In this season of Prayer and Planning – I have spent countless hours this past month writing down what we will do – our goals and how to get there. Cataloging our library. Praying over our physical and personal and financial resources.  I spent 30 days reviewing the product The Homeschool Tracker Plus.  I have downloaded lesson plans. Created Lesson Plans. The Plus takes planning to a whole different level. Create a lesson Plan Calendar. Type in Monday Weds Thursday for Math and all days for English, Writing form Tues Thursday.  Create Lesson Plans or download them off the internet. Then – Merge the two together. It will take your reading plan of 2 chapters per day and put them in all of your reading spots.  Ambleside Online for Charolotte Mason, Sunlight and many others have all their Lesson Plans posted on a yahoo board for free download and install.  Move your days around. Reschedule. Grade with Letters or Pass Fail. I played with it. Fell in love with the Plus feature of the Calendar for the child. However, the upgrade is $50.00.  I will love to have it upgraded in High School I might think for the transcript creator.  But for homeschooling middle school – I don’t quite see a “need”. I am using the Google Apps to help me instead. I have created a Google Calendar with several merged calendars. One for each member of the family and one that is just Petra School. I can print them, merge them, share them with friends. Send invitations to join our activities. Each person has their own color. It will email me an agenda or send a text to my phone. Brilliant. I will still use the Homeschool Tracker Basic Edition that is free. All of our library of resources has been entered over the past year. I can work for a few moments on Sunday night and schedule out the Math/Reading/English/Geography and Chores for each child. Once the data entry has gone in, this task takes mere moments. Click the child’s name, click Math, Click Saxon 7/6, Click Test 2, click the day click enter. OR, Click do one lesson, then copy over several days of your point and click choosing.  You can print out reports for each child that gives them a daily list of to do items. Love It. Another report is being generated that helps with report cards and transcripts. I usually start out pretty heavy handed on the lists in September, getting us in a new routine.  Learning how the introduction of a new book or topic will integrate in our week. Then, as the year goes on, round about the first of October or November, I just wake up and drink my coffee and tell the boys to “do the next page”. Once a month or so, I’ll get on line and Click, Nathan, English, Pace 1060, 30 pages, Pass.  Keeps me on track on how long they are taking do do the lessons, and I am surprised each year of how much we actually get done. And yet. I consider myself an unschooler. An Eclectic delight directed project led fire igniting homeschool mom.  My personality however, loves little boxes. Containers. Storage. Labels. Neat Stacks. Straight Rows. We are blessed to live in a state with little interference to our choices in learning. Even if the laws changed, we would have enough physical evidence, and test taking evidence that learning is igniting at a strong rate. So no one needs to know or see my little schoolville fascination.  Move and create. Buy and Sell. Plan and replan. Pray and ask advice. And then, after all of that. We let life happen. And God Lead. And allow Change.   Maybe I should create a Schoolville App for Facebook. Could one make a bajillion doing it?