fiddle Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I am having an anxiety attack just thinking about next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, last year was our 1st year homeschooling and my oldest dd was in 6th. We experimented a lot and took a more relaxed approach to schooling last year. I literally made checklists for dd to do each day. However, this year as she moves to 7th and our curriculum gets more intense, I need to figure out a good way both for ME to plan out the year AND for HER to have some sort of a weekly/daily checklist for her work. I have to confess, I looked at Donna Young and these things just look so complicated to me! I want something for the computer, rather than hard copy. But I'm intimidated by excell and things that are too fancy. For 7th grade, we're using Beautiful Feet history, R&S grammar, SS, IEW, Lightning Lit 8, Apologia Science, Teaching Textbooks Prealgebra, something for Latin (undecided) and Thinking Toolbox for Logic. She's also doing outside art classes, and a Coop every Wedn. afternoon with various enrichment classes. So, for those who are more experienced, please help me find something for planning that is very user friendly and that would fit our needs :) Or feel free to throw in pearls of wisdom.....Do I NOT need a planner ?:D Wishful thinking......... Paula P.S. We have another younger dd but she's still in elementary and has some LDs, so not really necessary or helpful to do too much detailed lesson planning with her ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Here's a sample page from one of my kids' planners. This is from dd when she was in 5th. At that point, I still tell her pretty much exactly what to do each day, though you'll see that some subjects at the bottom say what needs to be accomplished in the week, spread out over the days when I say to work on that topic: Here's a sample form ds' 8th grade planner. You can see that I mostly tell him what needs to be done during the week, and then he can make notes about specifically what to do each day on the facing page. There's also space for additional assignments or notes on assignments. That's for outside class work that's assigned or writing down field trips that we take or books he reads on his own time, etc. These are just made in Word. For the last few years, I've typed up our whole year ahead of time and had it printed and bound before we start for the year. It really helps keep *me* on track, when life begins to pop up and create havoc. That said, this year we have more significant changes coming up and I may handle it differently... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2boys Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) I think you would like the new My Well-Planned Day software. User friendly, and in addition to your lesson plans/assignments, it will also organize your chores, menus, and bills - if you want it to do all of that. http://www.homeschoolconvention.com/mywellplannedday.html I take back my recommendation. Only a few of the promised updates/features were added yesterday. I think this has the potential to be a great product some day, but not for this school year. You should look elsewhere. Edited July 27, 2012 by Mom2boys product didn't deliver as promised Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GESTEP Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) Now that Scholaric has grid printing, meaning I can print the schedule in grid format I love it. It is not complicated, once you figure out the shortcuts like using { } with the numbers inside to create a series of lessons. I can type Lesson {1-30}, select the days, and it automatically enters them. It took a little getting used to but once you get the basics, it is quick and easy for me. http://scholaric.com/ Edited July 25, 2012 by GESTEP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BibleBeltCatholicMom Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) I must confess that Abbeyej's planner pages make me salivate! It is gorgeous and maybe something I could aspire to should I ever manage to grow up. Planning like that doesn't work for me, though. I do have a "planner" but not used in the traditional sense. I make my own not-very-lovely-but-immensely-practical-and-suited-to-my-own-peculiar-needs planner. 1) I know and review my goals often. I keep the over-all and the year's goals in the front of the binder. 2) I create the objectives for the year (ways to meet the goals) and keep them in the binder. Then I choose curriculum/et c to satisfy objectives and meet goals. 3) I write out course description addressing how the materials help/make me satisfy objs. Into binder. 4) I make a list of everything that needs to be done for each subject and divide by weeks of school. This sounds like something more than it is. Say for World History for which we use a text book, it might just read that we need to cover 2 chapters/week for a month in Autumn and a Month in Spring (b/c we block that). I also usually brainstore some supplementary items and projects or books that I want to go with and make note here. All that into the notebook. 5) Include lots of blank planner pages that have 7 days down the side and 10 subjects across the top, landscape, legal size (8.5x11?). Instead of filling it out before we do it, I do it more like a journal after we do it as we go along. The very most I would do in advance is a day for academic things and the begining of the week for outside things. For example, when I get the week set up I create a list of what has to be done for the week for my daughter and I put on the planner things like the play we already have tickets for for Friday evening (that will count for Fine/Domestic arts and Literature [b/c it's shakespeare]). I'll also go ahead and put violin and sewing lessons b/c they are set in stone. And even at that, I write in pencil. I've tried about every way to plannerize our school that has ever been imagined. Planning in advance in a planner only leads me to frustration. I plan this, that, and the other for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and get it all typed/written/whatever and sure as shootin', a stomach virus or too-good-to-be-turned-down invite and then I'm just mad b/c my plan is ruined. Planning the work that needs to be done for the week on a list based on my goals/objectives and then entering more as a journal makes me much happier. I put our dailies first: Religion/Socratic, Math, Latin, Greek, German, LA (includes lit, writing, and vocab). Then 2 blocks to be filled in (US History/Science, World Hist/Grammar, Logic/Make-up as needed, Art/Music History), and then Fine and Domestic Arts, and PE. Also, I wanted to add that keeping my list of goals/objective in front and refering to them helps me make sure I get things like geography included even though we don't study it as a separate subject. Edited July 25, 2012 by BibleBeltCatholicMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I bought a generic Teacher's Daily Plan book from Staples. I splurged and bought two, one for each kid. It cost me 15$ altogether. It has plenty of space for writing and pockets to keep things. I have been printing weekly schedules off Donna Young for years and I got sick of it. The books I bought have two pages per week so it is much more room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddle Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 These are all great ideas! I am going to check out the couple websites people have mentioned, as well as check out our local Staples. I think this is partially anxiety about my older going into middle school :tongue_smilie: But the other part is I really do need something to help us organize our schedule in order to get the main/core academics done this next year! Thanks! Paula Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I used a table in Word when my kids were younger, but for the last few years, I've used the Catholic intermediate student planners from Pflaum. This year, I bought the Well-Planned Day, but at this point, I don't see myself using it. They need a whole lot of work on their assignment and lesson planning features to make it usable for me. Instead, I ended up inputting my boys' work into Skedtrack, and I think it'll work well for them. My highschoolers use weekly syllabi, their paper planners and Google calendar to keep track of their own work, so I really only need to micromanage my boys' lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spetzi Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I second My Well Planned Day http://www.homeschoolconvention.com/hedua/planners/ It is REALLY remarkable! You can schedule your whole year and it will even help you schedule. If you input what math you are using and how many days/week MWPD puts each lesson on your calendar. If you miss a day you can either drag it to the next day OR let MWPD push every lesson ahead a day. I must have a planner that is easy to manipulate because we hardly ever complete our plans according to how I thought we would. It's on sale for $40 for the year, but it's going up at the end of the week/month to $65. Oh, and you can access MWPD from your smartphone. I love this aspect! Really, watch the video. It's helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orozco Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Loved Abbey's layout and am going to try to duplicate now. I have just been using a teacher's planning book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I bought a generic Teacher's Daily Plan book from Staples. I splurged and bought two, one for each kid. It cost me 15$ altogether. It has plenty of space for writing and pockets to keep things. I have been printing weekly schedules off Donna Young for years and I got sick of it. The books I bought have two pages per week so it is much more room. I want to be like you when I grow up. I already feel like I stalk you on this board. :lol: Although, I'm still resisting CPO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SophiaH Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Now that Scholaric has grid printing, meaning I can print the schedule in grid format I love it. It is not complicated, once you figure out the shortcuts like using { } with the numbers inside to create a series of lessons. I can type Lesson {1-30}, select the days, and it automatically enters them. It took a little getting used to but once you get the basics, it is quick and easy for me. http://scholaric.com/ This is what I use as well, and I've been happy with it. The author is very prompt in responding to questions and welcomes suggestions as he continually adds improvements to the program. The Scholaric blog helps to give you an idea of the improvements he's already made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I second My Well Planned Day http://www.homeschoolconvention.com/hedua/planners/ It is REALLY remarkable! You can schedule your whole year and it will even help you schedule. If you input what math you are using and how many days/week MWPD puts each lesson on your calendar. If you miss a day you can either drag it to the next day OR let MWPD push every lesson ahead a day. I must have a planner that is easy to manipulate because we hardly ever complete our plans according to how I thought we would. It's on sale for $40 for the year, but it's going up at the end of the week/month to $65. Oh, and you can access MWPD from your smartphone. I love this aspect! Really, watch the video. It's helpful! :001_huh: I have it, and it doesn't do any of that at the moment. It's what is expected in the future, but none of those things are functional right now. I'd check out some of the other threads on the WPD online planner before committing to a purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeJM Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I have always liked paper rather than computer planning. In the past I used blank teacher planning books from the teacher store; those worked well for me when I had multiple children in elementary grades. More recently I've printed forms from Donna Young, whatever ones hit me at the time, and I always make up my own forms for things like our daily schedule and such. I'm about to start using The Ultimate Homeschool Planner by Debra Bell, and I'm hoping it is going to be just what I need this year. Loved everything she said at our convention, it all made so much sense to me. I'm going to take her advice and give myself a planning retreat in a couple of weeks. I never plan more than one week at a time, because life happens. And I always write in pencil ;). So, my planning retreat will consist of figuring out everything I'm using, what I want my pace to (sort of) be; i.e., roughly how much I need to do per week in order to finish the book. I also want to give considerable thought to goals -- academic, spiritual, personal -- for my son and for myself. One thing I really like about Debra Bell's approach is how she recommends a Monday morning meeting between parent and student, and then a Friday check-up on what they accomplished during the week. I'm also getting Debra's student planner for ds, as I really need to move him to working independently. I don't know if anyone else's last-born had to be yanked away from mom to work independently, but mine sure does. With some LDs, it hasn't been easy to get him to do his own thing, although we are making progress, and that's one of my major priorities for this year. I always get a kick out of some of you wtm-ers who have whiz kids performing way above grade level, working almost totally independently and reading kajillions of books at young ages, lol. Well, that's great. I have a regular kid with challenges, and we are plodding along. It is what it is. All the best to you, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2boys Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 :001_huh: I have it, and it doesn't do any of that at the moment. It's what is expected in the future, but none of those things are functional right now. I'd check out some of the other threads on the WPD online planner before committing to a purchase. :iagree: And I edited my original post to say I no longer recommend My Well Planned Day for this school year. It could be great in the future, but I am requesting my money back and plan to go a different direction this school year. They just don't have enough of the promised features in place. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 This is what I use as well, and I've been happy with it. The author is very prompt in responding to questions and welcomes suggestions as he continually adds improvements to the program. The Scholaric blog helps to give you an idea of the improvements he's already made. This looks so great! I love that you can print out daily check-lists for each kid. Great price, too. Thanks for posting. I think I just found my planner (I'm not the OP, just a grateful reader). :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spetzi Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Re: My Well Planned Day I'm going to defend them a bit in that it's supposed to be fully functioning by mid-August. I don't know if that was moved back from a previous date, but they are definitely working on it, having webinars, etc. Mid-August may be late for some of you, but for the east coasters who don't start until Sept, it's right on the money. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nykatie Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 We use a blank planner (from Rod & Staff) and list where everyone is in each subject -- checked off at the end of the week; test grades marked in red on date taken. When they start falling behind, I give them a printed assignment sheet I make on Word. In high school, I use HST, but just to track grades -- assignments don't go in there because I inevitably forget to input the next one, then the computerized grading is thrown off, big disaster. So, pretty low-key, but works for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemy9kids Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I second My Well Planned Day http://www.homeschoolconvention.com/hedua/planners/ It is REALLY remarkable! You can schedule your whole year and it will even help you schedule. If you input what math you are using and how many days/week MWPD puts each lesson on your calendar. If you miss a day you can either drag it to the next day OR let MWPD push every lesson ahead a day. I must have a planner that is easy to manipulate because we hardly ever complete our plans according to how I thought we would. It's on sale for $40 for the year, but it's going up at the end of the week/month to $65. Oh, and you can access MWPD from your smartphone. I love this aspect! Really, watch the video. It's helpful! Really? I couldn't get it to do anything I needed it to, and it also lost a lot of information I had already entered. I think it will be great in about a year, but for now it is far from ready to be released IMHO. I just asked for a refund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemberley Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I think you would like the new My Well-Planned Day software. User friendly, and in addition to your lesson plans/assignments, it will also organize your chores, menus, and bills - if you want it to do all of that. http://www.homeschoolconvention.com/mywellplannedday.html I take back my recommendation. Only a few of the promised updates/features were added yesterday. I think this has the potential to be a great product some day, but not for this school year. You should look elsewhere. I purchased the software, but had to move on to something else since there were so many gliches in their program at the time. Have they improved their software yet? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMom Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for but if you join This Old Schoolhouse, you can get all of their planners for free. I joined for a month to see what they had to offer ($5.95) You can use 36 weeks of planners on your computer and then either print them off or not. They have a ton of other printables too. Additionally, you mentioned that you have an LD child. They have printables for special needs students too. I planned out my school year and just left it on the computer. That way I can change it if needed. Anyway, you are able to cancel your membership with This Old Schoolhouse at anytime. http://schoolhouseteachers.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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