I have been reading Amy Roberts’ wonderful blog, Raising Arrows, for several years and absolutely love her advice and encouragement for moms of big families. As a matter of fact, I read her blog before I actually HAD a big family of my own and she helped show me it is possible. I was super excited to get the chance to review one of her products, the Flexible Homeschool Planning E-book. I am a pretty relaxed homeschooler and not really a “schedule” person. Over the years, I’ve adapted because I know my kids need a consistent routine but I’m much more of a “go with the flow” type person so flexible homeschool planning sounded great to me. I am also at the end of my current planner and starting to look at plans for our upcoming homeschool year so this opportunity came at just the right time!

The Flexible Homeschool Planning E-book is a fairly short and straightforward ebook that not only explains Amy’s method of “homeschool planning on the fly,” but also encourages moms that stress and anxiety do not need to be a part of your planning process. You can be a good homeschool mom without spending hours on or agonizing over lesson planning. You can also let go of the guilt of not following whatever lesson plans come with your curriculum to a ‘T.’ The e-book is a set of simple instruction and encouragement but it doesn’t include templates or planner pages (because those aren’t needed with Amy’s method). All you need to implement Amy’s method is a pen and paper (or note-taking app) and a box or basket for supplies (your supply organization may vary based on your curriculum but it doesn’t need to be complicated).

A couple hours of reading time and $5.99 is all you need to learn Amy’s quick and simple homeschool planning method. An hour or less a week and the materials mentioned above are all you need to actually implement the method. To help you get started there are several examples of different homeschoolers using this method with a variety of family dynamics, schooling styles, and curricula. 

In true Raising Arrows style, Amy provides a no-nonsense approach to homeschool planning and presents it in a concise and easy to use format. If you have struggled with figuring out a plan that works with your style and want to let go of the stress and anxiety of being tied to a rigid schedule or too many checkboxes this e-book is worth your time to check out. As with all of Amy’s content, it is specifically geared to families with 4+ children but can easily be adapted to smaller families.

-Product review by Sabrina Scheerer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June, 2018