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Charlotte Mason Friendly Paper Organizer
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I notice that a lot of you print out the day’s work rather than working directly from the computer… but how do you handle the fact that the subjects are not in order? I can’t really use the CMO very well until I get better internet available in my area, but I am hoping that is going to happen in the next 6 months, so I am very curious how the CMO works better for you than a paper planner. When I was able to use the CMO, I loved it except for the fact that the subjects wouldn’t print in the order that we actually do them. That always made me feel a bit frazzled. How do you deal with that part of it?
This post has really been a big hit. Paper v. computer.
I will put my vote for computer. I am crying right now as I tried to save ourselves some money this year and printed a planner out for each of my children. Though it’s going fine it’s more time consuming actualy for us.
Also I LOVE the feeling of checking things off. So do my children. And the packets I made when said and done times 6 (5kids and a family one) was really not cheaper abotu the same as the CMO. I miss the CMO so very much, but I made a promise to myself if I made the calendars as we call them we’d stick it out through the year.
NEXT year will be a different story I’M BACK to the CMO!! I like the checklists daily, I like the way everything is spelled out for you, I like that it just moves you to the next thing, I like the way at the the end of the year I can just go ahead and print off a report with it all on there (long form or short), I will not do a paper planner again.
As someone mentioned I also have dial up but still feel it’s worth it. I just multi task at the desk while it’s all moving along. Or other things coming back to work on it as I can. Also, the kids are old enough to learn to sit here and input there information so that’s helpful if I don’t need to do anything at the desk.
Not having the subjects in order is ok. NOT great but with everything else it gives me I’ll deal with it. That coming from a super organized freek of a women. (ask my friends)
Well have to go. but miss the cmo so very much. Thank you CM team for this organizer and I will be back! Misty
I tried to check out the Image Bearer shared by one of the authors (Diana?), but it takes me to iCloud instead of a file list. Any tips?
No answer as to the cloud. I’m wrestling with paper versus CMO as we are hopefully getting Internet again this month. I spent hours typing up the past years charts, lists for each subject/for each child. It worked very well, but I’m wondering if CMO would save time in the long run? I’m seeing in this thread that some of those who use both end up going back to CMO. Have any of you stuck with paper after leaving CMO even if you could afford CMO?
I was the originator of this thread a couple of years ago. I quit the organizer because I am easily distracted when I am online and would start logging in completed or worked on assignments and then quickly find myself checking email, researching curriculum, browsing our library’s website, looking on Amazon…well, you get what I’m saying. I also was too easily tempted to let things slide by clicking “worked on” when we really didn’t do much to “work on” the assignment, even if I really needed to get it done that week or day for some reason.
I downloaded the imagebearer and it didn’t suit my purposes. I finally found myself snooping out the Donna Young website and took some of her forms and tweaked them. I’ve been using my tweaked Donna Young forms ever since. It helps to keep me on track and at the end of every week, I visibly see what was accomplished versus what was hoped to be accomplished and I plan the next week accordingly. So although I think the CMO is an amazing resource, I’ve stuck with the paper method, even though we can afford the CMO. Paper just works better for me at this point!
I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind at any time… Hope this helps!
I picked up the ultimate homeschool,planner ata convention because I wanted to have something now to start my planning for next yea but now I wish I would have waited and looked around! I like to have a paper planner at this time. I spend more time reading and writing more than anything and I don’t get on the computer much. Anyone ever use this planner? I have been printing out my own from a free resource! Wish I would not have spent $22.00 on a planner!
I have the ultimate homeschool planner and I really like it! We used to use the CMO but I really like pencil and paper. Although we all enjoyed the Organizer! Plus I get distracted on the computer. I teach 4 children right now and I figured out a way to get all of their assignments on a page spread. I list their names down the side, and include a box for “family” too. Then along the top I list “everyday” then mon-fri. So the things they do every day are listed in one box, then the other subjects are written in on the days we do them. Then we simply pick a color of pen for the day and make tally marks or check marks next to the subject if we did it that day. It sounds a little confusing, but we have been doing this for 4 months now and it still works great.
I have tried to use the CMO, but I never seem to have the time to load everything in! It takes me forever to get myself switched over to digital ANYTHING! For us, I used to write everything down myself, then a couple of years ago, I purchased Rod and Staff’s inexpensive planners for each child and they write in everything they do each day. They love it! It gives them accountability, they can visually see what they have accomplished or if their week looked “thin”. And I give them free reign to doodle to their heart’s content in them!
I’m still wishing I could get my act together and REALLY try the CMO, though!
marmiemama- which planners do you use for your kiddos? The weekly lesson planners? Black cover? How old are your students? Would grade 1 and 4 be able to utilize these in your opinion?
Thanks!
I’m still wishing I could get my act together and REALLY try the CMO, though!
marmiemama, if you’ve done a free trial in the past but not had time to use it, we’ll be happy to reset it for another 30 days if you like. Just contact us and let us know.
I used the CMO a couple of years ago and really liked it, but I had trouble printing out something every day. Does it have a function to print the whole week yet? I’d come back, if that function was available!!!
I’ve only seen “no” as an answer to that question. I’m thinking, due to the flexibility to forge ahead/lag behind the plans for the year, it isn’t designed to print out the week. I have a chart that has weekly/daily schedules by subject as a family and for each of our youngest two children. I print off a chart each week for them. I only jot math lesson numbers on the chart. I’m not even certain why I do that at this point other than to work as motivation to push through the book. :). Everything else is pretty much “turn the page in the book” for the rest. Why it’s not the same for math, I have no clue. I took ideas from http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/sample-schedules/ for setting up our schedule for most of the year, but we’re on our summer schedule now, the chart is less complicated and we get finished quickly. This isn’t a well informed answer. 🙂 I’m working on a different chart for next school year. It’s not looking very likely that we’ll get a signal for Internet. So, I’m guessing I’m stuck with my phone which would mean sticking with paper planning. 🙁
Becca<><
I just made up my own using the schedule my mom used when I was young (I was homeschooled K-12 as were my siblings). I just updated it and made it work for me. I see an entire week at a glance for each of the kids and can easly let them know what is on schedule for each week.
I guess I’m just longing for a way for my children to see the whole week’s goals and have one paper to work from. Then, at the end of the week, I can enter what they actually did and it would adjust accordingly for the next week. I already spend 1+ hours a week adjusting their schedules on paper. I really do appreciate the predictive/adjustable nature of the organizer… just need it to go further out. This would save me a tremendous amount of time/effort!!! Doug… any way that could happen with the current set up? 🙂
Jen
I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind at any time… 
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