Homeschool Planner for Mac?

[Kimberleigh]

Hi! I'm trying to start planning and organizing for next year. My kids are looming ever-closer to high school, and I'll need to do a better job keeping track of their work so I can eventually put together a transcript and such for their college apps.

 

Does anyone know of any homeschool planning software for the Mac? I know Homeschool Tracker can run under Parallels or VMWare, but it's slow and my printer doesn't like switching between the Mac/PC drivers and I've developed an aversion to all things PC. Also, while there are some really great features in Homeschool Tracker, it requires a lot of upkeep and none of the reports suit the way my kids work (yes, I know I'm whining, but...:tongue_smilie:). I've seen a Homeschool Planner application referred to on several Mac sites, but it points to a dead link and I can't find any current source. Bummer since the screenshots make it appear to be exactly what I need!

 

If you're a Mac person, what do you use?

 

Thanks,

Kimber

[Gamom3]

Our laptop is a Mac and the main one I use

[TraceyS/FL]

I looked, i hunted, i offered the job to a programmer.....

 

I run Fusion with XP and HST+.

 

Nothing else compares - and it's frustrating!

[TraceyS/FL]

I keep trying to hit up the Mac programmers i know....... it's not working yet!

[Aunty Social]

I found this online planner. It is simpler than HST but my chief complaint is that once you enter assignments they are set in stone. You can move one assignment at a time but not bump days. They have a "skip day" function that I thought would bump the days.... nope , it just erases that whole day. Otherwise simple to use. Read the FAQ's about making assignments and the calendar. Very helpful when you are trying to figure it out.

 

I had planned to enter a year's worth of plans into hst and just assign them days as needed.... That won't work in PER as far as I can tell. If I am wrong someone please tell me how to do it because having this online would solve a few other problems for me!

 

I use this program too. Not ideal, I'd like something on my computer, not the net, but the only other program I found seems to have become defunct before I could start using it - probably the one the OP refers to.

I think there is a way you can just bump the assignments forward. I've done it - can't remember how, but I think you just hit a button that says move day.....or something. Been awhile since I needed to do that this year. I also wish that it would automatically calculate term grades from what you enter in as test grades, but again....this is all that I've been able to find available.

[Mama Lynx]

Last year, my husband started to write one. But then he got sidetracked. :glare:

 

I will tell him that people are, again, asking for one. Maybe that will provide him with some motivation. (You'd think that I could be motivating enough, on my own?)

[Aunty Social]

Last year, my husband started to write one. But then he got sidetracked. :glare:

 

I will tell him that people are, again, asking for one. Maybe that will provide him with some motivation. (You'd think that I could be motivating enough, on my own?)

 

:lol:I know, my dh is the same way.

 

Tell him I said "Please, Please, Please!"

[TraceyS/FL]

I'd pay too - but i need to turn in attendance, so i need it to do some sort of report for that too!

 

But, we'd be happy to help him out! :D

[susie in tx]

:lurk5:

[Karenciavo]

Beg him please. I will pay real cash dollars (or at least paypal ;) ) for a good, easy to use Mac homeschool planner that allows me to put in assignments and lets me assign a date to the assignment later. It also needs to be able to print out assignment sheets for a date range. That is all I ask!

 

I just started fooling around with a Shareware program I downloaded last week. It may fit your needs. I believe you must attach a date to assignments, but they are easily moved/changed: Planbook

[WTMCassandra]

I feel your pain, sistah! I am in the same boat. I am wondering if I'm going to have to just use a paper system. I'm also going to try the shareware one kavenciavo recommended. I too would pay for one.

[Kimberleigh]

I guess misery really does love company because I'm glad I'm not alone in this!

 

I've looked at the online planner and even created an account to start entering info. Entering everything on the net, however, is slow even on a cable connection. They also require you to set a time for each subject, and we don't work that way. My kids are entering high school and work mostly independently. I need a planner to track what they do, and they like a checklist so they don't forget to work on an assignment and remember to account for outside activities, but they schedule their days on their own. They also have several activities that meet every other week, which isn't something easily accounted for in either the online planner or HST+.

 

My DH is a computer programmer, but every time I've mentioned that it'd be great for him to create a program for the Mac that's customized to how we homeschool, he gets busy with other projects. And seeing how it's those projects that bring in extra income to pay for books and activities, I'm not about to complain too much! Maybe I'll mention it again, though...

 

Kimber

[tnmomofboys]

Every year I have this conversation with my husband. I LOVE my MAC, but how I would love some planner software. I have one more year before high school. Please post if anyone finds something.

[TraceyS/FL]

:lol:

 

I have to add - i don't have this conversation with my husband. He is so NOT a techy he wouldn't know/care what i was talking about. My DD has more access on the computer than he does!

 

Just had to add that ;)

[ummix3]

would love to get a tracker/planner on my MacBook. I've switched to pencil and paper because I dread using HStracker on the regular PC

 

Michelle

[nmoira]

I used Home School Planner until Jan 1 of this year. Its calendar doesn't go past 2007. Needless to say, I wasn't amused. Now I run Homeschool Tracker in Parallels.

[Mama Lynx]

Okay, I forwarded your comments to my husband. Maybe y'all can light a fire under him.

[WTMCassandra]

Wonderful! What more could he want? He's got beta-testers and paying customers all lined up! My husband is a programmer and loves Macs, but he's not a Mac programmer, and he doesn't have time to learn the Mac programming environment from scratch.

[Kimberleigh]

So while we're on the topic of Macs, and it appears there are several of us Mac users on the board, what applications do you use?

 

For general word processing and spreadsheets, I'm using NeoOffice. I just can't bring myself to put a Microsoft product on my Mac, but because the kids are on PC laptops, I needed something that would save in .doc format and be easily transferred back-and-forth.

 

I'm currently playing with Bookpedia (and the other -pedias) to catalog our books. We have more than a dozen bookcases filled to overflowing and several additional boxes of books in various closets.

 

Yojimbo has proven to be a great tool for taking notes on lessons I want to share with the kids, storing websites and links, and otherwise organizing our learning.

 

We're using the Mac version of Froguts as we study biology this year. The kids prefer using my Mac for this and several other apps. I'm hoping to stash away enough pennies to get them Macbooks at some point, but we're a long way from that right now.

 

And I'm using Scrivener for my own work as a writer. I love being able to write in scene chunks and know it'll all get pulled together into one manuscript file at the end. I also like the full-screen mode that removes the temptation to check my e-mail and the web a dozen times an hour when I should be working.

 

Can anyone recommend any other useful apps? I just switched from a PC to a Mac last fall, so I'm still learning. :bigear:

 

Kimber

[Laura Corin]

We use Bookster to catalogue books - we are pretty happy with it. I do use Microsoft for a lot though.

 

Laura

[ummix3]

I really like Pages for word processing. It's simple and clean. I still do have MS office though.

 

M

[Kimberleigh]

M,

 

I wanted to fall in love with iWork (Pages and Numbers), but it just isn't comfortable for me. Numbers is a nightmare -- I'm constantly selecting borders instead of cells, moving things around is awkward, and formatting is night on impossible. Pages is better, but maybe I've been too assimilated into the Word collective because I just can't get into the flow of it.

 

I'm not completely thrilled with NeoOffice, either, but I wind up turning to it as the best of a bunch of mediocre options.

 

Kimber

[Guest Shanna]

I looked, i hunted, i offered the job to a programmer.....

 

I run Fusion with XP and HST+.

 

Nothing else compares - and it's frustrating!

 

This is what I do. I dont have any problems though.

[adrienne]

Anything new on this thread? Any new Mac software scheduling developments?? Please :))

Adrienne

[Mama Lynx]

Anything new on this thread? Any new Mac software scheduling developments?? Please :))

Adrienne

 

My DH is working on an iphone app (not for homeschooling). After that, he's *promised* me that he'll work on the Mac planner. But again ... well ...

[Guest Grace D]

I'm an occasional poster and long-time Mac user wishing for scheduling software too. Have any of you played with Planbook, the trial version of which can be downloaded from the Apple website? I've downloaded it but haven't had much time to play around and figure it out. And maybe I'm clueless, because even though I've spent a lot time on the computer doing graphic design, I've never worked with scheduling software. Soooo I don't know if Planbook is really what we're all wanting or if it's more "classroomy". Anybody know anything on this?

[sdWTMer]

We love Microsoft Word for Mac. It's really good.

[runninmommy]

I'm an occasional poster and long-time Mac user wishing for scheduling software too. Have any of you played with Planbook, the trial version of which can be downloaded from the Apple website? I've downloaded it but haven't had much time to play around and figure it out. And maybe I'm clueless, because even though I've spent a lot time on the computer doing graphic design, I've never worked with scheduling software. Soooo I don't know if Planbook is really what we're all wanting or if it's more "classroomy". Anybody know anything on this?

 

I just downloaded the trial version. Thanks for the tip. I will play around with this tomorrow and see what it's like.

 

Thanks!:D

[Karenciavo]

I'm an occasional poster and long-time Mac user wishing for scheduling software too. Have any of you played with Planbook, the trial version of which can be downloaded from the Apple website? I've downloaded it but haven't had much time to play around and figure it out. And maybe I'm clueless, because even though I've spent a lot time on the computer doing graphic design, I've never worked with scheduling software. Soooo I don't know if Planbook is really what we're all wanting or if it's more "classroomy". Anybody know anything on this?

 

I haven't played with it *much*, but I do like that you can add hot links, TOG and Biology have many links throughout the year and this will help keep it all straight. The bad thing is that I don't want to schedule my older kids, they've been doing their own schedules for years.

[Mama Lynx]

I haven't played with it *much*, but I do like that you can add hot links, TOG and Biology have many links throughout the year and this will help keep it all straight. The bad thing is that I don't want to schedule my older kids, they've been doing their own schedules for years.

 

Exactly. I want a planner that is somewhere in between scheduling and a journal. I want a way to just list reading assignments, and let my kids choose when to complete them, while I schedule other things like Latin lessons.

[Guest wejo7185]

I found a lesson planner for MAC. It is at http://www.hellmansoft.com/ and has a free trial period, plus it costs only $30. I've been using it for almost three weeks and like it a lot. There are still bugs. The developer is actively working on it and answers questions on the yahoo group forum. I just wanted to share. Had been searching for one and came across the discussion on this forum.

 

Thanks,

Wendy

[Amber in AUS]

Anymore progress on this? I'm a mac user wanting to start scheduling too.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

There's this one online. http://www.myhomeschoolplan.com/

 

It's simple, and doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it might do what you want it to do.

[susie in tx]

I've been using http://www.homeschoolskedtrack.com for a while. Well, not this week. It does almost all that I want. It's online and free.

[Guest jul.w]

Hi, I know it's been a long time since these posts, but did any of the Mac users ever find anything? I've been looking all day for one. I would love something mac friendly, but then I go back to thinking I need a paper planner?:confused: I'm new to homeschooling this is our first year so I am SO confused by all the planner options.

 

Julie

[tajott]

I found this site...no experience, just came up ina search:

 

http://guide.apple.com/action.lasso?-database=macosguide&-layout=cgi_detail&-response=/ussearch/detail.html&prodkey=68306&-search

[TulaneMama]

any new programs out there?

[Corraleno]

Anyone had any luck persuading their DH to write something??? :D

 

At the moment I do all my planning in Pages, just using tables with the week # down the left side and the subjects across the top, and I enter the books, chapters, page #s, etc in the table cells. The problem is that I can't "bump" items up and down in the columns if we move through material more quickly than planned, or decide to linger on a subject a little longer. I have to manually cut & paste EVERY SINGLE ITEM in the column up one cell or down one cell. Tedious and incredibly annoying.

 

All I really want is a program that will let me make a table like that, and be able to bump cells up or down separately in each column. How hard can that be??? :confused:

 

Jackie

[kewb]

When I am being good and actually using my planner I use this:

http://www.myhomeschoolplan.com

 

It does not do everything I want but it does allow me to feel organized.

[Tangerine]

I'm an occasional poster and long-time Mac user wishing for scheduling software too. Have any of you played with Planbook, the trial version of which can be downloaded from the Apple website? I've downloaded it but haven't had much time to play around and figure it out. And maybe I'm clueless, because even though I've spent a lot time on the computer doing graphic design, I've never worked with scheduling software. Soooo I don't know if Planbook is really what we're all wanting or if it's more "classroomy". Anybody know anything on this?

 

I've used the demo version. It seems pretty awesome to me. I think I'll plunk the $30 and buy it. I enjoy color coding. :D

[1bassoon]

Look, a resurrected thread!

 

I'm using Homeschool Skedtrack - it's working great! There's an in-depth look at it on my blog. . . . . it's a fairly old post, so I'll link it here.

 

HTH!

[Tangerine]

I resurrected a thread the other day asking about planbook, and nobody responded. --insert crying hysterical emoticon-- :D So I'm glad someone did!

 

I really really want something that will sync with iCal. If there is anything that does that besides planbook, I'd love to hear about it.

[myhomeschoolplan]

Hi, Kevin here from myhomeschoolplan.com

 

As far as I know there is no 'downloadable' homeschool Mac software. We are contemplating it but not in 2010, at least not in the first half of the year :001_smile:

 

If anyone has any questions about myhomeschoolplan or other schedulers I'd be happy to chime in as well.

 

Kevin Farner

612-616-8493

myhomeschoolplan.com

kevinfarner@gmail.com

[Tangerine]

I just want to mention that I plugged all my info into planbook and synced it with iCal, and now I want to do a happy dance. I think it is incredible so far. There are tutorial videos on the hellmansoft website that are really helpful.

[Saille]

Do you know, will planbook sync with Google calendar?

[Tangerine]

Do you know, will planbook sync with Google calendar?

 

I can't see anything on planbook's end, but I don't know Google Calendar that well. I actually don't see anything on the Hellmansoft website about it syncing with iCal, but it's a menu option in the program. I guess the short answer is, I dunno! :glare:

[Frontier Mom]

I really like Pages for word processing. It's simple and clean. I still do have MS office though.

 

M

 

Same here. However, since I work part-time from home I also have Office for Mac on mine for easy translation back and forth.

[Frontier Mom]

OK. So after reading these I really like the looks of Homeschool Skedtrack.com and MyHomeSchoolPlan.com. Can anyone tell me the differences?

[Tangerine]

Can anyone tell me if planbook allows you to bump assignments or whole days to a different day? This is the biggest deal for me.

 

Yes. You can bump lessons, changes whole days to other whole days (Change Tuesday into a Monday schedule), just pull a lesson off, add weeks to the beginning or end of the year, etc. The demo is free and fully functional. You can just download it and play with a week.

[Frontier Mom]

Yes. You can bump lessons, changes whole days to other whole days (Change Tuesday into a Monday schedule), just pull a lesson off, add weeks to the beginning or end of the year, etc. The demo is free and fully functional. You can just download it and play with a week.

 

Can you tell me if you set up a different file for each dc? I actually bought this today because it seems to be exactly what I have been looking for. I have HST+ but just do not like the reports. Just too much gray and black for me.

 

I am setting each dc up separately and exporting/importing the courses that are the same. I also use workboxes as of last week so I set the times as the number of their drawer. For instance, drawer 1 is 1:00 pm because I couldn't figure out another way to order them correctly and not show any time.

 

I'm still playing around but have really been impressed so far. I sent him a message to ask if I can use the same file if I save it on a thumb drive from Mac and Windows. My laptop is Windows but I would like the ability to work on the file if I have to go somewhere.