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Mary G
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 6:40am | IP Logged
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After months (dh says it seems like years!  ) of trying to find the perfect planner/hs journal/calendar set up so I could keep track of what we want to do, what we actually do and what we should be doing  , the Holy Spirit knocked me upside the head and pointed out something quite obvious. My problem was balancing multiple schedules, wanting to "journal" what we do rather than just writing down workbook page numbers (which we don't do much around here), and having something I could easily reference and easily edit.
The noodge from the Holy Spirit? GOOGLE!
The planner/journal: I set up a blog in blogger that can only be seen by those whom I want to see it -- it won't come up on any search (not on blogger's search) etc. It's just a private way for me to plan out our general scope of courses, then I can do journal-like entries at the end of each day (which I'll hand-write in my "mobile" calendar, the GoodNews teacher planner y'all recommended -- some day I might be able to get an iphone or other device which will let me add to calendar/journal, but dh works for the Catholic church  ). I can tag posts so that I can pull out all Maggie's info or all field trips or all books used for history. I can hyperlink the info so that I'll be able to find the resources later. When I go on a field trip, I can link to the web-site and have all the resource info from that. I can load all those digital pictures I take and forget to do anything with ...
Well, you get the idea.
Further, at the end of the year, I can save my blog to my computer (I have directions how to do that on blogger if anyone needs them) or even have them bound in one of those "books" someone will print at a cost.
The Calendar: GOOGLE Calendar, which is very much like iCal, is a breeze to use. What I found out last night is I can set up multiple calendars -- saints/feast days, Rick's school, Catie's school, our school stuff, and family info (birthdays, anniversaries, etc) -- each with a different color so that I can merge calendars and see that Catie has summer school on Tuesday while we'll be having a pizza party with friends! I put in all the Saints feast day/liturgical things in gold so I'd remember to celebrate patron saints, etc.
I can print out either day, week, month or any batch of days to hang on the fridge so all know what's going on. I can add notes, increase the size (that is, the length of the "appointments"), or edit easily.
On top of all these wonderful things -- it's FREE!
Hope this helps someone else ... I'm just so excited about it!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Willa
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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Oh, I like your enthusiasm, Mary!
I do something very similar and it has worked well for 2 years. For me, the mixture of flexibility and accountability is just perfect. Almost everything else I have tried I have had to give up or simplify enormously.
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Kathryn UK
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 9:57am | IP Logged
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Mary, I love Google Calendar and have been using it for a while, with a similar assortment of calendars to yours. I also have a "Menu Plan" calendar, which means that if our schedule changes I can easily tweak my menu plans to match. In addition I use a free To-Do List program called Toodledo. It is simple and easy to use, but also quite flexible (you can have different folders for different types of task) and best of all ... it can be pulled into Google Calendar  . A little check box shows up on your Calendar each day. Click on that and you get a drop-down Toodledo box with the days tasks, so you can check off and edit your to-do list without having to leave Calendar. I love it and have been meaning to blog about it
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Kathryn
Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
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Elena
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 10:00am | IP Logged
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That's great Mary! Glad you have something that will work for you.
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Elena
Wife to Peter, mom of many!
My Domestic Church
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Erin
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 9:58pm | IP Logged
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Mary
I also have a private blog and find that I now actually record/plan what we have done, finally!!
I was checking out google calendar the other day too, its funny that you should say that its like ical, I was wondering the same thing as I was trying to adapt Jennifer's ical tutorial, I was actually having success up to a point.
Don't suppose you're interested in giving a google calendar tutorial?
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
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Mary G
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 5:59am | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
| Don't suppose you're interested in giving a google calendar tutorial? |
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Happy to as soon as I learn it ! It's pretty intuitive and I really like being able to place it on my desktop so I can click it and expand it ....
and it's FREEE! Ya gotta love that especially as I was looking at Simply Charlotte Mason's planner/journal which is wonderful but not quite what I needed and works out to $100/year! 
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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stefoodie
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 7:57am | IP Logged
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I posted about how I use Google calendar last year,
scroll down past the picture to see my little hints -- don't know if that's all you need but that's how I got it to work for me...
Mary, free is wonderful indeed!!
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stef
mom to five
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Mary G
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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Thanks Stef! That helps immensely....
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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monica
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 9:37am | IP Logged
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does google calendar print off neatly so you can have a hard copy too? i like to have both so i am not tied to the computer when i want to remember something. does it allow you to print off monthly or weekly or what?
my husband uses this, but hes at work, so i will ask you guys
monica
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stefoodie
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Hi Monica, here's how I print mine (from the post I linked to above): You'll have to do some tweaking...
Quote:
| To print from Google calendar to any size paper — go to the day’s date, click on “Agenda” then “Print”. This will open up a new window. Adjust your settings; I check off “descriptions” and nothing else. Press “Print” — this will bring up the printing dialogue — click on Properties and adjust your paper settings there. Mine is set for 5.5″ width and 8.25″ length. Google calendar will tell you if your schedule will print on one or more pages, so you can adjust your font (Google only has normal, small, smaller, big, bigger — normal usually works for me unless I’ve got a lot of items then I choose small). |
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stef
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JenD
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Mary,
Thanks so much for posting about this.  I have been looking for a way to chronicle our home education journey. I loved the idea of a blog but never knew you could set it so others could not find it unless you invited them. I was able to easily set up a blog last night and it is just what I was looking for! Thank you. I am new to this forum and I have already learned so much.
Jen
Mom to 4
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Mary G
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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So glad, Jen! I was hoping others would get some good tips here. I kept trying to force the "school planners" into my journaling-style record-keeping; and I liked the idea of having it on computer so I could change it easily ....
A great benefit to Google is if I'm down at my in-laws without my laptop I can still do the updates, etc ... well, anywhere really because it's web-based ... also it's so easy to update, change, edit, etc.
Welcome, Jen! So glad I ws the reason for your SECOND post!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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TracyQ
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 9:33pm | IP Logged
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What's the addy of the blog you're using that's free???
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Mary G
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| Posted: July 23 2008 at 6:15am | IP Logged
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TracyQ -- blogger is the one I use and after you set it up you can set it to only be visibile by whoever you choose and also not make it available for blog searches (that is, it's not listed on blogger's blogs).
Blogger is owned by Google ... so again a plug for Google  I'm sure typepad or one of the others would do more, but blogger is free and I can set up as many blogs as I want (I currently have 4 different blogs, I think).
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
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Mare
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| Posted: July 23 2008 at 8:13am | IP Logged
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Mary,
I think I was traveling the same perfect journal/planner idea as you.  In my state, I need to turn in a portfolio to an evaluator at the end of the year. This was my first year of turning in a portfolio. The evaluator I use will accept online portfolios.
I've been contemplating using Blogger ever since she told me. We already have a private blog where my girls can type up reports or work on monthly newsletters. I'm thinking of using this account for our portfolio. I like your idea of using tags. This would make it easy for the evaluator to see what we've done in various subjects through out the year.
My only problem is actually sitting down and typing up the entries and downloading the photos. We have the computer in our family room. I find it hard to post to this forum or on my blog with the interruptions that I get.
Could you and the other ladies please share when you post on your blog? Do you work on it in bits and pieces and save it in draft? How do you handle interruptions? I need help thinking outside the box on getting in computer time.
Peace,
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Mary G
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| Posted: July 23 2008 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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Mare wrote:
Could you and the other ladies please share when you post on your blog? Do you work on it in bits and pieces and save it in draft? How do you handle interruptions? I need help thinking outside the box on getting in computer time.
Peace, |
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Mare, I'm going to start a separate post about this in case others, just wanting to know about blogging, etc, will be able to post too ....
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
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TracyQ
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| Posted: July 23 2008 at 8:32am | IP Logged
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Mary,
This was SO EASY to set up! That's a GREAT place! I have a blog on homeschoolblogger that I wanted to change to another venue, and I think this will be just the ticket.
I am SO blog illiterate it's not funny. I'd like to learn how to add website addys, pictures, etc. But I think I may journal our homeschooling this year on a seperate, private blog too, we'll see.
Thanks Mary!
Tracy
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Mare
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| Posted: July 23 2008 at 3:33pm | IP Logged
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Hey Tracy,
Don't mention on your blog that you are changing venues or homeschoolblogger will delete everything before you have time to transfer or save things. That scenario happened to another blogger.
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amethyst
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| Posted: July 24 2008 at 6:18am | IP Logged
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I love the idea of putting my schedules on a blog - this is way easier for me than hunting through computer files!
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saigemom
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I am loving the online to do list. Yest. I did the subjects and how many days I wanted to cover them for each child to be presened on a weekly basis. yeah! Thanks for mentioning that.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Planner, journal & calendar -- free!
