Can I use the Organizer alone to plan next year?

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  • Inky
    Member

    My question is whether it is possible to plan next year’s work using the CM organizer alone?  I love the CM organizer and plan to continue using it.  Last year I also used Planning Your CM Education, but got bogged down with multiple paper charts, that just ended up in being thrown away.  My question I suppose is if I just use the organizer, how do I record how much of each book I plan to aim to read each week. Also other details such how to show when to read additional books alonside, say, a core book.  Not sure if that makes sense.  Eg if I have a handful of living science books that I plan to slot in alongside my science curriculum, so I want them to appear in my daily plan at the right time – ie when I reach that particular lesson (though I don’t know what date that will be because life happens and dates have to change).

    suzukimom
    Participant

    Right now, the ability to link a resource (or a division of a resource) with a division of another resource (so, read this book when we get to the chapter of this book) isn’t available – it is on the wish list.

    So is the ability to put an overall note from a book…..

    Inky
    Member

    Thanks, that’s helpful.  I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong with the Planning Your CM Education. I seem to get  bogged down with loads of charts that I can’t seem to fit in all the info I need into…. and then I realise I’ve missed something out, or can’t get hold of a resource ….. and end up feeling overwhelmed and demotivated by the long lists, plus all the erasing and recopying

    Carolyn
    Participant

    ruthm,

    I received a download copy of all the forms when I purchased Planning Your CM Education.  Did yours come with downloadable forms?  I have made many changes to my forms so having them electronically has been wonderful.  The feeling of being bogged down happened to me as well.  Once I decided on all my resources and just plugged it in, it all fell into place. I can imagine that doing that all by hand would be overwhelming.   

    HTH,

    Carolyn

    sheraz
    Participant

    Ruth: For this year, just figure what resources you are using for your child and put that in.  Your other goals will come together as you go.  

    I find it easier to put on paper what subject is on what day and then just schedule my resources that way. =)  For example, if you are doing Mod.1 , just schedule the guide for daily and you are done, as long as you get the resources needed.  (Although as my kids are getting older, I usually add the books from each subject like Oxford, Boy of the Pyramids and the Pharaohs..so my history list looks more complete than a guide on our records.  I DO NOT assign a paticular day for those, I just put Saturday on it, pull it up the day we read it and mark it finished that day.)  The same things apply to all your regular subjects like math, grammar, science, copywork, etc. Pretty simple.

    If you know what literature books you are reading, put those in for the days you want to read.  I just entered mine for the year by putting in the first one on my list, telling the Organizer I wanted to read it everyday.  Then I added Alice in Wonderland and I told the O that I wanted to follow Peter Pan.  I did that with all our literature books and it will automatically do it for me.

    The tricky ones for me are the once a month things like composer biography (we listen to the music everyday, but I don’t read the biography everyday) and Shakespeare.  lol

    For keeping track of odds-n-end add on things, I go through my guides and jot it down with the lesson it goes with. It will be there when I need it, I don’t have to have extra papers all the time, and I can add to the Organizer the day we use it and mark it finished so it is on the records, but not bugging me all the time on my schedule.

    I have the Planning book and love it but I actually get to the weekly and daily part and bog down…so since I generally use the “whole” source I just put it in the O and let it do the daily thing. As I get more experience I find that I can do those principles with less paper all the time. lol  Plus the longer I do this, I see my long range goals becoming more concrete and I start seeing where we are headed in a more realistic way without so many extra papers. Something Ifound helpful was just making a master list of subjects and jot down possible curriculums recommended from the forum, that is next to my Big Picture Plan and I just refer to it as needed.  It cut out so much extra paper – I felt like I used a whole forest myself the first we hs.

    I hope that made sense. =)

    Jordan Smith
    Keymaster

    By the way, the downloadable charts for Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education are available on its Links and Tips page if you’re missing them.

    Inky
    Member

    Carolyn and Jordan,

    Thanks for pointing me to the downloadable forms.  Those will help a lot.  Would you recommend printing a new Year Overview for each subject, since adding several resources into one row on the chart means some ‘scroll down’ so i guess they would’t show if printed? Or maybe I can just keep all my forms electronically and save a few trees??

    Sheraz,

    I LOVE your idea of scheduling additional resources for a Saturday and just pulling them up on the day you use them, so they don’t keep bugging you all the time on the schdule. 

    Carolyn
    Participant

    ruthm,

    I plan on keeping my forms all electronically.  Blessings on the rest of your planning.

    Inky
    Member

    Carolyn,

    Thanks so much for your thoughts and your time.  I think I’ll keep mine electronically too.

    Blessings

    Ruth

     

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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