Okay. I’ve had a little bit of an “a-ha” moment. I started off the year trying to write everything down that my girls did instead of using the organizer so I would have a daily record/journal. Well, it failed miserably! I forgot assignments, didn’t do half of what we wanted to, was *way* disorganized. I’ve have spent this afternoon putting what we’ve done over the last month in the Organizer.
Now, to my question: Do you print out the night before what you are planning on doing that next day “Tomorrow’s Plan?” I was thinking I could check off the assignments, make notes on the page; then, I could save the page in a binder and record everything we actually did that day in the Organizer.
I don’t print it daily, but rather, have a form for my dd to refer to. We check things off online and do not keep a printed record except at the end of the year via the reports available. Here is our daily form, if it’s helpful to see an example – http://www.box.net/shared/71g068x8fh
I do print off a sheet each morning for my two boys who work mostly independently. It is very nice not to always be hearing “Mom, what do we do next?” 🙂 But I see no reason to keep the papers when I’m done–we recycle them–because the record is in the Organizer. I print reports of various types periodically and keep those instead, but I don’t want a three-inch binder full of papers for each kid per year that I already have recorded in the Organizer.
I’ve never printed out a daily sheet. My children are young, and don’t work independently yet; but the Organizer is my record. I can go back to any day of any school year (we only have one school year so far, but you know what I mean), and the work is right there. As the children mature, I probably will print off a daily sheet, but only as a guide to them; not as something to keep. I don’t feel the need anymore to write things down or keep exhausting, space-consuming records on paper.
I print out our sheets the night before and clip them to the fridge with a clip magnet. I have been homeschooling for over 10 years and have used the organizer for about a year. It has been fantastic. Everything they are supposed to do is so clear, much more so for some reason than all the charts and checklists I used to make. (???) I check off what has been finished that night and print the next days sheets. I don’t keep the checked lists since I can print off what has been done anytime using the ‘Reports’ feature of the organizer. Did you realize there was this feature? If not, it is worth taking a look at.
When you log into your organizer, you will see four tabs along the top: Bookfinder, Scheduler, Daily Plan and Reports. Click on the Reports tab and you will see three choices: Summary, Detailed and Attendance. Each choice has descriptions of the type of report they represent. If you have been checking off which work is finished when it is finished, you will be able to automatically generate a report for each child. Also, along the side of the reports page, you will see a link to click for a Reports demo. It is a great feature, though I am very blessed to live in a province where the only person I am accountable to for homeschooling my children is the One who called me and strengthens me to do it. 🙂
Thank you all so much for your advice and encouragement. The Organzier has been wonderful and I realize how much easier it has made things for me now that we are following CM’s philosophy and not an every day guide. I was also thinking of printing out a schedule so my daughter can see exactly what she needs to accomplish for the day before she has her free time; sort of a checklist for her.
Christie ~ thank you for sharing your schedule of what your 3rd grader does!
I think I’m going to need to look at the Reports Demo again. Some of you have used this for years, does it keep an indefinite record of your homeschooling? We live in a state that requires no reporting, but I would love to have a history of what they’ve done just in case; for my own peace of mind. Do you print out a report at the end of the school year, then?
You could print a year end report and file it with a portfolio of their work. This is what I do. I have a file for each year and their samples (copywork, math, art, etc.) are in there with our “lesson plan” the printouts from the organizer.
Or, you could just save the report as a file on your computer to be printed if ever it’s needed.
Just a couple of thoughts! I’m going to run have a little church at home with my 4 sick kids and my sick self – ugg! I must say that I’m ready for warmer weather here in the Sunshine state. We’ve never had it this cold for so long!