shift assignments if you have a planned vacation or find that you suddenly need to miss homeschool for a period of time. Just plug in when you need to take off from homeschooling and Syllabird does the work of moving assignments!
As a large family homeschool mom, I think Syllabird is affordable. You can add unlimited students and assignments on ALL plans.
I also love that you can give Syllabird a try for free to see if it's the best for you and your homeschool 👇
FAQs About Syllabird - The #1 Digital Homeschool Planner
Well, the only way to know if a digital homeschool planner will work for you is if you give it a try 😉 This free 14-day trial makes is a no-brainer!
Yes...with modifications to best meet the needs of your family 😊 My youngest (9) has had no trouble accessing and using Syllabird.
With younger kids, I think Syllabird would be fantastic from a parent's perspective. If I had this digital homeschool planner when my boys were younger, I would have mapped our learning fun and accessed via laptop or tablet. The ability to easily move activities around would have been amazing (especially if a little one was cranky, not feeling well, or I had overplanned and needed to bump some of the work to the next time).
With your 14-day free trial (with no credit card required), you get complete access to Syllabird. AND if you choose to continue with Syllabird, your work and plans are all saved.
Syllabird has 2 plans:
The Essential plan ($60/year or $6/month) includes all Syllabird features plus 50GB storage.
The Premium plan ($90/year or $9/month) includes all Syllabird features, 250 GB storage, and priority support.
Tips and Tricks for Using & Enjoying Syllabird
I recommend that you take some time to get acquainted with Syllabird and all that it has to offer. The Syllabird help page makes it easy to get started and customize your digital homeschool planner to best work for your family.
Make a list of what you'd like to include in Syllabird. A few ideas are:
- Names of Students
- Courses
- Links to frequently used sites
- Chores
- Extracurricular activities
- Brain breaks
- Projects
- Fun days
- Seasonal and holiday activities
- Library visits
- Field trips
Try Syllabird and Experience The Benefits of Online Homeschool Planning
WooHoo! You're on your way to the perks of homeschool digital planning!
I highly encourage you to give this 14-day FREE trial (no credit card required) a test ride so you can experience all that Syllabird has to offer👇
If you're looking to streamline your homeschool planning process by saving time, stress, and money, Syllabird is the way to go.
Wishing you tons of online homeschool planning fun!
Do you have any questions about Syllabird and using this digital homeschool planner? Please let me know in the comments area at the bottom of this post 😊
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