Wednesday, June 22, 2016

MySchoolYear.com



I had the opportunity to review the annual membership of MySchoolYear (Homeschooling Record Keeping) from MySchoolYear.com. This program is designed to make record keeping simple and easy. Setting up accounts for students, entering information, and creating reports, and transcripts can be done on the computer or handheld devices such as iPhone, iPad, or tablet.

The program contains many useful tools such as:
  • automated grading
  • automated attendance tracking
  • lesson plan generator
  • lesson rescheduler
  • activity tracking
  • report cards
  • transcripts
  • reading logs
One of the main reasons that I wanted to review MySchoolYear Homeschooling Record Keeping system was for creating high school transcripts. There were a lot of drop down option tabs that got a bit cumbersome and some that were not relevant for our needs. Not all drop down tabs are necessary in order to create a transcript. Some of the tabs are optional in order to provide the user with more choices. With that said, the class and transcript options that I wanted were present. I liked that the transcript calculated grade points, term totals, and cumulative totals. The generated transcript was professional looking.

Adding Classes


 Customized Grade Weighting Options


Credit Designation Options


High School Transcript That I Created 


This record keeping program was not a good fit for our family's homeschooling needs. Several of the features I would never use such as attendance tracking, lesson plan generating and rescheduling, and activity tracking. As a homeschooling parent of 16 years I have never felt a need to keep detailed tracking in the manner that this program encompasses. We live in a state that does not require reporting. I could see where this program may be more valuable and practical for other homeschoolers in states that are more rigid in their requirements for homeschoolers.

The program offers e-mail notifications either daily or weekly. I did not particularly like getting e-mail notifications because most all of them pertained to information that really wasn't relevant for my needs. I would get e-mails telling me to add lessons because none had been entered. I also got a good amount of e-mails with helpful hints. Users can opt out of receiving the e-mails.


Call me old school, but with the exception of high school transcripts, I prefer to use physical paper, pen, and planners to keep up with schedules, activities, grades, and other homeschool related information. With that said, I am always open to trying new ways that make areas of our homeschooling journey easier. I will most likely continue to use this program for creating transcripts but beyond that I probably will not use the program. I think that the program aims to come alongside and be helpful but for my needs it just wasn't a good fit. With that said, I would encourage others to check MySchoolYear.com out for themselves. Over my many years of homeschooling I have come to realize that what doesn't work for one individual or family may be the perfect fit for another.

To read more reviews click here.

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1 comment:

  1. Hi Jennifer,

    Thank you for your review.

    We wanted to make you aware of something that you wrote. You mentioned about the number of options and showed a picture of the “class” extended grading options. Please note that all those fields are available (optional) but not required. Due to the variety of state requirements and homeschooling needs, these options are available, but the default settings usually work well and are “hidden” under the blue buttons above it.

    Also, speaking as a homeschool father whose eldest is just about to go off to college, we found that tracking awards and extra-curricular activities was extremely important in applying and obtaining scholarships. All the information was a click away in the reports and nothing slipped through the cracks.

    Thanks for mentioning the daily or weekly email feature. You can opt-out of the emails and they only list out the lessons entered into the system and serve to remind you of the weekly or daily “to-do” list.

    Again, we appreciate your review, and look forward to implementing the ideas your review has provided us.

    Sincerely,
    My School Year Support
    support@myschoolyear.com

    ReplyDelete

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