I jumped on the Erin Condren bandwagon last year after several friends raved about their planners. I browsed through several of them and spent a lot of time on the EC website before finally deciding to take the plunge!

The Erin Condren Teacher’s Lesson Planner was the first EC planner I ever bought. No, I am not a full time teacher. I am a substitute teacher but that does not involve making lesson plans. So why did I get the lesson planner? Glad you asked!

The main reason why I got it was because it is 8.5 x 11 inches which is bigger than the Erin Condren LifePlanner  (7 x 9 inches). There are many customizable options that allows you to make it your own. The base price for this planner is $55.00. Some of the customization options will add to the price.

Like the LifePlanner, the first thing you do is choose your cover design and coil color. There are so many covers to choose from and they all are removable so that you can change them out whenever you want! Several of them have color variations so you can pick your favorite color scheme. Seasonal covers are often added to the collection various times of year. All of them have the option of personalizing with name or other information. The covers that have metallic designs are an additional $5.00. There are 3 coil colors to choose from. I have always picked the platinum coil because it matches the most covers if I decide to change my cover. Several of my friends have said that their colored coils started chipping pretty quickly. The gold and rose coils are an additional $10.00.

Here is the original cover that I ordered:

The heart cover below is a seasonal cover that was available last year around Valentine’s Day that I bought a month or so after I received my planner. Interchangeable covers cost $8.00-$13.00 when buying them separate from a planner.

At the time, I also had a lot of responsibility in many areas of life and I wanted a planner that would help me organize all of those areas!

As you continue through the planner you have several pages that are specifically for teachers. I covered the pages that did not apply to me with various printables that I found online. Some of the teacher pages, I did not cover but modified them to meet my needs. There is a 2 page spread of Holidays and Dates to remember. A 2 page spread for keeping track of birthdays. Several pages of absentee logs (I used these for keeping notes). Several pages of graph paper. Then, you have a 2 page spread of plan your year boxes to use as you choose. I used them to keep track of my substitute teaching jobs and paychecks:

You can choose between colorful or neutral color schemes for the planner. The colorful has colored tabs and the Neutral has black tabs. I chose the colorful scheme.

One thing that I absolutely love about the lesson planner is that you can choose your start month. This is perfect for those who buy planners mid year or for teachers who need to start their planning in July or August.

Here is my January:

And here is my July:

I use an assortment of Erin Condren stickers and the washi tape that I have picked up in various stores like Hobby Lobby or Target. Erin Condren has several sticker books ($15.00) and sticker pages ($3.00-$10.00) to choose from. There are customizable event stickers ($2.00-$4.00). I also love the dot stickers ($4.00). The date dot stickers add a pop of color to the neutral scheme or coordinates with the colorful scheme. I like the daily dots for color coding recurring events like dance classes.

Between each month, there is a note page and a quote page.

After the monthly calendars, there are many lesson plan pages. Here is where I got creative to plan my various areas of life! Instead of class subjects, I created categories: Family & Household, Subbing & PAC (Parent Committee), Church & CBS (Bible Study), Blog & Books (Reviews), Norwex Team, and Saturday/Sunday. I started out the year using color coding with different colored pens… but that did not last long! I wish there was an option to have more lesson pages. Having more would be helpful for year round homeschoolers, teachers who have summer school, or people like me who use them year round for other purposes.

Following the lesson plans are the checklist pages. 7 come with the base price, 14 for $5.00, 21 for 7.50, or 28 for $10.00. I used these pages for keeping track of my Norwex team and other lists I thought of throughout the year.

Behind the checklist pages there are event sticker sheets, Keep It Together Folder, Sheet Protectors, and a Plan For It Pouch. You can choose how many sheet protectors you want. 1 comes with the base price, 2 for 1.50, or 3 for $3.00. I wish I could have more than 3 sheet protectors. Between my Norwex business, school, and church, I always had more flyers than sheet protectors! These were an awesome way of keeping important pages together in one place allowing me to refer to them quickly whenever needed!

Overall, I really like my planner! I wish there was an option to have more lesson pages. Having more would be helpful for year round homeschoolers, teachers who have summer school, or people like me who use them year round for other purposes.  This planner definitely meets my organizational need as well as encourages my creative outlet!

I understand that the purchasing an Erin Condren planner is an investment. It is somewhat costly but I believe that the quality is worth it. There are less expensive lesson planners out there but I have not found one that is comparable to this one. I searched high and low for the perfect teacher planner when I homeschooled but I never found one that met all my needs. This one would have been awesome!

If you are interested in trying an Erin Condren planner, you can use my referral code to get $10.00 off your first purchase. By doing so, you help me earn credit towards my Erin Condren purchases. After you sign up, you will get your own referral link to share with your friends! Click the following link:

It is also important to note that there is a long processing time for orders. When you browse the website, there are expected ship dates listed but they are subject to change. When you pay for expedited shipping, you are paying for the actual shipping time not the processing time. So do not expect to receive your order within the same week even if you pay extra for shipping. Keeping all this in mind, I place my orders a month or so in advance of when I actually need to start using them, especially when it comes to ordering anything that is personalized.

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More Erin Condren Reviews:

Erin Condren LifePlanner

Erin Condren Notebooks

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Do you have an Erin Condren planner? I would LOVE to see photos of your decorated monthly and weekly spreads!

(Be sure to edit out any personal information before posting photos).