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Can we talk CM Organizer?
- This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 3 months ago by
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First off, let me say I’ve researched this enough (don’t use it yet) and I see overwhelmingly that people are very pleased with it. The main thing I see that is prohibitive to some people is the cost. Can you guys help me to understand what it offers that programs like Homeschool Tracker, Sked Track or Donna Young’s planner (the one you buy) don’t have? I’d hate to enter all my stuff into the CMO and then realize I really needed something different. Plus, I guess it goes without saying that having to pay for it every year is a bit of a downer. (No offense to Doug or the wonderful planner…just speaking budgeting here.) I do like that it’s flexible and you can move things down if you don’t get to them, and that you can put other things in there like chores and your personal things. Is there a way to put in stuff you didn’t plan to do but did so that can all be recorded too?
Is it fair to have an honest open discussion here about the pros and cons? Just for the sake of money– that there are other programs that are one time expenses. If you’re more comfortable, you can PM me.
Many thanks!
Hey Jana,
I think from what I’ve seen on the forum that there would be no problem discussing the pro’s and con’s here.
I’ll give my 2 cents…
I used the free version of Homeschool Tracker for a short while a couple of years ago. I tried it for a couple of months… also keep in mind that is the free version… their plus version which you buy is totally different and does look pretty good. I looked at Sked Track, but haven’t used. I have now used the organizer for about 18 months.
So, from what I remembered of Homeschool tracker…. I took a while and entered in my resources (books etc.) I then had to make assignments and basically put due-dates for things. For things like math I could have it increment automatically (ie, Math – lesson 1. Math – lesson 2. etc, entered daily). I believe it allowed for unusual but regular increments too. If for some reason we didn’t get something done – I had to tell the program to do something… either skip it, push everything back, or just leave it (and have it show up as an over-due assignment). Honestly, I found that after a bit I wasn’t entering what we had done – and then when I did try to “catch up” it was a nightmare trying to get things right. Now remember this is from memory.
In the 18 months I’ve used the SCMO, I have found that I USE it. To me, that is big. If I miss marking something off, I can easily mark it off with the correct date (or if I don’t remember, oh well, mark it off as today, or whenever.) As things aren’t assigned to a specific date, I don’t have to adjust due dates all the time. If we don’t get to something, I don’t have to do anything – it is there the next scheduled day for that resource. Easy.
Cons to SCMO – well I think Sked Track, the students can log in and mark things as done, and then you login later and verify… SCMO doesn’t do that. It is harder to get a week view because SCMO doesn’t assume you do a division every day…. No sharing of resources yet (although it is in the works). No copy of a resource to create a similar resource (in the works and in testing apparently). and of course the cost. Oh, and no tracking of hours (just days) – which might be an issue in some states that want you to track hours.
Yes, you can put in stuff you didn’t plan to do but did… just by creating that resource (I have ones like field trips etc) and then marking it off. You can even mark things off months later. I put in about 6 months worth of work when I first started so that our school year-end reports would work. (I joined the organizer in March with a year end of June 30th.)
I know there are free or less expensive homeschool tracking programs – and some do a lot more than SCMO (although often features are things I don’t need….) – but I actually USE SCMO because I find it easier, and over-all less work. The Customer support has been good, they are working on features and have brought them out fairly regularily. When the resource sharing is available there will be less work entering in resources too.
hope that helps some.
I was undecided about it just like you… I just didn’t want to spend the money. So I tried the free trial period. I can type pretty fast, so I guess that helps and it didn’t take very long for me to enter the resources that we’re using currently (for 3 children plus a few resources for a couple younger kids as well). Well, I’ve printed off planners (like Donna Young’s or made my own forms too), and that took quite a bit of time (and paper and ink). And then it takes QUITE a lot of time to write all the assignments in. I decided to use just numbers for each day (Day 1, Day 2, etc) instead of dates because then if we were sick for a day or something it would help that my schedule wasn’t all messed up. But then there would still be problems because sometimes I planned a book and then realized that it was going too fast for someone, or it was not suitable for them yet or anymore, or that the workload I had planned for a child was just a bit too much or too little…. so some erasing and re-planning needed to be done. For $10/month (we signed up for the whole year actually), it has saved me an ENORMOUS amount of time. And I love not having a cumbersome planner to leaf through and keep somewhere on my desk. I also love the built in record keeping aspect. And I like that you can have some resources for individual children, and other resources for everyone (family).
When we read a book or do something that I hadn’t planned but want to record as ‘school work done’ then I just add it as a resource and then check it off right away.
I’m looking forward to when the sharing resources feature becomes active. I have entered all the lesson numbers and titles for a few of the Saxon Math books for example… ‘took some time… but I’m looking forward to when the database of resources will be much larger and I’ll be able to save even more time.
I’m not sure if this helps at all. I’ve never used any other programs such as the ones you’ve mentioned so I can’t offer any comparison. I just feel that the $10/month is more than worth it just for the amount of time it saves me. We’ve been more ‘on track’ with our schooling in the past month with the CM Organizer than I have been most of the time, and I’m so happy to see the results now… steady progress, especially our 7yo learning to read.
It’s good to see you’re shopping so carefully though. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with it… try the trial period to see if it’s a good ‘match’ for what you are looking for in a planner. It’s free afterall.
I was hesitant as well. But, for me…SO WORTH IT. Every penny. It is flexible and all of the work is done at the outset so there is no “working” on it in the middle of the school year. The checklists are easy to follow and they keep us on track. You can pay monthly, so try it for a couple of months (the first of which is free), then you are only out $10 if you hate it. But you won’t. 🙂
Can you guys help me to understand what it offers that programs like Homeschool Tracker, Sked Track or Donna Young’s planner (the one you buy) don’t have?
The are a couple really big differences. The CM Organizer is the only one designed specifically for what we deal with in a CM-style (and other more flexible styles) education. It’s also a “what’s next” planner rather than a date-based planner. Some of the sharing features we’re working on to help the CM Organizer community work together are pretty unique too.
Is it fair to have an honest open discussion here about the pros and cons?
Go for it! Feel free talk about positives and negatives and feel free to mention other products. Our goal is to help you find something that works for you and your family. Of course we’d like that to be the CM Organizer, but if something else is a better fit then that’s fine too.
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