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Mackfam
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| Posted: Feb 02 2010 at 10:38am | IP Logged
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Tina P. wrote:
Jennifer, I am sooo glad that you directed me (maybe without even knowing it) to Homeschool Tracker. It's tons less expensive and does a lot of the things that the CM one does only with more freedom to choose Catholic resources, use nontraditional subjects, and document EVERYTHING. I just have to come up with the resources to purchase *that* planner.  Isn't it funny how every month something comes up (birthday parties, new hs resources, BRACES, ballet ... ) to empty your wallet? |
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I hear you, Tina!!! And I'm so glad that discussion here helped you discern the best use of your finances and energy for planning!!! I can't tell you how many times in reading a thread here it helps me eliminate a variable based on another's experience! That is such a blessing of this board!
saigemom wrote:
| Do the planner sheets in the planner look anything like the planner sheets of the Tanglewood corebook? I had never seen the corebook ones before, but I like them. |
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I'm looking at both of them side by side.
The SCM planner has less of the pretty stuff (borders, inspirational sayings from CM, little places to indicate narration, habit focus, read alouds built into the plans - these are all apart of the various Tanglewood planner). However, if you're looking for eminently practical, the SCM planner is the way to go!!! I liked the details of the Tanglewood planner, but found the practical straightforward layout of the SCM planning sheets to be very intuitive and easier to move through.
Tanglewood's Corebook has lovely pages, many options and choices so you can find the layout/format that works best for your family, but these are mostly in the day to day planning. There are some pages to assist with planning for the year and for the term (although Tanglewood breaks the year up into 6 week blocks rather than SCM's approach of 2 terms). They offer some help in figuring out how to get plans from year to 6 weeks to daily plans, but there isn't nearly as much hand holding as in the SCM planning book.
I didn't use that section of the Corebook...I guess because I do incorporate some unschooly aspects into our home education...so I tend to move in themes and my plans evolve a bit the closer we get to the details of that plan. I like lots of margin in my plans, too. I found I did much the same thing with the SCM planning book, but I found the SCM book more of a value because it starts at BIG PICTURE and works its way down from there. I could use the bigger picture planning helps and then move easily into our comfortable way of planning and living the day to day. I'm pretty comfortable with how our big picture plans evolve into more details and the actual expression of them.
Hope this comparison helps you decide which is the better fit for your family!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Feb 02 2010 at 12:11pm | IP Logged
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Hey Jen, you've seen some of my planning ideas before. Do you think there is anything here for me that would be helpful at this point?
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Feb 02 2010 at 12:48pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| Hey Jen, you've seen some of my planning ideas before. Do you think there is anything here for me that would be helpful at this point? |
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My first inclination is to say nope. You're the queen of organization!  But, I'm pretty good at getting ideas into plans myself, and I found I benefited from the SCM planning guide. Mostly, I benefited in terms of big picture planning...and that this planner was really focused in the philosophy I primarily speak in our learning - CM.
IF...you've got a pretty good overall big picture plan for each of your kids...
IF...you have no problem translating that into chunks of details...big picture plan --> year --> term --> week --> day...
IF...you're comfortable with planning in general (and I've seen your lovely plans!  You're definitely good at planning!)
THEN...this book will probably not give you many tools which you don't already have.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Feb 02 2010 at 1:15pm | IP Logged
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Well, I'm definitely not an organizational queen.  But I do have a lot of resources on my shelves already for planning, so its hard to know if a new resource is going to repeat the information I already have, kwim?
Thanks for this. It helps.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Leocea
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| Posted: Feb 08 2010 at 11:21pm | IP Logged
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I used this a few years ago. I didn't end up sticking with the whole plan, but I did find it useful overall. I found that breaking it into three terms was helpful, and I think it helped me accomplish more than I would have without it.
I actually printed it out, and have it somewhere. Hmmm, might be time to dust it off and use it again!
So, not a waste of money for me.
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Your sister in Christ,
Leocea, wife to Ken, mom to KC 22, Caitlin 17, Malea 13, Mary Catherine 10,Elina Rose,6,Andrew,3 and Lauren Celine,1. Angels 5/05, 5/08, 2/11 and Cameron 7/26/11.
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saigemom
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| Posted: Feb 09 2010 at 3:21am | IP Logged
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Thank you all for the overview. It has been very helpful and I think could be quite useful for the up and coming middle school years.
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: has anyone used Planning your Charlotte
