Productivity and Organization Systems for Our Homeschool

I spent much of last weekend (in between folding laundry), trying to figure out what productivity tools I would use for the school year.  I had very much wanted to switch to a completely paperless system on my iTouch, but there are times when paper is still a lot more convenient, mostly because you can see more things at once. 

Here is my organizational plan so far. Some of these things have worked for me in the past, others are very similar to things that have worked for me in the past, and others are new. 

Non-electronic tools:

• I have a binder with my lesson plans and daily to-do list  for myself.  I will make a separate post explaining that system. 
• I can also put any papers or worksheets that we'll use that week in the binder.  (Our homeschool isn't worksheet heavy, but we do sometimes print fun pages off the Internet to do.)
• Right now, I am storing my binder and all of their school books in a reusable grocery bag.  (Obviously, we don't have a lot of school books!)  This proved to be convenient last week when we needed to do some work out of the house. 
• I need to buy a small composition book or journal to keep in my purse for random notes while I am out.  

Electronic tools on my iTouch:

• Sunrise Calendar:  I have started using this free app on my iTouch to keep track of our appointments.  It syncs with Google calendar, and my husband can view it too.  The only thing I don't like about it is that I can't make changes to all events in a series.  I set it to remind me of all events 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 15 minutes in advance.  Very useful  for someone who loses track of time easily. 
• Lesson Tracker:  I love this app and have really been keeping up with it in more detail than I had before.  It's so cool because it can easily convert my daily data entry into an attractive report than I can keep in my files.  I think the kids will feel proud of (and surprised by) all the hours that they spent on school at the end of the year.  I wrote a more extensive review of it several days ago.  
• RE.minder:  This is a cool app that I can set to go off every minute to remind me to get ready for something.  I use it as an alarm clock, and it's especially good for any event that I think I might forget.  I especially like it for our Skype Spanish lessons because it's easy to get sidetracked and lose track of time at home.  
• HomeRoutines:  I really like this app for keeping track of my daily and weekly routines, but I've not been too good about using it lately.  Hopefully, after we move, I'll find it easier to focus on the house.  
• OurGroceries:  This is a great app.  My husband and I can sync it across our devices (it is compatible with Android and iOS), and it helps us to make shopping lists.  I much prefer it to a paper list.  
• Paperless:  Another to-do list app.  I use it sometimes.  

If you have a recommendation for a productivity tool, be it electronic or not, feel free to post it in the comments!  

In search of a new calendar/planner

Most families have to do a lot of complicated scheduling, and homeschool seems to add to that complexity in many cases. Scheduling is one of things that I struggle the most with.  I have a tendency to overschedule and double schedule.  One thing I have been working very hard on is choosing our activities carefully so that I don't have too much going on.  Even so, we do have 4 people in our family (and 2 pets) that I have to schedule around, and I'm always on the lookout for a tool that will help me to keep up with our schedule better. 

Here are two tools that I have found helpful in the past:

Cozi:  This is a great website that families can use to plan their schedules.  I have used it to inform my husband about our activities.  He didn't look at it too much, but at least when he expressed shock over me going scrapbooking all day the next day, I could tell him that, not only did I tell him about it verbally, but it had been on Cozi for the past month.  The e-mail reminders it sends were very useful for us.  From my laptop, it was really easy to enter events and set up email reminders.  The thing I like about it the least is the cost:  To use all the features, you have to pay for an annual plan, which is very expensive at $30/year.  Granted, it is similar in cost to buying one paper planner per year, but I'm not convinced that you can't get an app that is as good or better for much less money (and without an annual subscription).  I also prefer the PC/web version to the iOS app.  It does not always seem to work very well offline.  For instance, I wanted to put in a dentist appointment when I was at the dentist's office but I couldn't even access my calendar because the app didn't have me signed in.  I also find it annoying that I am constantly having to enter my password to log in from my laptop. 

PlannerPad:   This is the best paper planner that I have seen.  It has a great weekly view and to-do list system.  The problem is that I need to use the reminders on my iTouch, I need to share my calender with my husband somehow, my older son likes to have a printout of our schedule on the fridge, and all of those things require me to enter data in more than one place, which I really don't have time for.  Also, even the smaller-sized planner pads are bulky (for me) to carry around.  I prefer a small purse that I can over my shoulder at all times when I'm out (so that I don't lose it). I wish the PlannerPad people would make an app.  I can see how a paper planner works best for many people, but when you are having to sync schedules with multiple people, an electronic system has a lot of advantages.

So, I am on the lookout for a new calendar/to-do system. 

A lot of people are happy with the calendar that comes with their smartphone (or my case, iTouch because I use a dumbphone for my phone), but many find that those apps lack features.  I've been scouring the Internet, trying to find a suitable program.  There are a lot of options, both free and modestly priced.  I've used enough apps to know that sometimes the free or inexpensive ones are the best.  [As I wrote yesterday, I found that LessonTracker, which only costs $2 is the best homeschool record keeping system for me!]

I have found MANY app possibilities online.  It's pretty much overwhelming.  I am going to try some apps and see if if I can fine something that works okay for me!