What do you use to plan your resources?

[Eagle]

How do you keep track of books, movies, games, etc. you plan to use to supplement your curriculum?

 

I recently realized I am forgetting to use some of our books when studying a related topic. In order to organize our resources better I want to create a list of what we have and for what topics it is relevant. I have created a spreadsheet with tabs for subject and columns for topic, title, author, page numbers, media type, own/borrow, and date finished. This looks like it could work, but I'm wondering if there is something better.

 

It is a pain entering books manually. I have an app where I can scan the barcode and it enters the book, but it doesn't allow me to export or print the list, so it doesn't work for what I need. So far I don't feel the need to have a calendar-type planner as I schedule by topic, not by date.

 

Ideally I would like:

- accessible on ipad

- able to scan books

- able to customize fields/tags

- good sorting options

- must be able to export all fields

- printable, preferably with customized reports

 

I am assuming this doesn't exist, but would love to know if something comes close.

 

What do you use to plan your resources? If you use a spreadsheet, what columns do you have?

[klmama]

Are your books mostly newer, with ISBN bar codes on the back? If so, you might like software from http://www.collectorz.com/ With a scanner, it can be pretty quick and painless. If your books are older, you'll need to enter them by hand. I used Book Collectorz software, and I also entered CDs, movies, etc. I just indicated what they were.

 

One caveat: do it quickly! I have an older version, and I had an older scanner. Life got busy, and I didn't get around to finishing my books for about five years. When I finally used it again, either the scanner didn't work anymore or it just didn't like the system upgrade on my computer. A lot of the books that came up were not books I owned. The number would be correct, but the title and description would be wrong and sometimes didn't even match each other! So, if you do go with this, use a scanner they recommend and do it all right away. We entered by hand after that, and it worked just fine.

[Aspasia]

I am actually in the process of making some spreadsheets like this, but they aren't necessarily just for resources we own, and they are mainly non-book resources (I tend to prefer going to the library and just selecting from what's on the shelf--getting choosy and reserving titles is apparently too much work for me. ) So this might be completely useless to you! ;)

 

Anyway, I have a separate spreadsheet for each subject (history, science, geography, etc). So, on the science spreadsheet, I have topics down the left side (organized into categories--life science, earth science, chemistry, and physics--and sub categories, like insects, weather, etc). Across the top I just have columns for some of my favorite series and groups of resources, like Let's-Read-and-Find-Out books, MagicSchool Bus videos, Bill Nye videos, books and materials we have at our house, project ideas (from Pinterest or other sites), etc. For history, I have the left side divided into the four major blocks of history, and those are subdivided chronologically by era (Colonial, Civil War, Ancient Rome, etc). Across the top,I have movies, audio books, projects, etc.

[MeghanL]

I just write what I want to use on the lesson plans. Then go through the lesson plans and write down all books and materials I will need for each week before the year starts. Every week I look ahead 2 weeks and pull out all the books/movies we'll use and/or order what I don't have from the library so it arrives in time.

[briansmama]

I do what Meghan does but in Evernote. I like that I can create different notebooks for different areas and add resources/book links as I find them.

[nono]

A crazy Excel spreadsheet that totally works for me, but would probably drive a sane person nuts. ;) It took me 2 years to get it uber-functional. It's a lot less pretty than it was...

[Eagle]

I think I may be looking for two separate things. Maybe I need to record/categorize what I own in a searchable format, then separately slot these items into a lesson plan. It would just be nice to only enter everything once.

 

I looked at iBookshelf several months ago and it was close to doing what I wanted for the scanning/recording part. Does anyone use that?

[Eagle]

Anyway, I have a separate spreadsheet for each subject (history, science, geography, etc). So, on the science spreadsheet, I have topics down the left side (organized into categories--life science, earth science, chemistry, and physics--and sub categories, like insects, weather, etc). Across the top I just have columns for some of my favorite series and groups of resources, like Let's-Read-and-Find-Out books, MagicSchool Bus videos, Bill Nye videos, books and materials we have at our house, project ideas (from Pinterest or other sites), etc. For history, I have the left side divided into the four major blocks of history, and those are subdivided chronologically by era (Colonial, Civil War, Ancient Rome, etc). Across the top,I have movies, audio books, projects, etc.

 

 

This sounds like what I'm trying to do, but I didn't get fancy and use row headers. Maybe I need to! So for example, you would have on the left "Physics" and "Gravity", then across the top "Bill Nye" and "books we own" (and more). Then what do you do in the middle? A check mark because there is a Bill Nye Video on that topic? Or list specific resource names? ISBN number?

[PeterPan]

Pile method. I have 6K+ books and use library software that is fully searchable, as you say. Nevertheless, the easiest way for me to plan is to go to my shelves (I keep it as organized as possible) and make piles. I sticky note books at the beginning of the semester or year with numbers for what week they go in, then I move the resources to a clear shelf for that semester. So for instance I'm planning high school biology. I have about 20 books and will have videos and other resources. They'll all be pulled and put onto one shelf together in the order for the year.

 

I don't keep spreadsheets of what I own or anything. It's just all in my head. If I forget, I consult my software. I use readerware, but there are other options out there.

 

Oh, when she was young, I would make weekly/topic plans for the subject, and there would be a column in that list for things to plug in. But I used that to generate the piles. I'm a piler. :)

[Aspasia]

 

 

This sounds like what I'm trying to do, but I didn't get fancy and use row headers. Maybe I need to! So for example, you would have on the left "Physics" and "Gravity", then across the top "Bill Nye" and "books we own" (and more). Then what do you do in the middle? A check mark because there is a Bill Nye Video on that topic? Or list specific resource names? ISBN number?

 

On the left, I have "physics" in bold, and then all the physics topics listed under that in no particular order. In the middle, I put the title of the video or book. It was super easy, because I just found lists of all the titles for Bill Nye, The Cat in the Hat, etc (we have the MSB DVDs, which include a list of episodes), and went through my spreadsheet adding them to the appropriate topic's row.

 

With history, I have "Ancients" in bold and then Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc. listed under that chronologically. For geography, I have a general geography section with topics like landforms, map skills, etc. Then countries organized by continent. Across the top, I have videos, projects, etc. For the various countries, since so many geography books cover multiple countries, I have a column for, say, "Eat Your Way Around the World", and then I place a check mark next to each country that it covers. That way, when we're studying a specific country, I'll be able to know which resources cover it, without forgetting anything.

 

Does that make sense? I feel like I'm just rambling!