1bassoon Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I'm back in my planning mode; just can't decide between paper and online planning! I loved the feel of paper - I tend to write my lists on paper. But typing/copying each list for each kid made me crazy. My ds, however, has kept all 3 years of his high school records in a Well-Planned Day high school planner. Love that boy. I've used HomeschoolSkedTrack (had some limitations; lots of set-up needed); Scholaric (easy to use! monthly cost is fairly low); and OLLY for Mac (haven't fooled with it quite enough, but overall I like it! When they get the iPad app, we're in business) But I really want to know what made YOU decide paper vs. online. To see if anything resonates with me and my personality/outlook. If it helps, I've got a 12th, 9th, 7th, and 3rd grader next year. Looking forward to hearing from you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I fell in love with technology young. I can't imagine not using it. It is so much faster and neater than paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I prefer paper because I can work on it anywhere. I only have a desktop. I don't always want to be chained to my desk chair to do planning. Then again I am a list maker anyway, so even if I had a laptop to take anywhere I would likely still use paper. I find it easier to organize and plan and keep the flow going if I am writing it on paper, than on other systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I planned school on the computer. It was easy to revise. Periodically I'd print stuff and bring it with me to review in case I was going to have some extra sit around time else where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I didn't like the online stuff and writing in a planner made the schedule so rigid because I couldn't move things around. I moved to doing plans in Excel, planning at least a month in advance, and print out our list each week. I can move everything down a day or back a week with a few keystrokes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 We use paper, but it's tempting to bore the NSA with our details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I use Excel. I don't really plan much beyond subjects and main topics, though-mostly in my case it's recording what's been done after the fact and adjusting as needed. It's far more detail than is required, but I like having it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbeym Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I always try online and we always end up back on paper. I type everything in Word and then print it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I planned school on the computer. It was easy to revise. Periodically I'd print stuff and bring it with me to review in case I was going to have some extra sit around time else where. This is basically what I have done. I don't use software, just Word documents, which I then print and place in notebooks for the kids and me. It is very easy to revise and reprint. I briefly tried some free templates and found them constraining, but I don't need a grid or calendar-like schedule. I am okey dokey with a running list of dates and assignments. I also like the subjects separated rather than all on one schedule. My method is likely pretty weird, as I am a bit technophobic, so I gravitate towards what I am comfortable with (good ole Microsoft Word!), but it really works well for me and is simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbeym Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 This is basically what I have done. I don't use software, just Word documents, which I then print and place in notebooks for the kids and me. It is very easy to revise and reprint. I briefly tried some free templates and found them constraining, but I don't need a grid or calendar-like schedule. I am okey dokey with a running list of dates and assignments. I also like the subjects separated rather than all on one schedule. My method is likely pretty weird, as I am a bit technophobic, so I gravitate towards what I am comfortable with (good ole Microsoft Word!), but it really works well for me and is simple. Your method sounds a bit like mine. Each course has it's own syllabus and schedule dated by week. Each kid then has a undated weekly assignment sheets with large blanks for them to pencil in what they're doing each day. It's easy enough to adjust the main schedule and reprint if we get too far behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwickimom Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 :bigear: I love paper planners but never found one that was perfect for me. I also fell in love with Evernote recently. I have half a mind to use Evernote but also print it, which is counterproductive. I want to use both lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I preferred Excel/Word with paper printouts, because I liked how neat and tidy the printed paper looked. But I'm loving portable technology (ie iPad) even more. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfries Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I'm much more likely to remember something once I've written it down. If I write a grocery list & then forget it at home, I'll still be able to get nearly all of what was on my list. But if I type it out or put it on my phone, I'll be lucky to remember 1/4 of the items. Same for to do lists & appointments. I've got to PHYSICALLY write it out. I just downloaded Evernote but I'm struggling with how to implement it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I used HST+ so not online technically, but software on the computer. I can't imagine setting up a whole year of planning on paper, for multiple students. It seems that life changes quite a bit, and having to redo things I've written out would drive me nuts. Sometimes, I've even completely changed direction mid-year, and so see my planning all right there, in my face, go to waste...my OCD tendencies would go crazy. With HST+, I plan out the whole year of each subject, but I don't actually assign the work until the Sunday of that week. That allows me the fluidity to look at what life this week will look like, and assign lesson plans based on that. Also if life didn't go as planned and we didn't get something done on a particular day, no problem, I just reassign for next week. A click of the button and no visible changes, scratch outs, white-outs, erases, etc to look out. I also don't print out the lesson plans until Sunday of that week, once I've assigned them. So no huge notebook that I have to carry around all the time. Two sheets (one per child) for a whole week. Next week, those go in the recycling bin, and the two new sheets are in front of me. I've even worked directly from the computer screen, just looking at the plans from there, some weeks, when ink was low on the printer. So I can do it multiple ways. Plus I can set it up to print various ways. Right now, my favorite is a weekly grid, aka the Sonlight/MFW grids. When my oldest was still homeschooling, and a bit more independent, in the middle school grades, I'd print his out in a different format, a daily format, so he could see what work he needed to do each day, with full explanations of what he needed to do. But I never had to re-type it or anything so it would be a good set up for him. Just clicked a button on the print settings of the software so the Lesson Plans I created were printed in a way that was exactly what I needed for him. If I want to add/remove/change parts of my lesson plans, super simple, and again no "marks", no worries about running out of space on a page, etc. I've actually got all of my lesson plans done for the upcoming year. Some were super easy, same thing each day. Others were a bit more involved, like History, because I assigned reading, read alouds, activities, Brainpop, Discovery Streaming, etc. So a bit of effort to pull it all together. But it's all right there. Grades can be entered if I kept grades. Oh and if I wanted to reuse the plans again, another year, right there in my HST+ software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I'm back in my planning mode; just can't decide between paper and online planning! I loved the feel of paper - I tend to write my lists on paper. But typing/copying each list for each kid made me crazy. My ds, however, has kept all 3 years of his high school records in a Well-Planned Day high school planner. Love that boy. I've used HomeschoolSkedTrack (had some limitations; lots of set-up needed); Scholaric (easy to use! monthly cost is fairly low); and OLLY for Mac (haven't fooled with it quite enough, but overall I like it! When they get the iPad app, we're in business) But I really want to know what made YOU decide paper vs. online. To see if anything resonates with me and my personality/outlook. If it helps, I've got a 12th, 9th, 7th, and 3rd grader next year. Looking forward to hearing from you! On-line wasn't invented yet when I was hsing, lol, so I'm sure my answer is skewed that way. However, even now, when I spend half my life on the computer...ok, maybe not half my life, but it seems like it sometimes!...I'm not sure I would want to have to depend on the computer for all my planning. What if your power goes out? What if your computer crashes? What if...??? I like the look of Ferg'N'Us's Homeschooler's Journal. Simple, inexpensive, easy to understand, easy to keep up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xixstar Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I am doing all my planning digitally and in Evernote so that I don't have to do it again and it's easily searchable. I tend to prefer paper planning but I lose my paper notes and I hate rewriting things again and I also get over caught up in wanting everything to look the same, so if I decide to use indents but later decide I want bullet points, it really bugs me to have it look different. On the computer, it is much easier for me to change it all to be consistent. I also really don't want to do anything more than once, hopefully. But knowing me, I will anyways. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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