Erin Condren Softbound Colorful Teacher Planner Review 2021-2022

Look what arrived this week – my planner for next year! I went with the Erin Condren softbound colorful teacher planner for the 2021-2022 school year – it’s very similar to the Erin Condren planner I used last year but full of color which makes me so happy! Let’s take a peek!

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(scroll to the bottom if you prefer to watch a video walkthrough and review)

It’s homeschooling year three for me next year and as in past years I’m using an Erin Condren teacher planner to keep our homeschool plans organized. My first year of homeschooling I used the the coiled, colorful version of the EC teacher planner (you can see my review of that here and a video about how I used it specifically for homeschooling here). Last year I went with the focused teacher planner (you can see my review of that one and why I picked focused vs coiled here).

This year I’m changing just a little bit – I’m still going with the softbound planner like last year’s focused version, but this year EC came out with a colorful version so I’m going with that! The fact that the only softbound option last year was neutral was one of my main complaints about the softbound planner – I love color! So when I saw that Erin Condren was coming out with a softbound COLORFUL version it was a no brainer for me!

Let’s take a look inside

Erin Condren Softbound Colorful Teacher Planner Flip-Through

Inside the front cover

A general information page for your own info/info about your classroom (I kept some general homeschool info on these pages like our state’s requirements)

Communication Log

A monthly overview page. Just like last year it runs the calendar year (January – December) instead of matching the planner (which follows a July – June school year format) and that still bug me that they did that, but oh well. It depends on what you want to use this page for, I guess. Last year I actually ended up putting stickers over the months and changing them to reflect what curriculum/activities we did for each subject.

Some graph paper

The monthly overview page

The weekly overview page. This is smaller than the coiled version (since the whole planner is smaller) and also a bit smaller than the neutral focused softbound version since the colored lines take up more space. It’s not a huge amount, but something I wanted to point out.

At the very end are the student checklists, which I use for keeping our attendance. Same amount as the focused neutral, less than the coiled.

While typing up this post I realized I didn’t get pictures of a few pages (the yearly overview, the notes page at the beginning of each month, and the notes pages at the very end) – check out the video I linked below if you want to see those too.

What I love

After using almost this exact same planner last year I can say that I have no regrets after switching from the larger coil bound version. Some of my favorite things are:

The price (the softbound is cheaper than the coil bound)
It’s smaller and more portable
It lays flat when opened and it’s much easier for me to write in compared to the coil bound
It has plenty of space to record what I need to write down for my kids (plus extra, still more than I even need)
…and now it’s COLORFUL! Yay!

A few downsides

There are a few things I don’t love but they’re minor:

The colorful softbound only has one ribbon bookmark, compared to the focused softbound that has two. I have no idea why they would do that and I wish it also had two, but it’s not a huge deal and I’ll just use a sticky note and/or my magnetic bookmark from last year)
There are no tabs. That’s not a big deal for me as I’m not flipping around from month to month very often. In fact, I like that there aren’t tabs sticking out to get snagged on things. However, if you want some, I have used these coordinating tabs on my personal softbound life planner (it has an identical cover to the softbound teacher planner) so that’s an option too
The student checklist in the back has less lines on it than the coiled version has, so it makes it a little more squished for me to track our attendance the way I like, but it’s still doable and fine.
There are no pockets or page protector sleeves. That was no big deal for me last year but if at some point I decide I need a pocket then I’ll get one of these and put it in the back (that’s what I did for my personal planner too)

Overall I love this planner! It was absolutely perfect for me last year and I can’t wait to start filling out this year’s!

If you have never ordered from Erin Condren before you can use this link and get $10 off your first purchase. (they will send you an email with a code that you can then use when you purchase)

Check out my video review as well for more thoughts on this planner, a flip-through, and a few comparisons to the neutral focused and the coiled version.