SCM planner or alternatives

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 40 total)
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  • NJcountrygal
    Participant

    I have many, many items that I have purchased from SCM.  I have yet to be disappointed with anything.  The SCM Organizer would be at the top of my list of things I love on this site!!!!!  Saves me so much time and writers cramp!!!!Yell  For any family wanting to go CM all the way, SCM is the place to shop.  As for the organizer, I think it could be used by any family no matter the teaching style.  It is especially helpful though, for those using a mastery based approach.

    BTW- I tried other planners.  One that is seemingly very popular (Has good advertizing) I purchased for $30. plus another $30. for the fancy matching binder.  I think it was my most unwise HS purchase ever.  It was full of needless and unused planning areas; not to mention all the white out I was using!!!!  Totally not my style!!!

    4myboys
    Participant

    Thanks ladies, and especially you, Doug!  That will make it so much easier when everyone is able to share the resources they are adding.  That would be awesome if I can extend the trial if need be!  I hope I can make some head way today and see if I can get enough info into it to try it for the remaining two weeks before our break. 

    I agree, I’ve not been disappointed with any SCM product that I’ve ordered (I haven’t many yet, but I love the Planning your CM education & Laying Down the Rails).  I am looking forward to using the Histroy Modules in the coming years.  

     

    Misty
    Participant

    I wanted to just share my experience. For 2 years I used the organizer and love it. Then last year my dh and said tried to do something on our own so that it would cost lest. Guess what I hate it. I am a very organized. Neat freak. Everything to a “T”. My system didn’t work. I have redid it 2 times and I still can’t stand it. I through my part out and the boys keep plugging along because it only helps me to see what they have done independantly.

    That said I can’t wait to start inputing my informtation back into the planner and paying away! It is so worth it. Not only for the day to day things but for the reports at the end.

    And there is nothing that is perfect, like a magic ball. And on behalf of the SCM team they are always listening to our input, trying and succeeding at making improvements to it and they are quick with fixes and questions. I love it and will be back soon! :0)

    4myboys
    Participant

    I actually had some time to play with it in the last hour or so, and I’m getting the hang of adding the resources.  I can see this being very time consuming at first.  What is annoying right now is that it’s Friday and I’ve got everything put in to start on Monday, so I’m not seeing a daily plan.  Do I have to go back and schedule everything for THIS week or wait until Sunday to see it all?  I can see it coming together, though.  All the little things that keep slipping through the cracks would be harder to miss, that’s for sure.  It sure would be nice to be able to squeeze it into my budget…

    SueinMN
    Participant

    I schedule everything for seven days a week. That way I can look at my plan on Saturday or Sunday when I may want to order library books etc. If you decide not to do something one day then you just click on it and it disappears but comes back the next day. Or you can just ignore it and it comes back the next day. Of course people who know what they want to do on separate days can just schedule them those days but I need the flexibility.

    At $10/month I would cancel the cable or eating out to be able to afford this.

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    Sue,

    Could you clarify more how you plan? Are you keeping another notebook or spreadsheet with your long term planning and then each weekend you take a look at Monday on the Organizer to see if you have everything entered? Then you have to mark what’s done each day, right? So you have everything assigned everyday and then you mark what gets done for the record on a daily basis, and know where to pick up the next time you do that subject?

    It sounds like you work the Organizer a bit different than the SCM videos show. I like flexibility, but I am trying to see the value in it versus what Sherez does and just checks off the TOC and writes in the date. Please expand more on that.

    4myboys
    Participant

    I’d love to cancel the cable, but my husband is a Technical Producer with our cable company, so that’s not going to happen…

    I agree, though, that the cost seems very reasonable, especially when you look at it spread out over 10 months.  My boys like that they can see what needs doing.  We seem to have accomplished more in the first couple days of using it.  I would like to be able to go in on Friday afternoon or over the weekend to see the coming week as I am preparing for it.  I kind of see where you are going with scheduling 7 days a week, Sue, but that sounds really complex for my tiny brain at the moment.  Do you schedule everything every day?

    my3boys
    Participant

    @4myboy, Do you have the Planning Your CM Ed. video/planner?? With it comes the downloadable forms to type in your schedule for the week/day/semester/whatever. I type in my “weekly” schedule, even field trips, doc. appt., etc., print it out, put it on the fridge so I can see at a glance what we have going for the week. I still use Organizer for their daily assignments (especially for my 13yo) and for keeping track of their completed assignments (no paper trail/white out), etc. Each Friday (or over the weekend) I go over the weekly schedule and compare it to our home calendar and make necessary changes. I don’t need to change anything in the Organizer since it’s not necessary to do so, I just skip marking it Worked On/Finished. It’ll pop up on the next day it’s scheduled…..sooo easy.

    Most of our days/weeks are the same anyway, so not too much changes in my typed schedule, but I do like “seeing” what days are not going to be that productive (with book work). And if I can squeeze an assignment into a different day, I do. This also helps me to make sure that I’m not over/under scheduling our day. Make sense??

    Just yesterday I had to add some resources and make some changes to when I had certain subjects scheduled…it is so easy and fun. I had meant to post to the forum how easy it was to do that without having to deal with the paper mess, plus, I can set it and forget it (I know, lame). It’ll all be there today to print (or not) and get to work.

    As you can tell…I love it.

    4myboys
    Participant

    Yes I have Planning your CM ed. DVD & Workbook.  Love them.  I’ll probably love the organizer in time, too as I sort it all out in my head and get everything entered into it.  I am going to see if I can figure out how to put chores in later today (I hope…) and my own assignments such as my reading for small group, planning time and assignments for an online course I’m taking.  Let’s see what this baby can really do !!!

    suzukimom
    Participant

    Even if you don’t schedule for every day of the week, you can click on the bottom where it says “Show assignments not scheduled for today” (or something similar) – and it shows all the assignments

    4myboys
    Participant

    I’m not having much fun with it today.  I’ve discovered I’ve scheduled some things wrong, and now I have to go back and fix them.  For one one or two things it was an easy fix, for others, not so much.  I think I’ll have to re-enter the resource all together, once I figure out how to delete the way I put it in originally.  I’m now wondering if I need to scedule in the unit tests or end of year tests for math as well.  It was annoying and made me less productive than I was hoping to be, but I’d say the fault was mine, not the program’s. 

    Amy
    Member

    I schedule everything for Saturday. Mainly so that if we miss anything during the week, we can do it on Saturday. I just collapse everything we don’t need to do. I see that I can use that to my advantage in a new way: Saturday evening I can print a list and know what to prepare for next week. I didn’t even think of that! Thanks. Smile

    To schedule tests, you could just create a new resource or use just the tests from a current resource. Either use it after your math (or whatever) book is finished, or schedule it for a certain date. I have a special project I want to do for science this summer, so I’ve just scheduled it to start the first Monday in July. Now I don’t have to worry about it.

    I’ve just started using the organizer again, and I’m loving it. We are getting things done, I’m not erasing, and I’m not feeling guilty. I love that I can go in and print records as well.

    suzukimom
    Participant

    You can edit a resoure – add divisions at the end, then move them into place (renumber if needed)

    4myboys
    Participant

    Oh.  I’ll try that tomorrow.  I accidentally omitted a section of lessons, then decided to do them after all, but in a different order for our Queens LLVY.  It was frustrating because I could only figure out how to undo one lesson at a time and because it’s copy work, there are about 10 lessons that need to be Un-ommitted.  I’m fairly certain I tried to edit but was “locked out” of those divisions.  I’ll have to have another look later.  Now it is nearly 11:30 am, and I need to hit the hay.  Tomorrow is dh’s birthdayLaughing  “beware the ides of March!”

    ourjourney
    Participant

    The well planned day is coming out with a planner (online) that looks amazing! Icannot wait to see it! I believe they said it will be under $50 and you can sync everything, even use it mobile!

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 40 total)
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