New online planner option for those of us who like Excel but want more functionality!

[melissel]

http://scholaric.com/marketing

 

I think it's very new, and I love that it does pretty much exactly what you tell it to do! I'm not affiliated with the company at all, I'm just in the middle of planner frenzy while getting ready for next year and am excited to have another option, since nothing I've tried so far really seems to be working for me. The developer is taking feedback, and I've already suggested a few things, but so far, I really like it.

 

Just something for the planners among us to try out... :D

[nukeswife]

Looks interesting, I'll have to check it out more this summer

I have HST+ but it just seems to be more work than I want for kids that aren't in highschool, so I was planning on going back to a paper planning page that I made up.

[berries]

I am looking heavily at planners right now. Thank you for the link, I'll check it out!

[melissel]

Looks interesting, I'll have to check it out more this summer

I have HST+ but it just seems to be more work than I want for kids that aren't in highschool, so I was planning on going back to a paper planning page that I made up.

 

That's kind of what I've been thinking too. Plus, I just need to write in exactly what I want in each lesson, with notes for myself and reminders and such, and that's hard to do in HST+, it seems. This just takes exactly what it you tell it to, which is very nice.

[mom31257]

I'm trying it right now and can't figure out how to add a course. It keeps telling me invalid subject. Did you try it yet? Did you have the same problem?

[mom31257]

I'm trying it right now and can't figure out how to add a course. It keeps telling me invalid subject. Did you try it yet? Did you have the same problem?

 

I think I just figured it out.

[melissel]

I'm trying it right now and can't figure out how to add a course. It keeps telling me invalid subject. Did you try it yet? Did you have the same problem?

 

No, I managed it fine. Are you clicking on the word "Course"? It opens a dialogue box with two empty fields for me.

 

ETA: Oh good!

[Pata]

What is it like? I don't want to start my 15 days because I'm supposed to be on vacation, so I didn't bring my books with me :). I'm using One Note right now because it's easier to cut and paste, but the formatting is terrible, I much prefer Excel's formatting. Can you print out weekly schedules withe everything you've entered for the week in a nice pretty grid? Is it tedious to enter assignments or can you cut and past information for other sources? Thanks for any info, I'm subscribing to this so I can come back to it later when I get home.

[CanaryMelody]

Thanks for posting this. I'm using excel now and it works fine but I'd love something with more functionality. I'm right in the middle of planning our new year, too. :)

[Satori]

Thanks for sharing! Checking it out now. I always said I'd switch from the free Homeschool SkedTrack in a heartbeat if I could find another online scheduler. Now to see if it does the minimum that I need...

[melissel]

What is it like? I don't want to start my 15 days because I'm supposed to be on vacation, so I didn't bring my books with me :). I'm using One Note right now because it's easier to cut and paste, but the formatting is terrible, I much prefer Excel's formatting. Can you print out weekly schedules withe everything you've entered for the week in a nice pretty grid? Is it tedious to enter assignments or can you cut and past information for other sources? Thanks for any info, I'm subscribing to this so I can come back to it later when I get home.

 

Paige, it looks really good, very easy to use. I'm putting my night owls to bed now but I'll try and take some screen shots if I can in a little while.

[Satori]

Aw bummer, I can tell right away it's not what I'm looking for. Too many errors, too simple, not flexible enough. I used to be a web programmer, I should just write my own.

 

They need to allow people to input more than one thing at a time, and I'm not talking about the Repetition feature. Every lesson I enter is different, so I'd have to click too many times just to enter in all my lessons. I'm used to entering in 100 or more before I click even once.

Edited May 20, 2011 by Satori

[melissel]

An FYI, the developer told me that he's looking at adding transcript functionality if possible. That's my main goal in using HST+, so I told him that if he can do that, I'd be a convert for life :D I hope he find a way to develop that in!

[melissel]

Aw bummer, I can tell right away it's not what I'm looking for. Too many errors, too simple, not flexible enough. I used to be a web programmer, I should just write my own.

 

What is it that you need it to do? And yes, you should! And I linked him to this thread--give him some feedback, maybe he can improve it based on what you need.

[abacus2]

I need to be able to see more about the program before I would "sign up" even for a free trial. Looking at the webpage, there is very little information about the program.

[Satori]

Yeah, that was my first complaint, but I had already promised I'd give it a try. He needs a good description section. Lots of screenshots and description. Videos would be helpful but not totally crucial.

[melissel]

Aw bummer, I can tell right away it's not what I'm looking for. Too many errors, too simple, not flexible enough. I used to be a web programmer, I should just write my own.

 

They need to allow people to input more than one thing at a time, and I'm not talking about the Repetition feature. Every lesson I enter is different, so I'd have to click too many times just to enter in all my lessons. I'm used to entering in 100 or more before I click even once.

 

That makes sense. I'm so used to working in Excel, it didn't even faze me. I can't figure out how to work Skedtrack, so we're accustomed to looking at two different things. Bummer that it won't work for you! I'm finally getting to play with it more now.

[huntchaos]

I am able to access it with my iPad -- i am a techie kind of girl but, I need my tech mobile-- so, that is really nice.

 

However, for combined subjects, how do you do that? It seems that students are only treated separately and their courses don't overlap, which makes it pretty unusable for me. It may be user error though, I have only played with it a bit.

[SnowWhite]

This looks AWESOME! What I like about it is that it's still in the development stages so we can help the creator craft it into exactly what we are looking for. The designer answered my email within an hour I think, so that is optimistic to me that he's made the software and his customers a priority. Plus the price is right- $1 per student per month.I have been having to create and delete students in my bumbling though, so that could get expensive if I got charged a dollar each time I did that.

 

 

This is exactly what I have been nagging my software developer husband to create, and the fact that you can read it on Ipad makes me think I can read it on my iPhone... off to check! I'm excited. It's so visually streamlined and intuitive IMHO.

[Chez J]

I like the look of this. I feel limited by the subjects, though. Maybe a better way is to unlink the subject and course and let the app user define which subject and course go together. I see that all my courses are there, but they are linked differently than we "group" them for work time.

 

This is what my "social studies" looked like in excel last year. It's all mixed together with literature. We use reading/literature for our history.

 

Week #......Course..................Tuesday....Wed.....Thurs....Fri

1...............Assigned Reading....Code of Hammurabi all week

.................Literature..............Omnibus Chapter on Hammurabi all week

.................Writing..................Complete IEW lesson all week

.................Elective Rotation.....Art study...timeline...story of science...

.................Geography.............Trail Guide Q2 ...Trail Guide Q3...map...map

.................Memory.................cc cards

 

ETA: The other thing I would like to see is a sequential repeat of the lesson. In HST, when you create a lesson, you name it lesson 1. Then in the repeat function, you can tell it to repeat 34 times, and it will create 34 lessons numbered 1, 2, 3, ....34. That would really help when you are following a curriculum with a set lesson schedule number.

Edited May 20, 2011 by Chez J

[Tam101]

Wow, what I can see looks nice. I'll have to spend some time with it this weekend. I too would drop Skedtrack in heartbeat. I like functionality of Skedtrack, but it needs to be more user friendly and pretty! ;)

[melissel]

I like the look of this. I feel limited by the subjects, though. Maybe a better way is to unlink the subject and course and let the app user define which subject and course go together. I see that all my courses are there, but they are linked differently than we "group" them for work time.

 

This is what my "social studies" looked like in excel last year. It's all mixed together with literature. We use reading/literature for our history.

 

Week #......Course..................Tuesday....Wed.....Thurs....Fri

1...............Assigned Reading....Code of Hammurabi all week

.................Literature..............Omnibus Chapter on Hammurabi all week

.................Writing..................Complete IEW lesson all week

.................Elective Rotation.....Art study...timeline...story of science...

.................Geography.............Trail Guide Q2 ...Trail Guide Q3...map...map

.................Memory.................cc cards

 

ETA: The other thing I would like to see is a sequential repeat of the lesson. In HST, when you create a lesson, you name it lesson 1. Then in the repeat function, you can tell it to repeat 34 times, and it will create 34 lessons numbered 1, 2, 3, ....34. That would really help when you are following a curriculum with a set lesson schedule number.

 

I didn't think you were limited to a strict subject selection. I thought you could enter whatever you wanted--a suggested one pops up, but I entered others things (I thought I did, anyway!). I'll have to look again.

 

And yes, I strongly agree on the sequential lesson option. I didn't think that was a big deal until I tried entering our RightStart lessons late last night. Eek!

[Chez J]

Reply from the developer about sequences...

 

Sequences are there - sorry, but I have been training users at homeschool conferences -

 

Try this:

 

 

First, set your upcoming vacations and holidays

 

 

Then, create a new lesson, optionally set the time. Mark the lesson as repeating and set its schedule.

 

 

The secret sauce: in the description, specify a numeric range in curly braces. For your example:

 

 

Lesson {1-34}

 

 

Will create Lesson 1, then Lesson 2, then Lesson 3, etc.

 

 

I can hear it singing now :)

 

 

I have GOT to make a video about this!

 

_______________

 

YIPPIE!

[melissel]

Reply from the developer about sequences...

 

Sequences are there - sorry, but I have been training users at homeschool conferences -

 

Try this:

 

 

First, set your upcoming vacations and holidays

 

 

Then, create a new lesson, optionally set the time. Mark the lesson as repeating and set its schedule.

 

 

The secret sauce: in the description, specify a numeric range in curly braces. For your example:

 

 

Lesson {1-34}

 

 

Will create Lesson 1, then Lesson 2, then Lesson 3, etc.

 

 

I can hear it singing now :)

 

 

I have GOT to make a video about this!

 

_______________

 

YIPPIE!

 

Oh, sweet!!! I didn't want to pepper him with emails, so thank you for asking instead :lol:

 

Has anyone figured out how to delete a course/subject? I'd like to delete something I was messing around with, but I don't see how.

Edited May 20, 2011 by melissel

[SnowWhite]

This is so much fun! I have half of Joshua's planning for next year done already. (the easy half, but still!)

 

Jeff emailed me about the sequence as well- love this feature. I have to investigate about the history and lit, etc... I'm not sure it would matter at our house.

 

I think I would have TruthQuest in the subcategory History, and then I would enter each assignment separately within the Course Truthquest History.

Edited May 20, 2011 by SnowWhite

[Chez J]

This is so much fun! I have half of Joshua's planning for next year done already. (the easy half, but still!)

 

Jeff emailed me about the sequence as well- love this feature. I have to investigate about the history and lit, etc... I'm not sure it would matter at our house.

 

It probably "doesn't matter" that much here either. It's just how I organize our day. I'm not sure my dd really cares where assigned reading falls. But, for my planning, I coordinate the reading and history. It just has always made sense for me to put it there instead of with grammar and spelling.

 

He says that they shouldn't be linked and asked for the error message I got. A kind way of suggesting user error. :D

[melissel]

It probably "doesn't matter" that much here either. It's just how I organize our day. I'm not sure my dd really cares where assigned reading falls. But, for my planning, I coordinate the reading and history. It just has always made sense for me to put it there instead of with grammar and spelling.

 

He says that they shouldn't be linked and asked for the error message I got. A kind way of suggesting user error. :D

 

I did get it too. It told me "invalid subject."

[SnowWhite]

Oh, sweet!!! I didn't want to pepper him with emails, so thank you for asking instead :lol:

 

Has anyone figured out how to delete a course/subject? I'd like to delete something I was messing around with, but I don't see how.

 

 

LOL, I decided to go ahead and pepper away. He hasn't seemed to mind. I know you can "hide" the course or subject.

 

I did go ahead and experiment with having More Than One assignment in my course-- TruthQuest History will be our overarching course in the fall, and will include History, Literature, Creative Writing, Narration, Art... I plan to have multiple assignments in the course each day. (It lets you do that!) I just scheduled the first page of the guide for day one, then decided to read "And There Was America" by R. Duvoisin every Monday, one chapter a week until it is finished. That book scheduled out neatly with one dialog box!

[melissel]

LOL, I decided to go ahead and pepper away. He hasn't seemed to mind. I know you can "hide" the course or subject.

 

I did go ahead and experiment with having More Than One assignment in my course-- TruthQuest History will be our overarching course in the fall, and will include History, Literature, Creative Writing, Narration, Art... I plan to have multiple assignments in the course each day. (It lets you do that!) I just scheduled the first page of the guide for day one, then decided to read "And There Was America" by R. Duvoisin every Monday, one chapter a week until it is finished. That book scheduled out neatly with one dialog box!

 

I can hide it in the main screen, but it shows up in the daily/weekly printouts anyway. Plus, I just hate knowing it's lurking there, waiting to trip me up :lol: I'll have to email him later.

 

And I discovered the "more than one assignment" thing too, accidentally. I was glad to see it!

[Chez J]

Oh, sweet!!! I didn't want to pepper him with emails, so thank you for asking instead :lol:

 

Has anyone figured out how to delete a course/subject? I'd like to delete something I was messing around with, but I don't see how.

 

Not sure how to delete on course. I deleted the whole student and started over using the sequencing trick.

[melissel]

Not sure how to delete on course. I deleted the whole student and started over using the sequencing trick.

 

Ugh, that could be a problem if you already have a lot of other things entered. I know he told me we could email him and he could do it, but I don't want to have to bother/rely on a third party for that.

[SnowWhite]

It probably "doesn't matter" that much here either. It's just how I organize our day. I'm not sure my dd really cares where assigned reading falls. But, for my planning, I coordinate the reading and history. It just has always made sense for me to put it there instead of with grammar and spelling.

 

He says that they shouldn't be linked and asked for the error message I got. A kind way of suggesting user error. :D

 

You could name it History Reading and link it to "Social Studies"... we need to suggest he add more subjects. Some people wouldn't want to call their history "social studies" just on general principles. I found I had to choose from a pull down list for subjects (on which history was not a choice but Social Studies was).

[Chez J]

Ugh, that could be a problem if you already have a lot of other things entered. I know he told me we could email him and he could do it, but I don't want to have to bother/rely on a third party for that.

 

Yeah, right now, I'm playing with it. So, didn't matter much. But, when I get to heavy-duty data entering, it will matter greatly!

[mom2denj]

I am trying out the 15 day trial and It will not let me enter any subjects?? It keeps saying invalid subject. Any advice?

[melissel]

I am trying out the 15 day trial and It will not let me enter any subjects?? It keeps saying invalid subject. Any advice?

 

Did you click on the word "Course"? You should get a dialogue box that has a field for course and one for subject. You need to do both.

[In2why]

Way to Buggy for me! Might be okay once it is up and running? But it aggravates me that I will lose the 15 day free trial, when right now it won't even let me add all of my students without sending me to an error page. I haven't even tried to add courses or anything since the most basic feature isn't working.

[Chez J]

Hmm. On the main "Scholaric" page (AKA the dashboard), it has a section for the students. There is "Add A Student". Just click on that and a new student section appears. Then, just click where it says New Student 1 and it will activate for you to type over. No problems for me at all.

[In2why]

Hmm. On the main "Scholaric" page (AKA the dashboard), it has a section for the students. There is "Add A Student". Just click on that and a new student section appears. Then, just click where it says New Student 1 and it will activate for you to type over. No problems for me at all.

 

 

(laughing) Yep that is exactly what I did. I was able to add my first child without a problem. The second child showed up after I exited the program and logged back on, and the 3rd child was first filled with error messages, and then when I signed back on there were 4 new students without names. I highlighted the first one and changed it to the child's name, and then tried to delete the others. Error page. Signed out and then back on, 2 of the unneeded students were gone, but still no 3rd child. Figured I would delete all of the unwanted students and then try to add the actual child again in the hopes of not getting error message. Got page does not exist. Logged back in, and tried again. Nope. Then decided to go to first child and check out lesson planning. It looks decent, although I didn't explore too much and only added our basic courses. But it did keep them all. I will look at it again on Monday when we are actually completing the scheduled subjects and get a better idea then. I am hoping it works great, because I am also frustrated with Sked Tracker.

[rochellek]

Thanks for posting!

[ElizabethB]

That looks interesting.

 

What I would pay extra money for is if most of my stuff was already done for me, for example, someone who was doing ECC and Singapore 4 next year entered all the data and then you could download that!

[melissel]

That looks interesting.

 

What I would pay extra money for is if most of my stuff was already done for me, for example, someone who was doing ECC and Singapore 4 next year entered all the data and then you could download that!

 

Have you looked at HST+ already? That's the only one I know of where you can do that.

[ElizabethB]

Have you looked at HST+ already? That's the only one I know of where you can do that.

 

I have a mac and I don't really need a planner. We mostly do the next thing. But, this year I did make a schedule for the last bit of math to try to make sure we were going to be able to finish my daughter's Singapore math when it looked like we were cutting it close. So, I would use one if it was super easy.

[melissel]

I have a mac and I don't really need a planner. We mostly do the next thing. But, this year I did make a schedule for the last bit of math to try to make sure we were going to be able to finish my daughter's Singapore math when it looked like we were cutting it close. So, I would use one if it was super easy.

 

Ah, I hear you. My main computer is a Mac too, but I have a desktop PC downstairs, so I'm trialing HST+ at the same time as Scholaric. I need the planner for the accountability--otherwise I tend to let myself think we're doing fine when really we're sliding off the wrong end of the calendar! Between my lesson plans and my file crates, this has been our best year so far, and I have high hopes for 4th grade :D

[meet me in paris]

Loving this!!

 

Has anyone figured out how to set up vacations and holidays? I'm perplexed. :confused:

[QuirkyKapers]

I will have to look into this when I am not so tired. I saw that there is $1 fee but it could be up to $5. That is as far as I got I am always looking for an easy computer scheduler. HST and me are not compatable :D

[melissel]

Loving this!!

 

Has anyone figured out how to set up vacations and holidays? I'm perplexed. :confused:

 

If you click the little arrow next to the day name at the top of any given day, you get a Calendar menu. Click that, and you get an option to make the day Vacation, Holiday, or Event.

[meet me in paris]

If you click the little arrow next to the day name at the top of any given day, you get a Calendar menu. Click that, and you get an option to make the day Vacation, Holiday, or Event.

tyvm!

[robsiew]

I'm in the market for a tracking program as well. I'm trialing HST+ right now and although there is a steep learning curve I think it's solid.

 

Am I correct in that this new program is $1/mo. per child? That gets pretty expensive over time. I can pay $49 for HST+ and get updates for life. With 4 kids that's only one year of this online service. If I add up all the years for all my kids that would be $480 IF the price stayed at $1/kid per month! :001_huh:

[melissel]

I'm in the market for a tracking program as well. I'm trialing HST+ right now and although there is a steep learning curve I think it's solid.

 

Am I correct in that this new program is $1/mo. per child? That gets pretty expensive over time. I can pay $49 for HST+ and get updates for life. With 4 kids that's only one year of this online service. If I add up all the years for all my kids that would be $480 IF the price stayed at $1/kid per month! :001_huh:

 

I agree, sort of. I think the difference is the hosting of the data on third-party servers versus the download just to your machine--that can cost a bit. I'd prefer a web-based product so I could check it from any of our computers or wherever we are. The SCM planner is $99 a year, I believe!

[robsiew]

I agree, sort of. I think the difference is the hosting of the data on third-party servers versus the download just to your machine--that can cost a bit. I'd prefer a web-based product so I could check it from any of our computers or wherever we are. The SCM planner is $99 a year, I believe!

 

Hmmm... yes, I don't think I need portability. My plan is to enter everything in over the summer and print out weekly sheets for each of my kids with all their work for the week. I can't see needing to access it while we're out (we are a pretty stationary family) and I'm okay with it only being on one computer. Good things to think through!