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Help me talk my dh into letting me get the Organizer
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OK, so did some thorough research yesterday on the Organizer, and of course, I love it! It does exactly what I do on paper, only much more quickly…. Duh…
Hubby is going to have to be extremely sold on the idea, though. We are not big spenders, and we are trying to save up money to buy land – so we’re very motivated. However, he is also very hopeful that I will have time for other things, such as cleaning…… LOL So I think I will start with the time-saver argument. What other arguments have you all found helpful when trying to convince husbands that this is a justified, needed expense?
I personally don’t see how it saves time? Instead of writing it down, you still have to find the resources in the organizer, type it in daily, etc. I did the free trial, and while I may see the benefit for some, it wasn’t helpful for me at all. I just have a bare schedule for the family on the refrigerator, then each child has their schedule and they know where they are in their respective books. I keep a yearly booklist of what they have read/done/hrs for our state. Unless you have to have detailed reports for your state, I don’t think it’s a necessary expense. My husband doesn’t want me spending money on curriculum, and wouldn’t want me using the organizer either, so I say if your husband has reservations, just find other ways to make your recordkeeping easier? I’m sure other moms will have different opinions that may be more helpful to your cause:)
I dont’ use the organizer (I’m happier with paper and pencil) but here is how I approach any purchasing decision with my husband:
1. Learn about the resource.
2. Write a pros/cons list. What makes this worth spending the purchase price over what you’ve already got or are already doing? What drawbacks are there (for example, with the Organizer it is not a one time purchase, it’s yearly, and if you don’t have access to the computer for a period of time you don’t have your organizer).
3. Pray about it, and specifically pray that you’ll be content with your husband’s answer.
4. Approach your husband, share the pros/cons, and then accept his counsel. If he says no then don’t set out to “convince” him to change his opinion. Accept it and practice contentment with what you have.
Tristan, that is good advice!
amama5 – I do understand some prefer paper, but I just want to make sure people have an accurate picture of what this amazing software does. I tried paper for a month or so at the beginning of this year after having the organizer for 2 years or so prior. Let me just say, I couldn’t come back quick enough. IT IS A HUGE TIMESAVER for me. I do not type in anything daily other than notes I may want to remember. I type in or pull in from the bookfinder all of my resources at the beginning of the year or term. Each evening, I check off what was completed or worked on and print tomorrow’s sheet. Easy Peasy. Also, if a child is sick, there is no rearranging as may be necessary on paper. I LOVE it and the yearly fee is more than made up for by the time savings for me. I would spend $$$ on the organizer and forgo some other resources, if need be. It’s that helpful to me.
On another note, whether you like paper and pencil or computerized records isn’t paramount. Even if your state doesn’t require you to keep a detailed log of educational records, I would encourage all homeschoolers to make sure they do keep records anyway. It’s always better to be prepared and able to show what you’ve been doing in the event it is called into question.
Blessings,
Christie
Christie, that’s exactly what made me re-examine the Organizer in the first place. The social worker seemed impressed with my notes from last year. I did exactly what the Organizer did, only on paper, and for 3 kids, that was impossible to keep up with! I have since learned that, even though my state doesn’t *require* the detailed notes, if you should happen to have an angry neighbor report you, you will have to show records. This year, I started out with a book list and checking off the books as we get finished with them. But since he came and liked those notes from last year, it made me seriously rethink my record-keeping (along with some other moms from co-op). He even went so far as to sort of kind of accept those notes in lieu of gradekeeping (not that I need to keep grades, but he is a former PS teacher – ’nuff said).
Tristan, that’s a great idea. I will do that in the next couple of days before I bring it up with hubby (I amazed myself last night that I didn’t bring it up yet LOL). Thanks!
I think more than anything, like I said above, it will save me time in record keeping, just in case said neighbor decides to be… well, a major pain again.
I know it won’t save a ton of time in listing the books, but at the same time, I think it will save me some hours of prep work at the beginning of the year, and save me paper, too. Right now, I do a list of books by hand, then I put them in order, then I figure out how much we have to read per “term,” then I type it all up in the computer, then I print it, hope it’s correct, edit it, reprint it, and then daily I write down what everyone needs to do on their own and get out all the books for each day. I have no way to write down what exactly we did each day (what chapter we read, if they did a narration, what other activities we did). I did last year, but boy, did that get old fast… If I have it all right there and just have to print a copy each day and then stick it in their binders along with a copy of a narration or artwork or what have you, I can see how that can help me daily, as well. With our busy household, even an hour or 2 is a lifesaver sometimes! LOLFrom my experience, I hate the record keeping aspect of homeschool the worst!!! I plan out our year/tem/month/week/days or however I choose to plan it out, It looks so nice on paper all organized. Then my dd goes to the hospital or something else happens and we only do half a day. I then have to adjust all the plans to match the reality of life. AAARGGGGHHHHH! I can keep a journal daily too, but that is time consuming and bulky. ugh
I used the Organizer for a few months and thought, well, I get distracted too easily, so I went back to paper for about – ummm – two weeks. It was so frustrating! My children loved their own check-off lists, I loved having mine, I wasn’t nearly as organized and school was quickly becoming an emotional issue for all of us. It was so bad, and I missed the ease of the Organizer so much, that I actually stopped our school routine on a Friday, and spent the next couple of days imputing and scheduling out our year into the Organizer. (It doesn’t have to take that long, I was being interupted a lot). In about 10 minutes a day I can print, record and track everything that we have done and have a schedule printed for first thing in the morning. I am so much more organized now it is ridiculus.
Here are my top reasons for having the Organizer:
- I can print every one a new schedule every day
- I can track my dd individual daily progress at a glance and allow priviledges based on her “performance” – no projects if your math isn’t done
- I can imput everything in my day – I can put my daily dinner menu and prep so I don’t forget, my cleaning tasks, along with my devotional time, service hours. and any other thing that might need a list daily or weekly.
- I can take a day off with out having to waste my time playing catch-up or using my eraser
- I have more time to enjoy my family – and be with my husband mentally and physically (no more sitting on the couch thinking about all the other stuff I need to do besides sit there with him – lol)
- I can track our attendance as well as our progress individually and collectively with one click of a button
- I can print those records at anytime and present them as proof that we are schooling our children – and that they are making progress (most people are impressed when I tell them what we are reading)
- I do not have to try to keep track of everything long enough to get it into my records
- I can change a book. a curriculum or a schedule quickly and without interuption in our lives – again a few clicks of a button.
- It gives me confidence to use the books and schedule them out over longer periods of time – they don’t get lost in the shuffle – and it is working. We are going through books so quickly even if we are not reading in them daily
- It teaches my children to take responsiblilty for their schooling.
- It is only $10.00 a month – I save that in time easily – freeing up my time and planning it on the Orgainzer helps me to not spend more money on convenience foods, duplicate purchases of supllies, etc….
One thing that I noticed about putting in resources – Internet Explorer is excruciatingly sssllllooowwww….I switched to Mozilla Firefox and was shocked at how quick I was getting it done. I won’t use IE to input again. LOL
I LOVE the Organizer and it is worth every single penny in this house.
I have to jump back on here and say that one thing I love is different things work for each of us, but I also love that different things work for each person at different times too! I know that has been true for our homeschooling in many areas. What worked well three years ago wouldn’t work as well today with the current life events going on, what didn’t work last month may be perfect this month, and so on.
The Organizer saves me tons of time! More importantly, I love having our actual work recorded! And I used a lesson plan book for years-if I ever have to go back…oh me. Don’t want to think about it! My Instructor’s Guide from MFW is pretty close to what I pay for the Organizer and I would ten times rather have the Organizer. I agree, it’s worth every penny.
I liked everything about the organizer except for the fact I couldn’t print a larger font. I tried the suggestions given to me when I asked and it did not work. I have slightly poor eyesight and I need the font bigger so it is not so stressful. We only have one computer and with six kids that need to check their schedules and check them off it is important that I be able to print out our daily assignments.
This year I had to write out our daily assignments. Not nearly as easy as the organizer.
Blessings,
missyI know it won’t save a ton of time in listing the books, but at the same time, I think it will save me some hours of prep work at the beginning of the year, and save me paper, too.
We have a new sharing feature in testing right now that should soon help with some book entry. Anyone will be able to share resource they’ve entered for use by everyone else. That means the library of what is already in the Organizer should increase dramatically.
@suzukimom, we’ve already announced the feature is coming so feel free to share what you think of the potential from your early testing.
I liked everything about the organizer except for the fact I couldn’t print a larger font. I tried the suggestions given to me when I asked and it did not work.
Missy, We’d be happy to keep working with you to see if we can come up with a solution.
Oh, I get to talk! Cool.
That said – now you have to wait until I get time this evening. It has been exciting though!
Ok, I have a few minutes to share…
I am really looking forward to the sharing feature! I love that someone will be able to put up a resource, and I’ll be able to use it without re-typing it all in. Yes, I forsee a LOT more resources available without having to add them myself.
They have put in provisions for different editions of books. The resource already entered is the 1st edition… but you own the 2nd edition that has 5 more chapters? Won’t be a problem – you can indicate it is a different edition, start out with all the information already entered in, add in the new chapters, and go on. Both editions are available for people to use.
The resource is already entered in – but there are just chapter numbers, no names or descriptions? No problem, you can take the time to add in the chapter names. People who already have the resource scheduled will be told on the screen that there is a newer version. They can ignore the change and keep their already scheduled version – or they can update. Someone updated a resource, but you liked it the old way better? Not a problem – you can view the older versions, and you can schedule the older versions.
Yes, there are some things they are still working on with this… but that is what testing is for. But the testing I’ve done show that once again the SCM family has carefully thought out how to accomplish this to make it once again a user friendly feature that should be easy to figure out.
I am really looking forward to having access to this in our daily schedule. I am looking forward to seeing the great resources you are using, as well as having less typing at the start of the school year or term. I have no idea what the timeline is on this – but believe me it will be well worth the wait.
Hope I didn’t say too much Doug!
Hmmm? sounds like a good idea. Now if I can get the chores on there and the meals on there with a monthly thing that would be a walk in the park??? 🙂 Now, I only need someone to punch it all in. 🙂 Ok, I know I am asking to much but hey I can dream can’t I?
Thanks, suzukimom! Yep, I’m liking it better and better all the time….. 😛 I did hold my tongue last night with hubby, but boy, it is getting tougher…. LOL I may hold out until after Christmas, though, just because I really, really don’t have time to add in books and get it all set up while trying to get ready for Christmas and still doing school. 😀 But if hubby says yes, I’ll be there before Jan. 1!
I know it won’t save a ton of time in listing the books, but at the same time, I think it will save me some hours of prep work at the beginning of the year, and save me paper, too. Right now, I do a list of books by hand, then I put them in order, then I figure out how much we have to read per “term,” then I type it all up in the computer, then I print it, hope it’s correct, edit it, reprint it, and then daily I write down what everyone needs to do on their own and get out all the books for each day. I have no way to write down what exactly we did each day (what chapter we read, if they did a narration, what other activities we did). I did last year, but boy, did that get old fast… If I have it all right there and just have to print a copy each day and then stick it in their binders along with a copy of a narration or artwork or what have you, I can see how that can help me daily, as well. With our busy household, even an hour or 2 is a lifesaver sometimes! LOL
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