Planning is the worst and also my favorite! New planners, color coded dividers, and a handy new app can always get me excited. However, actually using the new method or supplies long term is another thing altogether and something I'm sad to say that I struggle with regularly. Today we're reviewing the Annual Membership Plan from My School Year Homeschool Record Keeping. We talked about this online planner back in 2016 and this time around they have added some elements so we are happy to revisit it!
What We Received:
We were given a the Annual Membership Plan to My School Year Homeschool Record Keeping which includes online access across all platforms to their program for unlimited students.
How It Works:
From first login, the program prompts you set up your school, school year/semesters, students, subjects, classes and lessons. This program can do an enormous amount of record keeping and reporting for you depending on how you set it up and how you use it. There is a lot of work to get everything set up properly which can be overwhelming at first. Thankfully, they have a searchable blog full of tips, video tutorials, FAQs, downloadable guides and email/phone support for help. The most useful and pertinent thing it can do is track courses and create a transcript, an important element on all homeschooling parents of high school students.
It also can be a great assignment tracker where students can login and check their own schedule for the day/week. This can be especially helpful for older students working independently. In the lesson section, it will even divide up pages and activities and assign them strategically over a section of time.
It also is a complete online calendar that color codes all student activities, including mom's chores and to-do lists.
In addition to all of the added tutorials and help, one of the biggest changes to the program since the last time we looked at it is the Teacher's Aid. Under this heading, you receive notifications for things that need to be done like enrolling a student, adding lessons to a class or questions about attendance or awards. It points out areas you may have missed or simply where you left off last.
What We Thought:
My oldest is 8 and we have yet to allow any of our kids a personal device so the immediate value of this program for our family is strictly record keeping and organization for mom. Since I struggle with follow-through in record keeping, MySchoolYear.com has become like a training program for me to keep track in preparation for older grades when it becomes absolutely necessary.
While this program can do a ton, it requires a ton of set up that seems daunting in the face of just a pen and paper. However, the product of a complete record and organized assignments your independent kids can access themselves is an important thing too. When you are willing to put in the time at the beginning watching the tutorials, reading the blog and getting everything set up, this program is a gem! It's accessible everywhere so no matter what device you have access to, you can check someone's assignments or set up a new lesson.
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Would you be interested in hearing from families with older children? Check out other Crew Members' reviews to find out what their experience was.
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