I chose iGoogle as my home [start] page. I added some news modules, a translator [handy with my genealogy], map, weather, my gmail and just for fun a "Places to Visit Before You Die" pictures. I plan to add more when I have time to explore my options. I rearranged all the modules and customized the page with an ocean theme. I still have some work to do, but it's usable as it is. I do plan to keep it my permanent home page since so many of my tools are from Google. However, I also kept my former home page available as a bookmark until I have fully converted.
The Ta-da list is saved as a bookmark on del.icio.us. I can access it anywhere to add, make changes, delete, create new lists. I think this may be one of the most useful tools I found of all I examined. I am a big list-maker anyway, but using Ta-da I won't have to take my list with me - I can get it online. The first list I made is here:
My second list is each task I have to complete by the end of this course. I plan to use Ta-da for organizing household chores, things to pack for vacation, activities to see at our destination. All these things I would be doing on paper anyway. It's a lot faster on the pc, and I can email the lists to my sisters, to school, wherever they were needed.
I looked at several other programs, but most of them were not things I needed or wanted to use. Engrade is a grading program that incorporates the ability to make notations and share with students, parents, administrators. I already have a grading program that I like and I will be using Wikispaces for my communication tool. But for someone who needed both, it seems like a promising solution. Chalksite is another very similar to Wikispaces. Again, if someone needed a program that would allow them to network with parents and students, it seems like a good one - easy to use. One that I thought I would try is Schoopy. I can't remember now what it did, but it's no longer available. MyTicklerFile is a program that helps teachers and students organize and prioritize tasks related to long term projects such as the science fair with multiple deadlines. I thought it would be a great program for any kind of large project that needed to be broken into manageable pieces with various deadlines.
Overall, most of these programs are fluff, meaning they are not really necessary because they can be accomplished by other programs, but would be convenient for someone who needed the various services and wanted them combined.
I can see that the calendar would definitely be helpful so will go ahead and add one to my home page later. Right now, with no school dates to enter, there's really nothing pressing that needs to be added. I will use it to indicate when ARDs are scheduled, test dates, activities at school, special days...anything that I would normally write on my desk calendar but not able to access at home. :) With the calendar on Google, I can check it anywhere.
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