Homeschool Planet users...question...or any other online planners?

[Samiam]

I'm trying out Homeschool Planet, in my 30 day free trial.   I think I have found a major hurdle for me, and trying to see if I am missing something  (I've sent in a question to the admin of HPlanet...but since it's Saturday, I assume I won't hear back until Monday and I'm impatient, lol!).  

 

I want to plan out my plans for a subject, let's say History, for the whole year, a day to day of what we will do each day...without assigning it to a specific day.  

 

 Then I go in throughout the school year, on a weekly basis, and assign a daily lesson to a specific day, based on what we have going on that week.   For example, Sunday evening, I sit down, and assign the next four History lessons, to Mon-Thursday, because we will be on a field trip on Friday, so no History happening ( I like assigning on a weekly basis so that I can be fluid depending on what we have going on each particular week).   But for the following week, there is nothing assigned yet, because I will do that next week, once I know how that week looks as far as out-of-the-house activities.

 

 This is how I currently do it with Homeschool Tracker Plus, and I love this.     I do NOT want to have it auto-scheduled for a specific date, and then I have to go in an rearrange all year because we didn't match up to what HPlanet had scheduled.   

 

I tried to set up some lessons, and HPlanet is requiring me to give a start date, and then it wants to schedule the lesson for specific dates, based on that start date.   Am I missing how I can set up lessons, without a specific date assigned to begin with, or is this just not a function of this software?

 

Any other online planners that offer the function I am wanting.   I've been using Homeschool Tracker Plus for several years, and while I am used to it, and no true complaints, I am looking for something that is online, and well, pretty, lol :).   I know HST offers an online option now and I'm actually off to check that out too.

[abacus2]

Homeschool Planet does assign things to specific dates. However it is very easy to change things. You can remove a date from the History schedule and everything will automatically shift out. If you change your mind and add that day back in, it is easy to shift everything back too.

 

You can also add or remove vacation days from your school year too. So you could plan your year to start July 1st and then change your mind and start on July 7th instead; all of your plans will be shifted out to the new start date by making July 1st-6th vacation days.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I am using Homeschool Planet too, specifically because it is so easy to move everything. I don't have an answer to your question but wanted to at least give you a bump!

[Samiam]

Thanks, I heard back from the admin of HPlanet actually, this morning. They have confirmed there is NOT an option to do lesson plans without assigning them an exact due date at the time of planning. I do not want that. I do not want to have to rearrange and move lessons around, and have a big red exclamation point next to it that it was reassigned (per the video tutorial), because they do not offer the function of non-dated lesson plans. If I wanted to have my plans dated from the beginning and go through the process of rearranging dates after the fact, I'd just go with a paper planner. My OCD brain does not sit well with having that chaos :). I want the ability to assign a lesson plan to a certain date, when I am ready to assign it to that date, and the ability to choose from week to week how often we will do a subject, based on what else we have going on that week. I'm headed off to a different online planner :).

[momacacia]

I'm headed off to a different online planner :).

What else are you looking at? I'm in the process of this as well. Thanks!

[73349]

If you use a spreadsheet, you can make a tab for each subject, use the first column to number the from 1-180 (or whatever), and then put in your plans. You could even leave a column blank for Date Completed for each item.

But it may not do some of the fancier things the planners do.

[Tenaj]

If you've been using HSTPlus and like it, I would definitely check out the HSTOnline program.  I used plus for years and have made the transition to online and love it.  Much easier to use than plus but similar enough that your learning curve will be quick.

 

[Samiam]

I think I will do that, JanOh, I was just watching a few tutorials on the HSTOnline and it seems to be pretty similiar to HST+, so I should be able to jump right in. It's not as pretty as some of the other online planners that give pretty fun colors for backgrounds, but it does everything I need it to do. White hawk, I want more than an excel spreadsheet, I want attendance tracking, book lists, easy report card if I needed to make one, and for my weekly schedule to look very similiar to the way Sonlight's look, ie boxes for subjects. With a few clicks, I can get all of that withinf seconds with most online planners, and with HST+ that I'm currently using. Just that HST+ isn't compatible with Mac, so I'm having to run it on a laptop that is on it's last leg...prefer to get an online planner that can be accessed from any online device :).

[abacus2]

Thanks, I heard back from the admin of HPlanet actually, this morning. They have confirmed there is NOT an option to do lesson plans without assigning them an exact due date at the time of planning. I do not want that. I do not want to have to rearrange and move lessons around, and have a big red exclamation point next to it that it was reassigned (per the video tutorial), because they do not offer the function of non-dated lesson plans. If I wanted to have my plans dated from the beginning and go through the process of rearranging dates after the fact, I'd just go with a paper planner. My OCD brain does not sit well with having that chaos :). I want the ability to assign a lesson plan to a certain date, when I am ready to assign it to that date, and the ability to choose from week to week how often we will do a subject, based on what else we have going on that week. I'm headed off to a different online planner :).

 

Go with what works for your brain certainly.

 

That said, HPlanet is about a bazillion times easier than rearranging things in a paper planner. In fact I think the flexibility to put lessons exactly where you want them is a major strength of the program. I have never seen a red exclamation point on any of my rescheduled assignments. Maybe that is a feature they dropped after making the video? HPlanet skips the intermediary step of listing lessons on a non-dated list, true, but it makes it extremely easy to put lessons where you want them; the lessons just start as a dated list instead of a non-dated list.

 

Best wishes to you in your search for the best planner for you.

[EmseB]

Sorry to hijack, but a question arose while I was checking out these two programs.  HST advertises that it has premade lesson plans for different curricula based on what other users have shared.  Does HPlanet have that feature? 

[abacus2]

Sorry to hijack, but a question arose while I was checking out these two programs.  HST advertises that it has premade lesson plans for different curricula based on what other users have shared.  Does HPlanet have that feature? 

 

No.