Online Planning Transcript

Smart Scheduling Instructional

No online planner is complete without a monthly calendar function! But the great thing about the Well Planned Gal Online Planning system is that the calendar not only shows events but also student assignments. Let’s take a look at how this works.

Calendar Overview

To view the monthly calendar, click on the Calendar icon in the main menu at the top of your screen. When you open the calendar view, you will see several sections. First, a quick reference calendar shows up in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Use the down arrows to quickly view a different month or year.

Next, you will see New Event. This is one of the ways you can add information to your calendar. We’ll come back to that in a moment.

Below this is Customize Display. This is the section that allows you to incorporate your lesson plans into the calendar. There are several options here. First, if you check the Events box, the events you add to the calendar, which we will discuss in a moment, show up with your lesson plans. If you leave this box unchecked, just your assignments show up.

Second, you can choose what type of lesson information shows up on your calendar. You should see two options here: Students and Assignments. Below that, you should see a list of your students, followed by all of your courses with checkboxes beside them.

Managing Calendar Views

First, let’s learn how to manage the calendar views. The small calendar is your easy management tool, allowing you to jump to any month you choose. The larger calendar, meanwhile, is your primary work and viewing area. The month you are viewing in this main, large calendar will guide all other menu views. Here’s how to manage your views:

• On the small calendar, use the dropdown arrows to select a month and a year.
• Click on any single date in the selected month.
• Your large calendar will immediately jump to that month.
• Now look at your courses list. You will only see the courses relevant to this particular month. If there are no courses assigned in the month you’ve chosen, none will show up in the list.
  Note: This no longer applies once you select a student. When a student is selected, all courses assigned to that student will show up in the course list.

Creating Events

Let’s look at Events next. You can enter new events by either clicking New Event or simply choosing a day on the calendar. The advantage of the New Event button is that you are not limited to the calendar visible on your screen. The advantage of click on the date itself is that the day is already entered into your menu as you begin to build the event.

Once you’ve opened the Add Event box, follow these steps to create your event:

• • Title: Give your event a brief title.
  • Description: This is optional, but you may add details to describe your event, if desired.
  • Dates and Times: You can make this a one-day event, or you can set it to stretch as long as desired. You can also mark whether this is an all-day event or an event covering specific hours. If you uncheck the All Day box, you will have the option to mark specific hours for your event.
  • Recurring: Using this feature, you can choose one of the available options for a recurring event or leave it set on non-recurring for a one-time event.
    
  • Color: Choose a color to distinguish between this event from others. You may, for instance, set one color for family events and choose individual colors for each member of the family to denote that it is an individual event. Or, select a color for home, another for work, another for errands or appointments.
  • Allow Assignments: This is the feature that makes Online Planning so unique.For each event on the calendar, you may choose whether or not the event, such as a holiday or field trip, requires that normal assignments be blocked from that date or time. With a single click you can easily update all of your lesson plans!If the event does not change your homeschool schedule, leave the box selected as Yes beside allow assignments. If assignments need to be moved off of that date, click No. If you click No, once you click Save, you will see a box pop up that allows you to Move All Assignments, Move Only Assignments on These Days, or Do Not Move Assignments. Once you’ve clicked one of these options, the selection will update all existing assignments and will also automatically apply to all future assignments.

Customizing Views

Now let’s explore how to customize calendar views.

For student views, you’ll start by selecting a student. Next, select the courses you want to view. On the calendar, you’ll see your student’s image along with the name of the courses assigned for each day of the month. Click on any course to see the specific assignment.

To switch to an assignment-based view, click on the Assignments tab in your customization box. You’ll see each day’s assignments for all selected students and courses. To see the full view of each assignment, simply hover your mouse over the assignment, and the full assignment will show up in a pop-up box.

Best of all, you can both save and print your unique views! Choose the students and courses you wish to include, whether you want the Students view of the Assignments view, and whether or not you want events to be included. Once you’ve completed your selections, either scroll down to the bottom of the customization box and click Print This View or click on the green Save icon in the top right hand corner to save the view. If you choose to Save, you’ll be directed to name your view. Click the checkmark to save it, then click on the Select View dropdown menu to see all calendar views that you have saved.

With an integrated calendar like this, you can easily keep track of both events and school progress with one click!