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MarilynW
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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I would love to hear tips from anyone who uses this. I love organizing and planning - and need plans and lists and schedules. I use a combination of Excel and Word - but it is getting increasingly onerous and I am doing the HST Plus trial to see if it will save me time. I am still in the "agonizing" stage - but it seems to me to be a great way to organize a CM/Classical education.
I really like the way you can create a lesson plan (though still figuring out how to do it) and then quickly make weekly/daily schedules and also have the lesson plan apply to more than one child.
I also think the schedules will be great for those who make their own student planners.
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Marilyn
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 12:32pm | IP Logged
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I used it last year, and I won't be this year. I do well with lists and what not, but I found I didn't use it. I still prefer to make my own way. It has it's assets, but it has some cons too.
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Mom to 4,
1 graduated June 2012
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2 homeschooled(one considering art school!)
ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 6:05pm | IP Logged
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I bought it and don't use it, either. I find it's too complicated for what I need.
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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kristinannie
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 6:10pm | IP Logged
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I use out and I really like it. I do think they could have made out more user friendly. I don't plan out too far because it can be a pain to reschedule. If you want to plan far in advance, I would make a lesson plan under teacher for each subject and book. Then you can make assignments each week and submit them for the kids you want to use them for. It is easy to print out a family list as well as a list for each child.
I do agree that it could be greatly simplified and improved, but I do like using it. It is really easy to print out what you did for the whole year for each subject to give with your portfolio as well.
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John Paul 8.5
Meredith Rose 7
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Katherine Elizabeth 8 months
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 6:12pm | IP Logged
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I also really wish it was more user friendly. And updated. And available as an app for my iPad.
I feel like its interface is way over complicated and out of date looking. It makes me avoid it. I like the idea, but not the actuality.
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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MarilynW
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 8:09pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for all the feedback.
I am working through it slowly. The support from HST is great - they answer all questions quickly. I feel really pleased as I have managed to create lessons and reports that I like.
Things I really like:
Quick ISBN entry of our (many) books
Creating lesson plans in advance and then being able to just submit to lesson plans weekly
Ability to import lesson plans (I did this for Jacobs Algebra and Horizons Math)
Things I still have to figure
How to reschedule
I am hoping that if I invest the time and energy now that it would get easier and eventually be much better than my word documents.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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kristinannie
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| Posted: July 17 2012 at 9:43pm | IP Logged
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I wouldn't put anything into the schedule. If you want to plan ahead, make a lesson plan and then submit lessons!!!
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John Paul 8.5
Meredith Rose 7
Dominic Michael 4.5
Katherine Elizabeth 8 months
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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I just wanted to update to say that I really love HST Plus - and although I am still in my learning curve I see the potential. It is great for CM and other planning - for those who are serial planners and have everything laid out for the term/year before school starts, and those who just enter plans as they go. I am doing a combination of method - I have some lesson plans all set up (Math, History, Theology etc) and some that I have just scheduled generically - Nature Study, Picture Study, Composer Study etc (for these I have Word documents telling me what we are doing each term - but I have not had time to set up lesson plans) Also for morning family time I have my own term by term plan.
I really like the ability to schedule books for reading/narration by page or chapter - it is easy to set up an incremental plan - which is independent of date - so I can schedule them to fit our calendar.
The other feature I like - though I am not using for the first term - is the Memorization function. I can go in and put in the memorization/recitation items for each child and even have these print out on assignment lists.
The reports I like are the assignment calendar which is the "week at a glance" for each child and also the daily assignment list with check off boxes.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Homeschool Tracker Plus
