Where Do I Start?
This is the most common question that comes through the support email box. There is no one answer to this question. Some users just jump in and start entering information in the different areas of the program; others want a complete understanding of all the different features before getting started.
The program includes a comprehensive Help File, accessed via the F1 key or the Help: Index menu. There is a Search feature in the Help File that can assist you in finding related topics quickly.
A PDF of the current User Manual is linked from the support page of this website. It contains not only step by step instructions for the various features of the program, but also detailed screen shots to help you see the steps being outlined.
We developed a few training videos that demonstrate different aspects of the program for you. You'll find them here along with a list of the videos "not to be missed".
The best way to use the program is in a way that works best for you, your students, and your homeschool. And the way you use the program will likely change over the years as your needs change and evolve.
No one - and I literally mean no one - will have need of every single feature and report of the program. For one thing - some of those features are alternatives of each other (like Time Spent and Sessions).
As noted in the "Getting Started" pages of the Help File/User Manual - the very first thing you need to do in order to use this program in a way that assists you is to identify your needs. What are you trying to accomplish? How detailed do you (or your jurisdiction) require that your records be? How old are your students - if they're nearing high school age, there are more things that you probably should be doing in order to provide good records for them so they can pursue their plans for the future. If they're younger - grade five and below - you can do a lot less and work up to the more "intense" parts of the program.
Do you need to grade your student's work? If not - turn off that option for now. Go to Tools: Options (F3) and under the Assignments tab uncheck the Points Poss/Points Earned/Grades box so you're not bothered by it.
Do you have specific goals you're trying to meet for your student(s)? If not - turn off that option as well (again - Tools: Options under the Assignments tab).
I'm not going to go through each one right here - it would go on forever - but it's a great idea to weed out the things you are pretty sure you're not going to need in the Options area. You can always turn any of these options back on. If you've already entered data in an area - that data is not lost when you turn off the feature - it's just hidden unless and until you turn the feature back on.
Do you have to set up Courses first? No - you can add them as you go along. But that would drive me crazy - personally. I like to know my plan up front. If that's not you -then you can add things as you go along. If you do set up your Subject/Course relationships first - that's great. But don't feel pressured to figure out which activities to assign or whether or not to use weighted grading; or setting upgrading scales or anything else in that Course add/edit window - just set up the relationships for now.
As we say in the video and manuals - Subjects are the top of the hierarchy. Especially if you're using Courses, you should have no more than 10 Subjects - and for most, 6 or so will be plenty: Language Arts/English (whatever you want to call it); Science; Math; History; maybe something for Art/Music; Phys Ed/Health; Life Skills; Foreign Language - but that's about it. If you have more than 10 subjects - you might want to rethink things. BUT if you have more than 10 and that's working for you - then that's perfectly, absolutely, totally ok - and don't let anyone tell you differently.
You must use Courses in order to take advantage of any of the following:
1) Weighted Grading - having the work in one area (tests, say) have a greater effect on the overall grade than other areas (reading, daily work, etc).
2) Multiple Grading Scales - the grading scale called "Default Grading Scale" will be used for any assignments that do not have a Course attached. If you're using Courses, you can - if you wish - create different grading scales for different courses.
3) Credit Units - for high school students, it's customary to award credit units for each course completed. How many units will be awarded per Course is up to you.
4) Pass/Fail Grading Options - if you wish to award pass/fail instead of letter grades then you must set up a course.
Assignments, Weekly Planner, Lesson Plan
Assignments Schematic
If it doesn't exist in the Assignment grid - it's not an assignment and it won't count towards your student's progress in attendance, time spent, sessions, grades, etc. Everything must become an assignment in order to count. How it gets there is up to you.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with entering items directly into the assignment grid - and bypassing the Lesson Plan and Weekly Planner features altogether.
That said - the Lesson Plan and Weekly Planner are optional planning areas that may make it easier for you to accomplish your record-keeping. But they are not for everyone - and they are not for every situation - it depends on you, your student, your curriculum...
The Lesson Plan area lets you plan out each task you intend to assign - each lesson, quiz, test, etc - in the order you intend to give them to your student. Why use it?
(a) For those of you who like to plan ahead - you can do just that without having to commit anything to dates. Why is that important? Because life changes - we miss school days; life happens; something doesn't go as smoothly as we expected. With the Lesson Plan set up, we don't have to worry about rescheduling or losing track. Just delete the assignments that didn't work and resubmit from the Lesson Plan
(b) Lesson Plans are reusable. In a one-student household that's not such a big deal - but with two or more students in the home, there's a good chance that at least some of the work will be repeated with the younger sibling at some point. And once the Lesson Plan is created, it can be used over and over and over again as many times as you like.
Name your Lesson Plans whatever you like. Name it for the subject or course; name it for the primary resource; name it for the goldfish...whatever you like as long as it makes sense to you.
You can put as many items in a Lesson Plan as you like. You can have one Lesson Plan per grade level if you want to. For me, that would be too complicated - but that's just me. You need to do what works best for you, your student and your homeschool (there's that theme again).
And while we're on the subject of Lesson Plans, once you submit an item it is not deleted - it changes in status from 'un-used' to 'used' - which just means that at least one assignment has been created. You can view "used" items by changing the drop down filter on the Lesson Plan gird to 'Used' or 'Both'.
The Weekly Planner lets you set up templates - formats for frequently create assignments - so that you don't have to retype the same info over and over again each week, month, etc. The template provides a pattern for Tracker to follow when you're ready to create your assignments. It can contain days of the week; start/end times; points possible; times spent/sessions; directions, etc as well as a pattern for the assigning of Page/Lesson/Chapter information.
(a) If you've crated a lesson plan for a subject/course/plan of study, you will not be covering that same information in a Weekly Planner item - that would be duplicating your work.
(b) Now that the Lesson Plan feature exists, fewer folks use Weekly Planner. But if it's better for you - then you should use it.
Once an item has been placed in the Assignment grid - directly; as a submission from a Lesson Plan; or prepared from a Weekly Planner item - you can then get that info in front of your student using any of the first 4 reports listed under Assignments in the Reports tab. Each report has its own options and purpose. Preview them as you have time and decide which one works best for you, your student(s), your homeschool (a recurring theme) - you may find that you use different ones for different students.
The Agenda (Student: Agenda) view allows you to see all of your student's work in one place: Assignments; Chores; Appointments; Reading Log items; Memorization items; Holiday/Vacation/Other designations; Attendance; and/or Term start/end dates. You can view by day or week for one or more students at a time.
So – jump in. Don't use more features than you need. And don't drive yourself nuts trying to use the program the “right” way as there is no “wrong” way – if what you're doing works for you.
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