My name is Kelly. I'm a Homeschool Tracker dropout.

[BlsdMama]

Please tell me what you all use this for?!

 

I have it.

I've heard I should LOVE it.

 

I don't think I'm using it to its' full potential.

Help me to feel the love. Please?

[melissel]

Do you have HST+ or the free version? I've heard the free version is kind of useless, and the plus version is SO much better. I was supposed to download the trial last night but fell asleep, so it will have to be tonight instead!

[nukeswife]

My name is also Kelly (although I go by Kel) and I have a love/hate relationship with HST+.

 

I try to use it every year and input lesson plans and the whole works, submit things weekly to the assignment grid, but after about a month or two it just seems like more work that it needs to be to keep track of a 6th, 3rd and Ker. Especially because we use many items that are "just do the next thing" kind of books.

[JudoMom]

My name is not Kelly, and I love HST+. I use it to track attendance, print assignment sheets, and this year I started tracking grades for math.

 

I found watching the tutorials on their website gave me a lot of ideas on how to make HST+ work for me. After watching them last summer (I bought it when my oldest was in K), I began using the Course feature. I'll figure out another feature to use this year. My hope is to have it completely figured out by the time my oldest enters high school so I can use it for transcripts.

[QuirkyKapers]

My name is not Kelly. I am not related, nor do I know any Kelly's..but the sad truth is, I also am a HST drop out. Every year for the past three years, about this time of year actually when I start getting grand ideas for next year, I try it out. And than......It doesn't work....Probably since I am doing somthing wrong...I give up.... I just feel like I don't have the time to invest in trying to really figure it out. Otherwise, I am sure it would work great!

[Guest homeschoolerconfessions]

I have used HST free version. Mostly i just use it to keep track of hours and grades. Otherwise, I just run off of my own lesson plans that I create on an excel spreadsheet.

 

I have a friend who highly recommends http://www.skedtrack.com. It's online and free. The only downside to me is that I don't go in each day to record what we did. I'm a slacker and tend to go in once a month or so and just mark all of the items completed in HST. I hear you can't do that in Skedtrack. A bonus though is that if you don't complete an assign. one day, it automatically shifts all the following assignments back a day. So i guess good and bad for both programs.

 

Erica

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

[kristavws]

I have a sister named Kelly, and I am a HST dropout too. I don't love it. It just doesn't work out with the way I think and organize things.

 

:D

 

:iagree: , except I do not have a sister named Kelly, and my name is not Kelly either!

 

I have found that Excel is much better at meeting our needs.

[Tranquility7]

Do you have the free version or HST+? The free version wouldn't do much for me since I really want it for planning, which only comes with the Plus version.

 

I love, love, LOVE HST+! Granted, I only have a K'er, but I am already fully addicted to HST+. Honestly I can't imagine HSing without it. I love laying out my lesson plans in it, and then printing off my assignment calendar for the week (I print off two weeks at a time so we can work ahead in some areas if we have time). Then during the week I get to cross things off as we do it - which releases a wonderful surge of endorphins for me, LOL. I even put our read alouds in it.

 

I get SO MUCH DONE thanks to HST+. I suppose a conventional paper planner would have worked as well in some respects, but I love being able to reschedule easily without cluttering a paper planner with crossouts, and I love having my lesson plans already laid out for me each week without having to think too much about what to do next (since I figured all that out when I entered my lesson plans initially).

 

I am also REALLY looking forward to reusing my lesson plans on my DD when she is old enough to start. I think that will be a huge benefit to HST+ in later years (not to mention recordkeeping and transcripts and whatnot).

[Stacyandtherugrats]

My toddler's middle name is Kelly but she never attended HST academy and although I did, I am a dropout. It wasn't my fault but the teachers! The teacher refused to work on my MacBook. I had to leave the school and eventually applied to Planbook academy. It is a nice school but I do sometimes is HST academy.

[GTJo1996]

Lesson plan? What's a lesson plan? Just kidding! I honestly feel like a failure when I write down a week's worth of assignments and we only get 1/2 of it done OR DD is uncooperative and we don't get 5 days of one subject done as planned. Thankfully I live in GA where the state requirements are so slack that no one will ever ask me what we did! I simply use a Mead notebook calendar that has about 4 inches of space per day where I can record short notes about what we did (or didn't do!) each day. I don't think a formal lesson planner would help me. Having said that, I've never heard of HST and now I will have to go investigate it. I love that I learn new things almost everyday that I explore this website!!!

[WTMindy]

I love it! I use it to print out my weely assignment sheets for my kids, and track what they have completed and what they haven't. I found the tutorial videos very helpful in figuring out how to use it in a way that was best for me!

[Mommyfaithe]

My name is not Kelly. I am not related, nor do I know any Kelly's..but the sad truth is, I also am a HST drop out. Every year for the past three years, about this time of year actually when I start getting grand ideas for next year, I try it out. And than......It doesn't work....Probably since I am doing somthing wrong...I give up.... I just feel like I don't have the time to invest in trying to really figure it out. Otherwise, I am sure it would work great!

 

Me too. My nMe is Faithe and I am not only a HST drop out...I am a HST moron. I just can not get the darn thing to do what I want...and I have tried...and tried ...and tried. I have spent more hours trying to get that thing to work for me than I care to admit. I have imported more data.......oh never mind...

It is just way to frustrating!!!

Faithe

[justamouse]

I use nothing. I use a notepad and a free financial calendar we recieved.

 

I mean, I am great at writing all of those lessons out, but actually following them? Nope.

 

I follow the principal of Do the Next Thing. Gets it all done.

[BlsdMama]

I paid the $50 for the Plus version. I was fairly certain the reason I didn't love it was because it was the free version AND that I'd be motivated to learn it once I paid out the $$. In retrospect, that seems a little stupid. :glare:

 

I *must* keep track. Note the high schooler in the signature and I'd prefer not to set her up for a lack of decent transcript in her very near future.

 

I see there is also a YouTube video. Guess I know how I'm spending my Monday.

[profmom]

My name is also Kelly (although I go by Kel) and I have a love/hate relationship with HST+.

 

I try to use it every year and input lesson plans and the whole works, submit things weekly to the assignment grid, but after about a month or two it just seems like more work that it needs to be to keep track of a 6th, 3rd and Ker. Especially because we use many items that are "just do the next thing" kind of books.

 

Same here -- dropout after several tries. :confused: I wish I could get over whatever hump because it looks like such a great thing.

[sewpeaceful]

My last name is Kell(er) and I LOVE HST+. I have been using it for 5 years. It helps my kids to have a weekly assignment sheet which is easily generated from HST+. The only subjects that take a bit to enter are history and science. It calculates our school year, tells me if I need to take a few days or more off of school and reschedule, this is our impact to our "last day of school". It prints transcripts, etc.

 

I fear that if I didn't enter it into HST+, I wouldn't feel accountable to do everything. I am checkbox kind of gal.

 

If you want to love it and don't, tell me why you hate it and maybe I can help you.

 

The online videos help show it off nicely too. Great suggestion from the other poster.

[profmom]

If you want to love it and don't, tell me why you hate it and maybe I can help you.

 

 

Maybe it's that I like to make plans and do them, but I don't like having to go back in and check off that they are done. ???

 

Logically, HST+ should work better for me than an excel spreadsheet, but it seems so much more time-consuming when I try using HST+ for a few weeks. I use software for so many other things, though -- my meal planning and grocery lists are done in Grocery Gadget (with a list that is sorted by aisle numbers on my phone); our family uses Google Calendar, so we can access each other's calendars on our phones or computers; etc. I feel like it's me, not HST+??

 

Now that my oldest is going into 9th grade, can I use it in an easy way for transcripts? (With two more weeks of school here, it's not yet time for my annual HST+ immersion to try to make it work.)

[Mommyfaithe]

I use nothing. I use a notepad and a free financial calendar we recieved.

 

I mean, I am great at writing all of those lessons out, but actually following them? Nope.

 

I follow the principal of Do the Next Thing. Gets it all done.

 

Me too...I have a general plan....and school routine. First we do this...then we do that.....etc. Where we leave off...we pick up the next day...and so on and so forth. I LOVE the idea of nice neat plans...scopes and sequences....records...

But in real life...uh....not so much.

Faithe

[Veritaserum]

My name is not Kelly, and I love HST+. I use it to track attendance, print assignment sheets, and this year I started tracking grades for math.

 

I found watching the tutorials on their website gave me a lot of ideas on how to make HST+ work for me. After watching them last summer (I bought it when my oldest was in K), I began using the Course feature. I'll figure out another feature to use this year. My hope is to have it completely figured out by the time my oldest enters high school so I can use it for transcripts.

 

:iagree: I quit when I was using the free version. Then I used Edu-Track for a couple of years. I switched to HST+ in February and I love it! The tutorial videos helped a ton. I print assignment calendars by week for each of the kids. I use a different color paper for each child. I update the plan every weekend. It takes about an hour a week to mark what we did and make any necessary alterations to the next week's plan. I use HST+ to track what we have done. I can reschedule. I can add extra things (specific library books). It's a great tool because everyone knows what we want to get done each day of the week. My biggers get right to work without having to ask me what to do. My littles love to check off their items and I'm not scrambling to think of what I had wanted to work with them on. :)

Edited May 16, 2011 by Veritaserum

[BlsdMama]

 

I fear that if I didn't enter it into HST+, I wouldn't feel accountable to do everything. I am checkbox kind of gal.

 

 

Me too.

 

If you want to love it and don't, tell me why you hate it and maybe I can help you.

 

The online videos help show it off nicely too. Great suggestion from the other poster.

 

I hate that I open it up and I haven't figured it out yet. WHINE, right? I haven't made the time to watch the tutorials and what I really want is an instructor's guide full of screen shots because at the end of the day I'm not really sure what it's capable of really DOING and so I am unsure of what I want it to do. I'm frozen in the pit of uncertainty... Mostly because I'm too lazy and haven't watched the videos yet. Sigh.

[boscopup]

Kelly, did you download the user manual with the screenshots? It's hefty. The videos are definitely worth watching too. Your last statement sounds like you didn't see that there's a manual? :)

[mothergooseof4]

I have owned HST+ for about 4 years. I never used it. I installed it last week in my zeal to plan for next year. I then updated, since my cd was version 4. I then played around in it and set up lesson plans for TT.

 

The truth is, I want to like it.....but, I don't. I see its value for those of you that live in states that require some sort of reporting. I am in Texas where we are fairly unregulated. Add that to the fact that I have become the DO THE NEXT THING type and I just don't see that it is worth my time to enter everything into HST+.

 

I like my spreadsheet with the dates across the top and things to do down the left. I have it categorized by child and even have reminders in there to review phonograms and flashcards.....I will forget if it isn't on the list. We don't do everything everyday, but it is there and I can check it off or write what lesson/pages we did if we get to it. If we don't, then I don't feel like we are behind and I don't have to reschedule anything.

 

I am still going to play around with HST+, but I don't know if we will utilize it. I really am interested in the CHORES part of it. Now those I would love to have scheduled out.

[abacus2]

I downloaded the trial. I spent several hours messing with it. I watched the videos. I could not get it to do anything I wanted it to do. It was not at all intuitive. I felt like I was working in a different organizational language that had nothing to do with how my brain organizes things. I really wanted to love it, but it did not work for me. I have The Well Planned Day paper planner for next year, which I think is going to work well for my needs.

[H_Household]

I have used HST free and then decided to upgrade to HST+...which I am so glad I did. It's easy to create lesson plans and then use them over and over again for each child as they come to that lesson. I can rearrange lessons if we get off track. I can keep track of attendance and grades. It helps me so much to stay organized. I guess it's not for everyone but I love it and found it worth every penny for me.

[Hankins3]

My name is Sheli... which rhymes with Kelly... and like you, I find it more trouble than it is worth on most days. But I would imagine if someone lived in a state which required more record keeping than mine, it would be more useful. :)

[Halcyon]

I have a sister named Kelly :D and I downloaded HST about a month ago. I haven't paid forr it yet, but I am going to. It did take time to figure it all out, but I think I've got it.

 

We mostly "do the next thing" but I really like how it prints out a plan, and how official it looks :D Makes me feel like I am not a slacker on the days when I feel like I am.

 

Plus, DS older likes to work independently and I know tihs will help him.

[Hedgehogs4]

My name IS Kelly, and while I am intrigued by the concept do not think I could ever make HST work for me...

[BlsdMama]

First, I wonder, statistically, the relation of the name Kelly and why we all need more organization help than others, lol.

 

Second, I also didn't feel the need to track our educational goals, evaluations, etc. when my children were little. Keeping transcript information is a whole other ballgame! ;)

[Cindyz]

I get SO MUCH DONE thanks to HST+. I suppose a conventional paper planner would have worked as well in some respects, but I love being able to reschedule easily without cluttering a paper planner with crossouts, and I love having my lesson plans already laid out for me each week without having to think too much about what to do next (since I figured all that out when I entered my lesson plans initially).

:iagree:

 

I also print out assignment lists so we know what to do each day. I can easily move things around by drag and drop if something unexpected comes up and I need to rearrange. I can also make sure we're going to complete a program in the time frame that I've planned (I know whether we need to speed it up or we can take our time). I also keep track of time so I know exactly how much time we've spent on each subject for the week, month, year, etc. This helps me to evaluate if a program is taking up too much of our time or if I'm not putting enough time into something else. For instance, I know that Phonics Road 1 has taken 46 hours and 50 minutes to go through week 1 - week 32 and it took us 44 hours to go through Singapore 1A and 1B whereas MEP Math has taken up 51 hours and 10 minutes and we're still not done with 1B.

 

Every two days I enter (from the assignment list) what we've completed and how long each thing took, I make rearrangements for the next few days and print the new list. This takes me 5 minutes every 2 days. The most time consuming part for me is entering the actual lesson plans, but once you get it down, it's not that bad.

Edited May 17, 2011 by Cindyz

[Running the race]

I love HST+ and have used it for assignments and lesson plans for years. I've even set up courses for my older two, but I can't seem to figure out how to do grades or anything more advanced. Maybe I should sit down and watch some tutorials.

[robsiew]

My name is not Kelly, although I know 2... and I'm trying to debate HST right now. I paid the $5 to try it out for a month. It certainly has a high learning curve, but I figured out Photoshop on my own, so I figure I can probably figure this out too. It took me 2 hours to try and figure out one simple thing so it's certainly taking me some time to learn. I do see great potential though and I think in the long run the time I put in up front will pay off. The main reason I would like it now is to easily print assignment sheets for my kids and to be able to reuse lesson plans. Of course later creating transcripts would be great. I've been using 2 big homemade plan books, but I'd like to get rid of them if possible. I think I'll end up buying it....

[walkermamaof4]

My best friend when I was 4 till 10 was named Kelly. Then I moved and my new best friend was named Kelly Walker. Then I married a Walker. But my name is not Kelly.

 

You have inspired me so! I decided to watch the youtube tutorial (not so great) and then started into the HST videos. They have TONS of info. I can't believe how robust it is! I refuse to hit buy until I watch it all. And I am trying to promise myself I will read the whole manual. I even posted a thread today about tracking my library, and it does that too! Yippee!

[jenn&charles]

I love HST. It helps keep me on track and I love the fact that it keeps a record of the things we've done. I can save a PDF that shows everything we did for a school year (10 years from now it will be fun to remember). I can also print out each week's work to hand out to Otter for him to check off assignments (thus helping him to keep on track too).

With one click I can also see every single resource we've used or see how many books Otter has read this year so far via the reading log (the tally is right at the top).

There are so many features that it does take awhile to figure it all out, but once you do, it's terrific (if you like that kind of thing).

I used to be a lot more disorganized, but HST helps me plan everything out. Sometimes I plan things out to the tiniest detail with it and for other subjects I just have a basic, general plan. It has the flexibility to do either and/or both!

I also like how you can download lesson plans other people have created!! I downloaded a bunch of them this year and didn't have to type them all up. Then all I did was submit them and daily lessons were right there each day so I could see what we needed to do.

It really is very adaptable to whatever teaching/record keeping style you have.

The automatic grade-tracking is awesome too. It can make a transcript for me!

Oh and you can also (if you are really anal) input library books and when they are due.

Also, there is a timer you can set to see long lessons take...helpful (and motivating) if you have a turtle-child (I do). ;)

And...you can't beat the fact that upgrades are free forever. Since my husband originally purchased HST for me years ago, there have been many improvements/additions. They are always working to make it better and have excellent customer service.

I've had some questions over the years and they were answered almost immediately via email.

 

Shall I gush on? :D

HST has been a huge help to me. I wish I would have figured out a lot of the features earlier! I'm still learning about things it does!

[Mommy22alyns]

I tried to use it once and quickly abandoned it. I'm no help!

[jenL]

My name is Jen, and one of my closest friends is named Kelly. :001_smile:

 

I, too, am a HST dropout. I've come to appreciate that I am a paper kind of gal, and I like that I can write, erase, draw arrows, make checkmarks, circles, and/or whatever on my paper to show me where to go next and what we've accomplished.

 

Also, my state has an attendance sheet we should use to keep track, so I use that to maintain our attendance records.

 

Nice to meet you, Kelly! :D

[Hedgehogs4]

I love HST+ and have used it for assignments and lesson plans for years. I've even set up courses for my older two, but I can't seem to figure out how to do grades or anything more advanced. Maybe I should sit down and watch some tutorials.

 

yes, but your name is not Kelly...clearly you do not need help in this area.

[Hedgehogs4]

My best friend when I was 4 till 10 was named Kelly. Then I moved and my new best friend was named Kelly Walker. Then I married a Walker. But my name is not Kelly.

 

You have inspired me so! I decided to watch the youtube tutorial (not so great) and then started into the HST videos. They have TONS of info. I can't believe how robust it is! I refuse to hit buy until I watch it all. And I am trying to promise myself I will read the whole manual. I even posted a thread today about tracking my library, and it does that too! Yippee!

 

Will you, by association to the name, become a dropout? Or will you rise above and live up to the non-Kelly name...and succeed at HST?

[Tmhearn]

From all of the messages I weeded through on the boards, it seems that people who really like it have read the manual.

 

I read the manual (skimming of course) and set up the info for my dd for the last 9 weeks of this year. That way I could try it out. It has been very helpful to play with it a bit before inputting everything for next year.

 

I think part of the problem is that it can be difficult to get a straight answer on how to set it up. There's a lot of "you have to figure out how it works for you..." If you read through the manual, you will get some more specifics on how to set it up for what you want to do.

 

Basically, I entered all of my materials. (There is a nifty little function that allows you to type in the ISBN number on all of your workbooks, manuals, etc.) I setup subjects (e.g. Language Arts) then courses (e.g. Grammar). Then I setup lesson plans (e.g. First Grade Grammar). Then I assign those plans out to individual days. (I do it every Friday evening, at which time I check off what dd completed and reschedule what she didn't.)

 

I'm sure some of you will be going, "Well, duh!" But, it actually took me a little while to just figure out the simplicity of the setup. It has so much functionality that it really isn't obvious to some people on where to even start.

 

Hope that helps someone!

 

Taryn

[boscopup]

I'm sure some of you will be going, "Well, duh!" But, it actually took me a little while to just figure out the simplicity of the setup. It has so much functionality that it really isn't obvious to some people on where to even start.

 

No "Well, duh!" here! I was exactly the same way. Once I figured out my subject/lesson plan setup, I was off and running. I think that was the hardest part, and the reason why everyone says you have to figure out what works for you is because there are many ways to set it up, and what works for one person may not work for another - hence the multiple ways available. :D I think that part really is the biggest learning curve though. Once you figure that out, you just need to learn lesson copying techniques, which the manual explains very well.

 

Though I need to rethink my lesson plan setup, because what I'm doing now probably wouldn't work as well for multiple children. I need to research that aspect. It will be another year at least before I start tracking the next child, but it'd be nice to have a setup ready to accommodate that.

 

Oh, and my name is not Kelly, nor am I related to any Kellys, though I do have a friend Kelly. Maybe she just hasn't infiltrated my HST+ use yet. :D

[Guest MattC]

I'm not Kelly either. My wife and I do have some homeschool record keeping software that we like and I haven't seen mentioned yet, Homeschool Day Book:

 

http://www.homeschooldaybook.com

 

We like it cause we made it. :001_smile:

 

Day Book is meant to be simple to get started with and quick and easy to use. It does not have as many features as, say, HST or Edu-Track. It's more about record keeping, not really about pre-planning. Our users tend toward the less structured side of homeschooling.

 

It's not free but there's a free trial that should last for at least a month, so you can give it a good spin to see if you like it or not.

 

Feel free to drop me an email if you've got any questions -- matt@homeschooldaybook.com is checked regularly.

 

Matt

[nukeswife]

Thanks for posting this Matt. I'm more of a record keeper than a planner, as in I prefer to log what we do as it's done instead of what I plan to do ahead of time. Most of our things are "do the next thing" type curriculum so there is really no need to plan ahead much.

 

I'm not Kelly either. My wife and I do have some homeschool record keeping software that we like and I haven't seen mentioned yet, Homeschool Day Book:

 

http://www.homeschooldaybook.com

 

We like it cause we made it. :001_smile:

 

Day Book is meant to be simple to get started with and quick and easy to use. It does not have as many features as, say, HST or Edu-Track. It's more about record keeping, not really about pre-planning. Our users tend toward the less structured side of homeschooling.

 

It's not free but there's a free trial that should last for at least a month, so you can give it a good spin to see if you like it or not.

 

Feel free to drop me an email if you've got any questions -- matt@homeschooldaybook.com is checked regularly.

 

Matt

[ktgrok]

Lesson plan? What's a lesson plan? Just kidding! I honestly feel like a failure when I write down a week's worth of assignments and we only get 1/2 of it done OR DD is uncooperative and we don't get 5 days of one subject done as planned. Thankfully I live in GA where the state requirements are so slack that no one will ever ask me what we did! I simply use a Mead notebook calendar that has about 4 inches of space per day where I can record short notes about what we did (or didn't do!) each day. I don't think a formal lesson planner would help me. Having said that, I've never heard of HST and now I will have to go investigate it. I love that I learn new things almost everyday that I explore this website!!!

 

 

I can never predict what we will do over a weeks time either. My secret is to plan one day at a time, most of the time. Every night before bed I sit on my laptop and check this forum, then I input the next day's lessons. It only takes a few minutes. Then I can print out the list for my son, who loves having a printed list. If we don't do something no big deal, I delete it or change the assignment date to the next day. the only time I have planned further ahead is when I am trying to figure out how to finish a book or workbook before the end of the year. Then I do plan ahead. But most of the time I just put "dictation", or "math worksheet", not the actual lesson number or page number. That simplifies it for me. The biggest feature for me is it keeps track of all the resources we have used (our state requires we keep a list of books used).

[Jennifer]

I just spent 3 hours with HST+ and it frustrates me as much as ever. About every 6 months I try again.

I do like scholaric.com Very easy to use.

Jennifer

[kolamum]

My name is not Kelly, all though my name does have a K in it. I use to enjoy watching a footballer who's name was Kelly.. I have never used HST, I use PlanBook. ;) I am also fully addicted to planners of any and all kinds.

 

In planbook I can jot down lessons and then attach files to it so say I need to open up a programme for math I can link it in my planbook so I can just click on it and not waste time hunting it down.

 

I can also bump lessons ahead if we don't get to them. I can pull them back if we want to remove them. I can schedule school free days and so on.. THAT said, I can't check things off we've done.. unless it comes in the pay version.. I've only been playing with the free one for now. ;)

 

So tell me more about HST. I might have an addiction to planners, and I might not need HST, but I'm still curious. :lol: