I have been in big time planning/nesting mode these days. With the new baby coming in June, I have been working on trying to get as much ahead for the next 12 months as possible — planning goals (keeping in mind that I will have a newborn taking most of my time/attention/brain function :D), planning next school year, cooking for the summer, finishing projects that will drive me nuts for a year if I don’t get them done. I was pretty excited when the opportunity to review some Joyce Herzog products came up for the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Especially since we are kind of rethinking our philosophy.

Luke’s Lists

Of her many programs, I was most intrigued by Luke’s Life List and Luke’s School List. Like I said, I have been planning ahead for the rest of the year and while I try to be intentional, I also try very hard to encourage independence as able. As such, I have been creating lists of things that I want to make sure that I do with the girls — seasonal bucket lists, family fun dates, daddy-daughter dates, places to take them, books to read, etc. Luke’s Life List and Luke’s School List have been fitting VERY well into that plan.

Luke’s Life List is perhaps the one I will be concentrating most on this year. While my 5 year old is very academically capable, with a newborn around, I will probably be working on the basics — character, bible & Catechism, manners, chores, along with the 3R’s. Luke’s Life List is divided into several areas that concentrate primarily on life skills — early childhood development/growth (from birth!), wisdom, taking care of one’s self (cleaning, dressing, etc), spiritual growth, social growth, a light touch on academic subjects, and adult life skills. It’s set up as a kind of checklist where each topic is listed out and you can date whether the topic has been introduced or mastered.

While you cannot copy the pages, it does have several worksheets that you CAN copy and write your own personalized wish list of things to work on with each child. Alternately, you could buy a book for each child. My tentative plan is to select a handful of goals for the year from each section that need to be worked on and put them in a spreadsheet in Google Docs so that I can easily refer to them when planning out our months/themes/etc. This book is $30 and is spiral bound.

Luke’s School List is nearly identical in format and highlights major areas of academics for children in elementary through high school. It is divided up by subject — language (and the myriad of topics that encompasses), math (ditto), history (creation to present), science, geography & cultural knowledge. Again, it is set up in grid format and you can track when things are introduced and mastered and it also suggests a grade level when certain things are usually worked on.

Like Luke’s Life List, you cannot photocopy the book in its entirety. There are several sheets in front that you CAN photocopy to make your own lists or you could use it as a guide to create your own lists. I’m sure hubby and I will have a whole list of business/entrepreneurial items that we will be adding to our plan and a whole list of Catholic Catechism items to add to the Luke’s Life List suggestions. The School List is also $30.

Summary

Overall, I’m finding Luke’s Life List and Luke’s School List to be very useful resources. I contemplated buying extra copies so that I had a set for each child and then realized that if it’s in print, it will probably lose it’s usefulness for me. While I scribble on paper a lot, ultimately it needs to be digital for me to keep up on it.

For this year, I went through each book and read the items pertaining to where my kids are and added every item that I wanted them to learn in the next year to my list of curriculum and such that we would be using. I’m really happy about having these goals with the academic plan so they are all in one spot.

The format is really easy to follow and super useful. It would lend itself really well to an editable PDF or a software program or spreadsheet. Alas, right now it is just a super useful resource for determining what you want your children to know before they leave your home.

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Do you have comprehensive wish lists for your kids?

Jen S.