Hoot Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I thought I was set with Skedtrack. I loved the idea of it at first even if it wasn't perfect. Now that I'm entering in some other subjects, I'm realizing just how limited it really is. I H.A.T.E. that I can't enter in assignments by date. There are some things that simply MUST be done on a certain day and some that don't need to be done on a specific day but within a certain week. If I just enter these assignments using Skedtrack and check it with the "predict dates" function (a rather clunky but doable solution) there is still the issue that, if we happen to get behind in a subject, those items that NEED to be static are going to roll over to a later date. I then run the risk of forgetting about them and not getting them done in time because Skedtrack rescheduled them. So, what I'm looking for is a program that: is either online or downloadable to my laptop allows for specifically dated work and rolling plans (or maybe just the ability to input everything at once but then only SCHEDULE it in small chunks of say 2 weeks at a time) will allow me to input grades and generate report cards, attendance etc. DS can access and check off as "done" as he goes through his subjects daily isn't ridiculously expensive is easy to use While not necessary, and certainly not a deal-breaker it would be an extra bonus if I could also: plan meals plan outings & field trips add reading lists add volunteer hours & extra programs that he's participated in throughout the year Since I've already input most of our plans into Skedtrack (with the exception of the co-op syllabi) AND we start school in a week, I'm hesitant to sink money and more time into something that will end up not working or will take an incredible amount of time to learn. What says the Hive? Does my ideal exist? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Mac? PC? Ipad? ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 No one? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momee Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Meal planning, hands down for me has been Plan to Eat. I love it. It took time to learn and to get my recipes in. Now that they're in, however, I can do it all - plan week, print a shopping list, move stuff, delete stuff in minutes. I've spent three weeks learning HST and it is amazingly flexible. I feel great knowing I have, by the minute, a schedule to fit everyone's needs. I also appreciate knowing I can move stuff, schedule our field trips, etc. I'm still learning but it's very, very powerful. Not pretty, not intuitive, in my opinion, but what I need. Sorry, not exactly what you asked for but hopefully helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixjen Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I've only tested this a little bit, but PlanbookEDU might be helpful. It's either free or $25 a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Well, what have you tried? is either online or downloadable to my laptop HST+, Scholaric, WPD, HST Online allows for specifically dated work and rolling plans (or maybe just the ability to input everything at once but then only SCHEDULE it in small chunks of say 2 weeks at a time) You can "bump assignments easily in all those mentioned above will allow me to input grades and generate report cards, attendance etc. DS can access and check off as "done" as he goes through his subjects daily isn't ridiculously expensive Again, all those do this is easy to use Scholaric wins here While not necessary, and certainly not a deal-breaker it would be an extra bonus if I could also: plan meals Of those, only WPD does this. I use a separate spreadsheet for this and Google calendar for other non school activities plan outings & field trips I believe all of those will do this add reading lists I know you can do this on HST+ and you can't do it on Scholaric. I think you can on WPD but am not sure about it or HST online. However, I didn't like how HST+ did it and I wound up creating a separate document last year anyway. I went on the search for the perfect planner this summer and tried out Scholaric, HST online, Well Planned Day software, and I already own HST+ (and I tried out Skedtrack last year). I have issues what can I say? :lol: Ease of use? Scholaric Most features? HST + (HST Online has more than the others as well) Most pretty: WPD In HST+, HST Online, and WPD you can put in lesson plans ahead of time and assign them as you use them. I thought this was very important to me except when I realized I spent just as much time "assigning them to a date" as I did inputting them into Scholaric. Ultimately, it depends on what your needs are. My most important features I needed this year was able to use on my iPad and easy to be flexible. Scholaric won out for this year. WPD sounds like it will be amazing but it doesn't work for me as is yet. Not sure if my ramblings helped or hindered but feel free to ask anything you might think of! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 When we homeschooled for Pre-K and K I used the free download for Homeschool Tracker. I liked it well enough, but it looks like it has changed a bit. Also, we need a bit more now that DS will be headed into high school soon. Since then, I've tried paper & pencil; which was a disaster. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and the handwriting was never neat, I was constantly flipping back and forth between weeks to check on things that weren't finished yet and there was NEVER enough space to write. Then I tried Skedtrack. The automatic rescheduling feature sounded good to me and it was free so I went ahead and started entering lessons. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if we weren't dependent on a co-op for a few of our classes. Obviously, the work for those classes must be done by a certain date in order to be turned in to the teacher. If Skedtrack reschedules them, we have a big problem. I've looked into most of the planners that were suggested and here's what I determined: Well-Planned Day - It's pretty but that seems like about all it has going for it right now. It seems like it has the potential to be great, but nearly everyone is complaining about how buggy it is. I really don't want to sink $65 into something that may or may not work. Homeschool Tracker Basic - I actually downloaded this and played around with it a bit; however, whenever I would go to enter plans it would give me error messages. Not really having a ton of time to mess around with it, I abandoned that quickly and moved on. Homeschool Tracker Plus - Pretty much everyone I asked said that if I disliked the Basic version for any reason, that I shouldn't bother with Plus. I looked at it a bit, determined that I didn't want to spend $5 just to try it (how silly is that?) and definitely not $50 for the year. Homeschool Tracker Online - This I really liked the looks of. I watched the videos and read all of the information. SO many people said that there was quite a learning curve to the HST Online program. The $60 price tag made me a little leery of trying it this year simply because I don't have the TIME to deal with a learning curve. This is one I may consider for next year. Planbook Edu - This seemed like it would be a good program just to hold my lessons; however, it didn't handle grading, generating reports etc. so it didn't seem worth the time or money. Scholaric - My first impression of Scholaric was, "ooh this is UGLY." :lol: Seriously, there is nothing pretty about it. However, it is beyond simple and the price couldn't be better. I can deal with ugly. And, since I only have one child, it's just $1 a month. I also loved that the preview period was FREE! I really just didn't understand the reasoning behind HST charging $5 to preview their products. I started playing around with the free sample and before I knew it, I had entered our ENTIRE YEAR. It was so easy that I had everything switched from Skedtrack AND the subjects that I hadn't gotten to yet entered into Scholaric on their specific days. I wish that they offered attendance tracking rather than strictly tracking by hours. I also wish they offered weighted grading, a way to automatically put in days off, holidays etc. (and then skip them when auto scheduling), lesson printing in a calendar format, field trip scheduling, book list and such. However, its ease of use won over all of the little things that I wish it did. The lesson planning, grade recording and report card generating are the most important aspects that I need from an online planner right now, and Scholaric seems to do its job well. So, that is what I chose for now. Everything is entered and we are ready to go for Monday. I can't tell you what a relief that is. Thanks for all your help, guys. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 (edited) [*]Scholaric - My first impression of Scholaric was, "ooh this is UGLY." :lol: Seriously, there is nothing pretty about it. However, it is beyond simple and the price couldn't be better. I can deal with ugly. And, since I only have one child, it's just $1 a month. I also loved that the preview period was FREE! I really just didn't understand the reasoning behind HST charging $5 to preview their products. I started playing around with the free sample and before I knew it, I had entered our ENTIRE YEAR. It was so easy that I had everything switched from Skedtrack AND the subjects that I hadn't gotten to yet entered into Scholaric on their specific days. I wish that they offered attendance tracking rather than strictly tracking by hours. You can track by attendance. I was wanting the same thing and finally figured it out last week. Go to the "Scholaric" page. "Goal Tracking" and click on that line that say "Total Hours" rename it "Total Days" then on the right top under the star where it says measure hours, click it and choose the "metric type" you want: hours, lessons, days auto by hours, or days auto by lessons. I have it set on days auto by lessons so whenever I check off at least one lesson done that day it counts it as a day completed. I also wish they offered weighted grading, I believe this is coming soon. a way to automatically put in days off, holidays etc. (and then skip them when auto scheduling), lesson printing in a calendar format, You can automatically put in days off and holidays and when you schedule it will skip those days. Go to lesson planning and then click the arrow by the date and choose "calendar" and then "vacation, or holiday" and it will automatically skip those days. Now if you already have something scheduled it won't reschedule it, but it will skip it if it is done before you schedule. field trip scheduling, book list and such. You can schedule a field trip under the date as an "event." Oh and you can print the scheduling/calendar grid. Just go to file print on your computer and it is set up to print the grid. Or you can press ctrl P. This was a new feature added recently. However, its ease of use won over all of the little things that I wish it did. The lesson planning, grade recording and report card generating are the most important aspects that I need from an online planner right now, and Scholaric seems to do its job well. So, that is what I chose for now. Everything is entered and we are ready to go for Monday. I can't tell you what a relief that is. Thanks for all your help, guys. :001_smile: So glad you are enjoying it, hopefully these few things will make it even better for you. :) I am loving the simplicity and flexibility of it! :001_smile: Edited August 16, 2012 by ByGrace3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleinMN Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 :lurk5: And I LOVE Red Sails to Capri :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 :lurk5: And I LOVE Red Sails to Capri :) We just started it, but it is the perfect read aloud! I love how my kids yesterday were in a fit of giggles. Precious precious moments! ;) Sorry for the hijack! Now back to our regularly scheduled program: Digital Planners! And speaking of things I love, Scholaric! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 You can track by attendance. I was wanting the same thing and finally figured it out last week. Go to the "Scholaric" page. "Goal Tracking" and click on that line that say "Total Hours" rename it "Total Days" then on the right top under the star where it says measure hours, click it and choose the "metric type" you want: hours, lessons, days auto by hours, or days auto by lessons. I have it set on days auto by lessons so whenever I check off at least one lesson done that day it counts it as a day completed. Oooh thanks! That's perfect. I believe this is coming soon. :hurray: You can automatically put in days off and holidays and when you schedule it will skip those days. Go to lesson planning and then click the arrow by the date and choose "calendar" and then "vacation, or holiday" and it will automatically skip those days. Now if you already have something scheduled it won't reschedule it, but it will skip it if it is done before you schedule. I did figure out that you could put in days off and holidays, but not until after I had already entered our lessons. Good to know that it will skip those days if I do it the other way around next time. You can schedule a field trip under the date as an "event." I figured that. I guess I just wanted to be able to compile a report of all of the field trips for the year in one document at the end of the year. Not a big deal though. Oh and you can print the scheduling/calendar grid. Just go to file print on your computer and it is set up to print the grid. Or you can press ctrl P. This was a new feature added recently. Good to know. I'll try that. Will it also print the notes that way, or just what is listed on the lesson planning grid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Will it also print the notes that way, or just what is listed on the lesson planning grid? I am not sure, I think there is a way to make notes show up on the calendar, but I am not sure . . . sorry! Definitely email the developer, he is super fast with his responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 I'll do that. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Do any of you Scholaric users know if I can have a login for each child so he can see his to do list for the day and check things off as he completes them? I'd also like for each kid's schedule of outside classes to be lnked to his calendar via iCal or something similar, is this possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.