Where we are right now we cannot afford the online planner that SCM offers, though I would love it. That being said I bought just a plain homeschool planner to record what we did every day. This is just for me and for us to look back on. We are not required by law to do so. But the planner just did not work for our CM schedule. We school year round and the planner doesn’t go that far. It also doesn’t have room for me to enter what we accomplished with nature study, composer, etc. Have you had success with any planners? Which one do you like?
If looking for an online tool, you could google SchedTrak (or schedtrack?) and Homeschool tracker. Although not nearly as friendly as the SCM Organizer, they might suit your needs in a budget you can handle… and would have more flexibility and better reporting than a paper planner.
We’ve been using Homeschool Skedtrak this year. It took a bit of time to enter all of the materials we were using for the year, but once I got things going, it worked well for us. There are video tutorials you can view to see what you think of it, and it’s free. You can look into it for yourself here.
Have you considered a homeschool journal instead of a homeschool planner? You could use your pre-purchased planner to record what you want to do and the journal to jot down what you actually did?
AussieMum, thanks for posting the link to your planner. It is so adorable! I’ve bought some of the modules and I can’t wait to get some thicker paper and begin printing it.
I haved used many planners in the past and been disappointed. But I have found one I love so far, http://www.wellplannedday.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=0002 . But remember I am new to CM. My 4 children are 7yrs to 7mo. So officially, only one is school age. However, The Well-Planned Day comes from people who advocate CM and you can preview EVERY page right online. Hope this helps. They have an awesome magazine too. Joanna