CM Organizer

CM Organizer is a homeschool planner that focuses heavily on families using the Charlotte Mason method of education.

CM organizer is $7.95 per month and has a basic account that is free. [1] The free account lets users experience most of the app and is a good way to check out the service. The limited number of resources that can be added on the free tier prevents users from using the free level forever.

Because CM Organizer is an app for the Charlotte Mason method, the service is primarily about adding books to your schedule to craft your school year.

The app refers to books as “resources” and drives user interaction through these resources. Users add resources by searching via ISBN for a pre-existing resource on the service or creating their own. Each resource is split on the scheduler with divisions (which are a natural fit when assigning chapters to students) to determine how much work to complete per day.

CM Organizer includes some features that are only available with a subscription:

  1. The ability to add an unlimited number of resources

  2. Sharing resources with others that are using the service

  3. Certain types of reports

Compare to School Desk

The most pronounced difference between CM Organizer and School Desk is the pedagogical focus. CM Organizer is designed for families using the Charlotte Mason method while School Desk is a more general purpose planner.

While CM Organizer puts resources on the school schedule for a student with activities managed by “divisions” of a resource, School Desk adds tasks to courses to drive the schedule.

Practically, CM Organizer’s pre-existing resources provide more rapid schedule building at the cost of flexibility. School Desk tasks do not have to be tied to a book or resource.

Both apps include:

  • Unlimited students

  • Automatic schedule building with weekly and daily views

  • Reports like progress reports

CM Organizer excels with showing books to parents to prepare a schedule. The resource-centric model is excellent for parents looking to feed books to the tool’s scheduler for their students. CM Organizer additionally benefits from the Simply Charlotte Mason community that backs the tool.

School Desk shines with its ability to schedule any kind of work, show the future schedule for days, weeks, and months ahead, and manage vacations and breaks. School Desk also includes grading and assignment features that are absent from CM Organizer.

If you’re using the Charlotte Mason method, then CM Organizer may be the best tool for you. If you’re looking for a tool that goes beyond the books, then check out School Desk!

Tip

Want to try School Desk to compare for yourself? You can for free! Start your 60 day free trial!