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CM Organizer…is it worth the price?
- This topic has 25 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 3 months ago by
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I’m trying to figure out when to start my free trial, should I try it before I actually start Module 1 with some books we are currently reading? (I’m waiting on resources to arrive and some to go on sale). Or should I wait and try it when I actually am doing Module 1? It’s all just a bit overwhelming and I’m sure it will be a learning curve on how to use the organizer efficiently, thanks!
If it were me, I would wait until you are doing Module 1 (or whatever you are using for your main set of resources). Then you could get full value out of using the organizer on a daily basis for the free time period.
I have used the organizer for two years. It is worth the money to me – but that doesn’t mean I will always be able to afford it. I may look back fondly, some day, on my days with the organizer :(. Hopefully not this year.
I love having the reports, because I am not good at recording our activities in any of the other ways I have tried. I, too, enter all kinds of things as resources – games, videos, meetings, not just books and lessons. I also have vague resources like “science activity” or “social studies activity” where I record things I notice that are less formal (I just describe them in the note).
The Organizer both guides and documents our day.
Thanks Gem! Also, is this the best way to print out a schedule that the kids can have and check assignments off? I looked forever at planners at the store, and then decided I’d have to make one myself on a spreadsheet(which didn’t sound that great), since I feel like I need individual task sheets, and then a larger general schedule for the week to keep track of hours, etc. (We have to have 1000 hrs documented). Thanks!
Hmm, I don’t know about that. Some folks here do print off the sheets every day. I, personally, do not, I just give them their work each day and check it off myself. I have a wide variety of possibilities input to the program that I prefer to choose for myself what we are doing on any particular day, so my individual use of the organizer does not really lend itself to that. The flexibility of the organizer lets it work in many different ways, even for the same user, if necessary. I do have a handmade chart that lists topics for each child for different days of the week – when we need focus I get one out and put stars on the topics as the kids finish. Like reading or phonics might be every day, science two days, history/social studies two days, etc. It does not give their specific assignment, however, it just lets them know how we are progressing for what needs to be accomplished that day and that week. Our state does not require any kind of documentation, so I don’t have any personal experience with that, but you could record hours either in the daily note, or in the notes for each assignment, then go back when it is convenient and put the hours into a spreadsheet. You can check off assignments that were worked on in the past, so that is convenient when you need to account for hours and maybe you are away from the computer for a few days or something interferes..
It is perfect for printing off sheets and putting them in a planner for your kids to follow! I’ve been doing that since January, and my kids find it great knowing exactly what needs to be done. They get 2 boxes – Worked on, or Finished to check.
It will also print how you have it set on the screen… so if you have a resource scheduled for that day, and you don’t want to do it – you press the little arrow to close it – and it won’t show up on the printed list. If you click to show future assignments on something – it shows the future assignments in small under the main assignment (no boxes to check off though). If you want them to do something that isn’t normally assigned to that day, you click on the bottom of the screen to show resources not nomally scheduled – they show up on the printout just like any other resource.
It works great!
i, too, have to log 1000 hours per year. is there a place to note how many hours each activity/subject took on a given day?
oops!! i just saw this was answered…thanks anyway! 🙂
It will also print how you have it set on the screen… so if you have a resource scheduled for that day, and you don’t want to do it – you press the little arrow to close it – and it won’t show up on the printed list. If you click to show future assignments on something – it shows the future assignments in small under the main assignment (no boxes to check off though). If you want them to do something that isn’t normally assigned to that day, you click on the bottom of the screen to show resources not nomally scheduled – they show up on the printout just like any other resource.
Very cool, I did not know that. Keeping my options open…
I didn’t realize that it only printed what was open either – until I planned to print them everyday…. and tried the first day’s work and found it out. Boy was I pleased as it makes things SO much easier…. I’m doing a modified AO, and some of the readings are every other week. I have the AO master schedule for the week as a reference….
I know this doesn’t help with exact hours, but I’ll mention that the CM Organizer does automatically track days for you, in case that is helpful. You can see this on the attendance report, which totals the days where each student has activity marked worked on or finished. You can also choose to include days that have notes and activity assigned to the family.
doug – so does it track amount of days each subject is done? for example, could you print a report that read:
History – 20
Math – 25
etc….
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