Finishing one Year and Starting a New One

Finishing up a year and starting a new one is a tricking thing for a planner to handle.  Some families like to plan ahead and get that next year entered, while they are in the current year.  Others like to finish this year, close it out, and plan over break.  Still others don't want to even think about next year now.  Just take that break, and plan year just-in-time.

However you want to handle it, it's important to understand how Scholaric works, and what not to do.

First, what not to do.  Do not delete last year's lessons.  Do not delete last year's courses. Do not delete last year's period.  Do not change the dates of your current period.

These are all destructive actions, and prevent you from seeing the prior year's data.  This is bad, you need to preserve your records over time.

As for what you should do - there are five steps:

Add new courses

This is done by clicking on the courses label.  When a course is added, it appears every week in the grid, whether you have lessons in it or not.  This means the new course will be visible in your grid for the rest of this year.

Plan the new year

Create your lessons in the new courses as you would for this year.  Don't forget the powerful lesson sequence syntax.  The new lessons won't show up in your current year's goals, report cards, or grade book.

Add a new period

Create a new period for your new school year.  When you do this, Scholaric copies your current period's goals, and grading settings, to try and save you time.

Set new Goals

Should you desire new goals for the new year, you can create them.  Goals are tied to the current period, so they won't show up in the current period.

Hide old courses

When you are done planning on the old period, you can hide the courses from it.  The courses then only show up in the planning grid for weeks in which they have lessons - meaning that you can always come back to see the grid in all it's glory for years to come. 

Change the current period

Finally, when you are truly finished, change the current period.  Then your goals, report cards, and grade books will reflect the new year.  To view yesteryear's goals, report cards, and grade books, just change the period back, and they are back.

Happy Planning

15 responses
We are looking at using Scholaric for our upcoming high schoolers this year. Does Scholaric have sections to input reading lists, volunteer hours, activities, etc? I am looking to have an all-in-one type program for transcripts. Thanks for your input! Kristine
I'm working on transcripts now, but there is nothing available right now.
Do you have an estimate on when transcripts will be available?
Not at this time, but it is my top priority.
I used generic course names like "spelling". If I hide spelling, I will need to use a new name for the next course? Another example. I have a course called "Explode the Code". Can I use the same course name again? Since I'm in a new period, I should only get results from it, correct?
Generic names should be used for subjects, and courses should be specific. You can plan in the same course across multiple periods - the period date range is used to determine what goes in goals, report cards, etc.
Big thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for! :)
Hi-I'm planning my new year. I've read your info on how to end and start a year. You say that we can hide the old courses but I can't seem to find info on how to actually do that. Can you explain further please? Thanks!
That course's menu. Thanks
For some reason, I am having a hard time understanding how to plan for the up coming year. The instructions are confusing to me. Please help! I am still in the free trial period, but I like this planner so far.
Hi Amanda, this post is for after you have finished a year, so shouldn't apply to you until next year. Have you gone through the Jump Start https://s3.amazonaws.com/scholaric/public/Schol... ? Please email me directly with your questions, I'm happy to help jeff
Hi Jeff, Yes, I already went through the jump start. I would like to plan next year, since this one is already over for us. Amanda Salazar
Hi! If I hide the previous year's courses (to get rid of the visual clutter) while adding lessons to this year's courses, will that mess anything up?
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