I'm using Olly, too, and I love it! The upgrades have been seamless, with no info lost. The assignment calendar is the module I use most. A weekly view would make it easier to use on a smaller screen. The monthly calendar boxes fill up, and then the assignments can end up bunching onto each other. They've responded to other suggestions pretty quickly, so I'm happy to hear this is in the works. What I like best about the assignment calendar is that the list of unscheduled lesson plans sits to the right, ready to be auto-assigned all at once or dragged-and-dropped onto the calendar as we go. Some subjects progress predictably, but others depend on how quickly the kids understand the materials. It's nice to have the lesson plans in view on the same panel, without having to schedule them before I'm ready. I've started using Olly as my main calendar, too. I created courses for things like "Appointments" and "Menu" and then assigned them to myself. In the descriptions, I've added links to online recipes, doctors' phone numbers, etc. It has made a big difference in how smoothly things are running around here!

The more I use Olly, the more I like it. It's user-friendly and flexible. I just finished the month trial and bought the license. I think in another thread (ETA: here) they said they had plans for making it available for mobile devices. So far, their customer service has been responsive, and the one upgrade they sent out (free for 1.x versions) went very smoothly. I was curious about the WPD software, but I needed something sooner. I'm interested in hearing how people like it, though.

nm - thx

Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave out the encouragement or oversimplify. I actually did find her recommendations to be overwhelming at a certain point, and I had to set it aside for a while. I'll chime in with the others that our first six months with the twins were very happy - sleepy, but happy.

Congratulations! Twins are exhausting and a lot of fun! :iagree: My doctor recommended that book to me. To sum up: eat, eat, eat.

It might still work for you. For some people, it knocks out the nausea entirely. Different people respond differently.

OLLY is similar to HSTOnline for this. You create/auto-create the lesson plans separately. Then they stay there, ready to be assigned to any child, any time. [This the the part of WPD that I'm most curious to see...] From there, it gets a little different from HST. In the "Learning Plans" module, you just drag & drop lesson plans under the name of each child. (So yes, each plan can be applied to several children.) Then the "Calendar Assignments" module shows the calendar on the left. The right-hand column lists unscheduled assignments, in a sort of "holding place." OLLY can auto-schedule, or you can drag & drop assignments onto/off of/around the calendar. If you mess up, there are several ways to fix it (like "undo" and "bump" features). You have to work with each child separately when actually placing lesson plans into the calendar. But it's so much easier to auto-schedule and reschedule that it's worth it to me. (For certain shared courses - because I'm not assigning "grades" for the transcript at this point - I created a separate child named AllKids. I also added myself, so I can create "Lesson Plans" like menus, birthdays, and appointments. :) ) The "Today" module shows actual assignments (you can easily see that day's math exercise number), color-coded by subject. Daily routine(s) are shown in the right-hand column. (For example, a routine labeled "Monday" might list 8:00 Breakfast, 8:30 Math, 9:00 Piano). I hope that gives a better idea how it's similar to or different from HST.

I took it with my first pregnancy (twins), because I couldn't keep enough food down otherwise. Like a PP mentioned, it caused constipation, so I tried to take as little as possible. I needed it about every other day. At almost exactly 48 hours, if I hadn't taken one, I'd start throwing up again. I was still a little nauseated with the Zofran, but it was very bearable, and sometimes it took the nausea away altogether. I had to take it the entire pregnancy - I think I was still throwing up the day before I delivered. :tongue_smilie: With the second pregnancy, I took it until about 26 weeks. With the third pregnancy, I was nauseated and threw up a few times, but I never needed Zofran. I don't like to take medicines, but I love Zofran. :001_smile: It's amazing how nausea can make a person non-functional. It isn't worth it to feel that sick.

Both HSTOnline and OLLY offer transcripts in their "Reports" sections. You can choose options for how to calculate grades as each course is set up, and then then the final data appear in the transcript. WPD has a "Reports" section, too, so I assume it will offer transcripts as part of that.

It's brand-new planning software just for Mac. Their homepage is here. I've been trying to choose between OLLY or HSTOnline (also relatively new, and usable on a Mac). The two are somewhat similar to each other. Our internet speeds are variable enough to be frustrating at times. I'll probably go with OLLY because it's not online. Also, the one-time license fee covers the use of OLLY on more than one computer, and it includes unlimited free upgrades on 1.x versions. I haven't bought it yet - I'm still using their one-month free trial. I initially thought OLLY was easier to learn than HSTOnline. I switched to HSTOnline for a while because it seemed a little easier to enter a series of assignments there - but they're fairly similar. Then I switched back to OLLY because it's far easier to move assignments around on the calendar (fewer clicks to drag & drop or enter a new date; more intuitive "bump" feature). Other things make more sense to me in OLLY, too, like editing lesson plans after they've been scheduled or checking off completed assignments. OLLY includes things like a journal and photo uploads, which I haven't used yet. I am using the "routines" feature, so we can see our daily schedule right next to the specific assignments for the day. If WPD offers any type of trial, I'll probably try it. It's the assignment entry and rescheduling that will probably decide whether I use it or not.

I'm back to OLLY, too. The last time I opened the application, it prompted me for an automatic upgrade, which fixed the problem I was having with it. It's been very easy to get the whole year of assignments onto the calendar and then drag them around or bump groups of them.

This is how I do it, too. I compile my entire list and then split the orders up by price, so I don't end up just getting the cheapest ($3.99) books free. I add some of the non-3-for-4 items on my list, if necessary, to hit $25 per order. It's mostly for books that are under $10 (and a few toys or art items, too). I've never seen a book over $10 available for 4-for-3.

My twins are the oldest. They just turned 5. We're trying to focus on math and phonics. I also have a 3.5yo and an almost-2yo. It's a zoo around here.

I'll be waiting to see how people like the beta. It looks beautiful, and I like having the calendar, menu, and shopping lists all right there. One thing that makes me hesitate is that I don't know if it will auto-create assignments. It's very time-consuming to enter assignments for an entire year. It looks like you can add repeating assignments, but I can't tell whether it will automatically add a sequence of chapters, for example. Both Homeschool Tracker Online and OLLY will allow this. OLLY has been very intuitive and easy for me to set up. Now I'm looking at HSTOnline again (much bigger learning curve), because I wonder if it has some of the features that I can't figure out with OLLY.

The people who sprayed our house shortly after we moved used diatomaceous earth. It's perfectly safe for humans, which is important for our house full of little ones. They blew it into the walls (which did leave a few tiny holes in the walls) and into the space between the main floor and basement. They sprayed pyrethrins (also relatively safe) all around the outside of the house and along the baseboards. We got several spiders in our spider traps in the first few days after that, but then we didn't see any more living bugs for several months. It has been almost a year, and we're starting to see a few spiders. Hopefully the follow-up treatment won't be as involved! (ETA - After reading a previous post, maybe I'll try re-treating the house ourselves with Sevin.)