Favorite Planning Method-paper or computer?

[smilesonly]

Which one do you like and why do you like it?

 

I have to admit that I've never planned-ever.:tongue_smilie: I school in 12 week sessions, and until now have just filled in each day what we finished.

 

Also-do your dc have the exact same system, or do you let them choose their own?

 

TIA!

[FrogMom5]

Paper. For me, it's more flexible. I don't have to compete for computer time (we only have 1) or sit at the computer to change things.

 

I give my dc a daily assignment sheet for grades 3-8 and a weekly sheet for high school. I also buy planners from Pflaum for them to use, especially my high schooler. This is the first yr. the younger 2 get planners. The 4-yr. old doesn't need one but she will want it. :)

Denise

[Mom22ns]

Computer! I have a laptop that is always nearby. Paper would require constant erasing, rewriting, and mess! The kids don't use the computer for scheduling, but I print weekly schedule sheets for them.

[WTMindy]

Both! :-) I like to sketch out ideas on paper, but then I enter them into HST+, where I can print off assignment lists for the kids.

[2cents]

I plan on the computer then print out the assignment sheet for the week. I have links we'll use on the computer so I have a pdf of the assignment sheet running in the computer background so that we can pull them up during our studies.

[Kinspired]

I like planning with google docs because it's easy to share the files with my hubby and kiddos

[Teachin'Mine]

Paper only for me. :)

[SnowWhite]

Gate-crashing from elementary here:

 

Scholaric.com is AWESOME. I have always used paper grids, but this year I have learned to love online planning because of Scholaric.

[Elizabeth in WA]

Computer. I have a monster Excel sheet that functions as a master planner for all my children and from which I can print weekly assignment sheets for each. The printable weekly sheets are pulled from the master sheet automatically just by putting the week # I want at the top. I plan only at the weekly level, although I have a notes block on the weekly sheet I can manually put daily breakdown information into. The master weekly sheet lets me see at the "big picture" of what is happening in each subject over the course of the year, and where any planned or considered outside tests (NLE, AP, etc.) fall in the planned lessons for all subjects not just the one being tested so I can adjust available study time.

[dani3boys]

We use both. I like to write things down, but I really love HST+. I put all of our lesson plans into HST, and then I print out weekly lessons. I write down a lot of my own weekly plans in the Well Planned Day.

[smilesonly]

So many choices...

 

For those who use paper to plan, do you mean you have a "teacher's" planner that is spiral-type, or do you use print offs from sites like Donna Young?

 

Thanks!

[smilesonly]

Gate-crashing from elementary here:

 

Scholaric.com is AWESOME. I have always used paper grids, but this year I have learned to love online planning because of Scholaric.

 

Jennifer,

 

This looks amazing! Do you know if it runs on Macs? Also, are you able to print out plans?

 

Thanks!

[Greta Lea]

Gosh...it made my life easier to have plans!

 

I use planning pages from Donna Young's website. I use 2 of her 6 weeks planner page for each 12 week term.

 

http://donnayoung.org/f11/planner-f/f-school-pdf/6weekplan.pdf

 

My boys love this weekly planner page. They like the coloring in that little bubble in each square...like checking off a checklist:)

 

http://donnayoung.org/f11/planner-f/f-school-pdf/edwkruld.pdf

[Tohru]

In the past, I've gone back and forth between Excel, HST+ and a paper planner.

 

I love Excel and used it exclusively for elementary school planning. During late elementary and early middle school, I went back and forth between HST+ and paper.

 

For HST+, I don't like printing out the daily lessons every single week, but it's really easy to reschedule everything and see where we'd be on a certain day. However I changed our educational philosophy to mastery, rather than check the box, so now paper works much better and it's easier since I only plan out one week at a time.

 

With the paper planner, I'm using the Well Planned Day because it's already printed and bound :)

[Mom22ns]

Jennifer,

 

This looks amazing! Do you know if it runs on Macs? Also, are you able to print out plans?

 

Thanks!

 

I am on a mac and tried the demo and didn't have any trouble with it. I use a FileMaker database that my DH created and it has a lot more features, so I won't keep using scholaric. I always check out planning software though to see if I can find any ideas I want to add to mine!

[Rhonda in TX]

Both! :-) I like to sketch out ideas on paper, but then I enter them into HST+, where I can print off assignment lists for the kids.

 

This is what I do. Initial planning is on paper, then everything is put in HST.

[Jenny in Florida]

Kind of a combination, I guess.

 

I do the actual planning by writing (scribbling) on yellow, lined pads. I do one subject at a time, written out week by week, with many crossed-out notes and changes until I get it right.

 

Then, I sit at the computer and type the information onto tables, one for each week that lists all of the subjects and all of the tasks assigned for that week.

 

Once I've finished typing in all of the assignments for the year for all subjects, I print out the tables and stick them in a three-ring binder that lives on my desk.

 

Each week, my son looks at his assignments and decides what tasks he will do each day. He then types up his own weekly planner and e-mails it to me. We don't print out that one, just look at it electronically. As he finishes each task, he either deletes it from the planner or turns the text a different color.

 

It's worked pretty well for us for a couple of years, but we may have to make some adjustments in the fall. This coming year, we're planning to go more "unschooly" for a few subjects, meaning there won't be specific tasks assigned for him every week.

 

Hmmm . . . I'll have to think about that one.

[chepyl]

I used a paper planner last year and just wrote down what we did, as we did it. DH wanted to ne able to give DS work to do while I was teaching at night, so I planes the whole years ahead this time. I bought EduTrack. And I love it! The repeating activity feature made it easy to enter everything quickly! I set to the class and only entered a day at a time for most things, but it was so fast (30 min per subject). I downloaded the suggested lesson plans for Singapore and Shirley English. They have rewritten plans that match what is suggested by several major curriculum companies, amd you can earn credit to purchase more by submitting your own plans!

 

If we miss a day, move faster, or get confused and need to repeat an assigned or chapter, I just sort by chapter, highlight and hit the plus and minus signs to bump lessons. I can print out lessons by the week, day, or subject. I can enter grades (or not )

And it will track grade and print report cards, and tracks the high school work and makes an official transcript. You can print award certificates, diplomas, a periodic table, writing tablet paper for various ages, graph paper and much more that I have not played with.

 

It also works for enter as you go and as long as you set up your course names, it will track grades or time for each course.

 

I tried HST and did not like the interface. I love EduTrack!!

[Jenny in Florida]

So many choices...

 

For those who use paper to plan, do you mean you have a "teacher's" planner that is spiral-type, or do you use print offs from sites like Donna Young?

 

Thanks!

 

Neither. I use plain old lined pads. I like the ones with yellow paper that have a thin red line running vertically on the left margin. I jot the week numbers to the left of the line and then write out assignments for the subject for that week.

 

For example, I just finished sketching out my son's math course for next year. He'll be doing an odd combination of things using many different resources. Essentially, he's doing two half-credit math courses concurrently spread across the full year.

 

So, I started with the easy part. I looked at the calendar, checked when the local public schools start and end their year (so my son is on the same schedule as his friends), and figured out how many weeks we would have for schoolwork. This year, it's 37.

 

I took the text he'll be using for one half of his credit, added up the number of pages and divided it by the number of weeks in the school year. Then, I sat down with the textbook and my yellow pad and started assigning specific pages for each week. (I just wanted to make sure the weekly assignments started and ended in places that make sense, not stopping in the middle of a section or something.)

 

The other half credit is made up of all or part of nine books. Two of them are books about the subject (cryptology), which I will have him read small chunks of each week throughout the year. I checked the number of pages in each book, divided by the number of weeks and assigned specific pages each week. As with the text, I actually paged through the books when I figured out which pages he'll read each week so that I can make sure the starting and ending places are logical.

 

Two other books are sort of supplemental reading. I'm going to have him read those in series. So, I added the number of pages in the two books together before dividing by the number of weeks and assigning pages.

 

The remainder of the books are workbooks and hands-on practice stuff. So, I added all of those pages together, divided by the number of weeks and assigned pages for them. Those, he will work through in series, from the simplest to the more challenging.

 

By the time I was done, I had about eight pages on the pad filled with notes and book titles and page numbers. When I get a chance, I'll sit at the computer and transcribe all of the information onto the week-by-week charts I'll use for the year.

 

Then, next time I get an opportunity, I'll start the process all over again with the books I'm planning to use for English.

[Book Nut]

Paper for me!

[Gailmegan]

I am a paper person at heart. I prefer to do it all on paper. But I have been making electronic spreadsheets in an attempt to save some trees. The problem is that as soon as I turn on the computer so that the info is available I find I am tempted to check my email, facebook, WTM... and next thing I know I've wasted a lot of time. And the boys like to have paper checklists each day so they can mark off what they've completed. I have considered Skedtrack. I think the boys would be able to mark off what they've done online with that program. But the temptation for me to play online is still there. So I may just go back to paper.

[Tohru]

I am a paper person at heart. I prefer to do it all on paper. But I have been making electronic spreadsheets in an attempt to save some trees. The problem is that as soon as I turn on the computer so that the info is available I find I am tempted to check my email, facebook, WTM... and next thing I know I've wasted a lot of time. And the boys like to have paper checklists each day so they can mark off what they've completed. I have considered Skedtrack. I think the boys would be able to mark off what they've done online with that program. But the temptation for me to play online is still there. So I may just go back to paper.

 

:lol: :iagree:

This affliction ails me too!

[Lynnette in WA]

I always do paper first, then (usually transfer it over to computer). I like the flexibility of being able to plan wherever I want to -- on the couch, the bed, outside on a (rare) nice day. I print out blank 6-week or 36-week pages and fill those in, changing as I need to, then, when I think it might be the final form, I transfer to a word doc. to print out week by week.

I usually give the older kids a weekly schedule and let them figure out their own daily schedule. The younger one or two need a little more guidance, such as which days to do their less frequent subject and how many lessons to do in a day -- otherwise, in some weeks, Fridays would be overloaded with schoolwork!

[SnowWhite]

Jennifer,

 

This looks amazing! Do you know if it runs on Macs? Also, are you able to print out plans?

 

Thanks!

Yes, and yes! There is a "secret" way to do a series of lessons- type Lesson {1-180} (or appropriate number) in the description box, then choose the Repetition tab, and repeat for the appropriate number of days.

 

This developer is working tirelessly to mold this site into the perfect and easiest most user friendly planner ever. I love the price! ($1 per student per month, with a two week free trial). He loves suggestions.

 

He is also working on instructional videos. The first is at blog.scholaric.com already.

[Laura in STL]

I've tried to love planning on the computer, but I just don't. I love having a teacher plan book with an apple or pencil on the front!:tongue_smilie: I do keep a list of courses and materials used for each year on the computer, as well as our state-required hours completed.

[In The Great White North]

Both.

 

I do put it on the computer, so I have a copy I can print out whenever I want: one for me, one for dd, one for the records, one for the wall, etc, etc

 

It's also easy to edit from the older dc for the younger.

 

But I have to print it out to read it :D

[LindaWood]

I use the computer to make the plans, but I print them out and then write on them and make changes. I have kept a planner where I write things out, but my preferred method is the computer print-outs.

 

Linda

[Joan in GE]

This is what I do. Initial planning is on paper, then everything is put in HST.

 

 

After years of using only paper I went to HST+ for two years. But this coming year I'm going to do the paper (ala 8FTH style), then the HST+..

 

Joan

[Nature]

Computer for me too!

[Orthodox6]

Paper ! Paper ! Paper !

 

For years now, I have used only the lined "Edwardian" planner form from Donna Young. You can find it on this page:

 

http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/planner.htm

 

This is the best thing I have found in fifteen years of homeschooling. As sung by Burger King, I get to "have it MY way" ! :) I'm not trapped by pre-labeled days, dates, or subjects. I can use as many sheets as needed for as many subjects and sub-topics as I want.

 

I have tried 2-3 computer-based homeschool planner systems. Each one drove me crazy by the program's inflexibilities. Too time-consuming to make changes, and changes occur daily. I spent more time fussing with the scheduling tasks than I did in devising what to type in !

[Joan in GE]

For years now, I have used only the lined "Edwardian" planner form from Donna Young. You can find it on this page:

 

http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/planner.htm

 

 

The thing I like about this Edwardian planner is that it has all the lines within the cells...

 

For the paper part, I'm planning to use this but put 6 columns per page and use two pages, each with only 5 rows with the days as the rows (by using two rows as one, and adding another to the 9 row form), like the planner which 8FTH uses, but which didn't have enough columns for me. Then do the predilection which 8FTH talks about...

 

Joan

[ma23peas]

Am I the only rogue one? No paper, no computer.

 

I spend about 2 weeks in the summer and 2 weeks in December planning out what to use. So here is how my planning works..

 

Choose math book for child...finish it in that school year..we adjust as we go, some years they have block scheduling because they take science classes that are compressed into 6 months...when that happens we move math off to the other six months (doing maybe 1-2 lessons a week or something to keep them 'fresh') and then do 2 lessons 4 days a week to complete the math...I don't have to write it down, I just know we finish our math that school year.

 

Science is done at another's home/lab...so they know their weekly assignments and I help them with studying for exams...or just check to see if their work is complete.

 

Languages, we have gone through 3 books of Cambridge Latin (at our own pace) and they are each completing two languanges in Rosetta Stone over a four year course....if they're not halfway done with one language at year one then we pick up the pace...

 

History...I buy the books, I have them all on a shelf and they know which ones they are to read and which ones we do as a group, usually about 3 days a week.

 

Writing, I teach composition/literature classes so they have weekly assignments that I complete those two weeks I plan and put it in their notebook.

 

I just have never written anything down, my cover requires a report card every six months, so I type those up. Now that I have a high schooler I am keeping a notebook with lists of activities/camps/events and what curricula/sources we used. But that's it....I do not have time to write lesson plans down, we just do it.

[Hope in God]

I don't plan either. I just get together the curriculum for the year and the kids 'do' it. I sometimes add interesting things as I come across them. I don't think I am nearly as disciplined as ma23peas though.

 

For me, after 8 years of homeschooling, I find I have begun to slide with this method but having a schedule makes me feel so hedged in. If I used a schedule and didn't get history done one day because the baby is cranky and preventing us I would feel distraught. Maybe it is because I am a little OCD or something.:confused: I think I definitely would feel more successful if I made the schedule AFTER we finished the school work.:blush: How crazy is that?

 

I think for next year I will try the scholaric. Thank-you for the suggestion snow white!

[TeaCookiesBears]

I find that I am a paper person over computer(which dh hates) even though I see the value in HST+ or programs like it. I do plan some day to log in a years work one day but until then I have created system where log my dc everyday educational activities so I have written accountability for myself and the reviewers:D. This is good for me because I usually do not have time for all that logging grades and to me it seems to be more time consuming as to login as assignment then print it out. It's much easier at least for me to just write or login after the fact. I also like paper over pc because I get I am constantly having ideas that I write down to look at later. I just have not found a way to make paperless work for me yet. I guess I am to old school:tongue_smilie:.

Edited August 7, 2011 by dyana17

[brandigirl]

I like good old paper in a binder . I love everything color coded and marked. I unfortunelty have the memory of a goldfish :lol:and forget page numbers and such but will never forget formulas in math or dates in my history lesson.

[SeekingHim77]

I sit down on vacation every summer and get a rough idea for what we'll be doing in the coming school year and about how much each child will need to do per subject per day. Then I take about 20 minutes every week to put down on paper their assignments for the upcoming week. I use preprinted forms from Donna Young and fill them in by hand usually but this year I'll be filling them in online. Many of the assignments are simply: complete one page per day or read 60 pages per day-something redundant like that. I am required by Florida law to keep a log of our learning activities which I absolutely abhorred until I switched to making lesson plans instead and just crossing out anything we didn't get to or adding in the extras we have completed. Keeping a log just seemed so pointless to me. It served no purpose except to fulfill the law. Noone ever looked at it but I had to have it just in case someone ever asked to.

 

Making lesson plans actually serves a purpose: I feel more pulled together and my 10th grader can see what needs to be done without interupting my schooling with his younger sister. Maybe it's my strong will coming out but that log was a thorn in my side! Lesson planning is much more rewarding!

 

Before the last couple of years, I never did lesson planning. When my kids are little, school is really about doing the next thing. We just pick up where we left off the day before and keep going.

 

I've found that highschool requires more planning as the assignments change from day to day and my son is able to do them on his own so it's easier for him to take his lesson plans and run with them. It also helps me to be more consistent and keeps us from leaving out any subjects. As I get older forgetting seems to be more of a problem every year and the lesson plans keep me on track!:001_smile:

[AngieW in Texas]

Mostly on the computer.

 

Last year I went through my 15yo's syllabi for English and World History and typed up the assignments for every week. When it was time to make her schedule for the week, I could just cut&paste from my Works document. It made making the schedule very easy.

 

I did all of my planning on paper for the physics class I was teaching. I don't know why. I know why I planned the assignments on paper. I worked through every problem to figure out which problems were the best to assign for the best coverage of topics. I did my broad planning on paper too though. For broad planning, I mean which chapter sections and labs to do in each class.

 

This year I've been doing all my planning on the computer for the chemistry class I'm teaching. I don't have the homework assignments planned out yet, but I do have sample syllabi from cc classes using the same text. In cc classes, they cover the entire text in one semester (but typically leave out 2-5 of the 19 chapters). I'm going to be spending an entire schoolyear, but we'll be meeting just 1x/week rather than 2x/week like the cc classes do. I need to work through the problems to figure out exactly what I want to assign for homework. Part of that is to figure out how much is an appropriate amount to assign and part of it is to choose the problems that cover the topics most efficiently.

[Hedgehog]

Both. Notes on paper first, then onto the computer, and then I'll probably print my plans/schedules when I'm done. I guess it fits the way I think.

[1Togo]

Alright, I know I am a broken record on this one, but I love the planners from urthemom. We've been using them for a few years, but I just got the high school version, and it is wonderful. There are pages for mapping out all four years if you want, course descriptions, volunteer and extracurricular activities, special projects, envelopes for tests, etc. for each quarter, places visited, textbooks completed as well as pages to record time spend on subjects if you don't use standard textbooks and need to keep track of hours. We will have notebooks for certain subjects, but I really like having the most important information and papers in one portfolio for the year.

[angela in ohio]

After planning with a combination of paper and self-created spreadsheets for 9 years, I tried to go to HST+ last year. It was a HUGE failure. I couldn't print anything the way I wanted it, I spent too much time entering things, etc. I am back to my tried and true. :D