Monday, August 31, 2009

Great Organizational Tool

I am a huge planner.  I know that if I don't plan, nothing will ever get done - especially in our homeschool.  I have purchased The Homeschoolers Journal, made my own Excel sheets, used Donna Young's printables to make my own notebook, etc., etc.  Each of these has been a blessing to me in different season's of my life.  I must say, I loved the Homeschooler's Journal, but I now have too many children to really make it work efficiently for me.  If you have just 2 or 3 children in school, you might want to look into that excellent resource.
However, I have recently discovered Homeschool Tracker Plus.  To date, this is the best method for me, by far.  I am into day10 of my $5 30-day trial and I think I'm going to spend the $45 more to purchase the program for keeps. 

Everything is in the computer, but I can print out assignment sheets made up directly from my lesson plans.  I type in the subjects with what I want to cover on certain days and...WHALAA!  
Well, with a 300-something page user's manual, maybe not quite so "whalaa!"  Getting to learn the program is probably the biggest draw-back.  I'm the type of person who learns by doing and it's taken me a few hours to really figure things out.  However, I can go to the site any time I want and watch how-to videos or look at a pdf file of the manual.  I would also recommend becoming a part of the discussion board.  I couldn't figure out how to edit the grading chart but after going back and forth with the creator of the program, we have it figured out.  What a HUGE help having someone there who knows the program and actually answers your questions almost immediately!

If you have several children or high school students, I would suggest you give this program a look-see.  Tell me what you think.  And, if you get a chance, tell them you heard about Homeschool Tracker Plus here at Teaching Mommy.

1 comment:

Christine said...

I adore Donna Young's printables! Blessings!