How to Use Evernote to Organize Your Homeschool

Sep 1, 2011
Sara McGrath

Evernote Mobile - Johann Larsson

Download Evernote for free and use it to organize everything. You can even sync notes across all your devices.

Evernote is a free downloadable program designed to help you remember and organize everything. Jot quick notes. Capture text and images from the Web. Organize "notes" by subject. Find everything in the same place, always available, synced across all devices (PC, Mac, mobile).

The basics: In simplest terms, Evernote is a desktop note-taking, image capture application that can sync your "notes" across all your devices via the Internet. A "note" is any stored item (text, email, captured or scanned image, etc.). A "notebook" is a container for related notes. A note might contain text, i.e., a note you write yourself, an email you received, a photo or image, or some captured content from a webpage.

Using Evernote for Homeschool Projects

As an example of the possibilities for using Evernote for homeschooling, let's say you want to raise a woolly bear caterpillar. You get on the Internet to research woolly bears, their habitat needs, and whatever else you might need to know in order to watch the transformation from "bear" to "tiger" (tiger moth). While scanning web pages about Woollies, open Evernote to

make lists of things you'll need to create a habitat;
jot down important and interesting facts;
capture blocks of relevant text, images, and website addresses;
sync your notes to Evernote on the Web;
take your iPhone or Android smart phone shopping so you can bring up your lists and notes;
show your friends the interesting facts and images you've found...

Check out the Getting Started With Evernote tutorial to learn how to create notes and use Web Clipper to capture content from the Web. Then use your imagination to discover more interesting ways to use Evernote in your homeschooling.

Ron Cheung wrote about how to study with Evernote in a self-directed college atmosphere.

Using Evernote for Homeschool Record Keeping

Homeschool parents can use Evernote for organizing records of their children's projects, scanning reports, referencing and monitoring their children's Evernote notebooks, and taking relevant notes.

You could ask your children to leave notes for you summarizing their findings and activities. In a similar vein, you could collect "notes" of interest in notebooks designated for each child, thus creating a recommendation system.

Homeschool parents can use Evernote for homeschool recordkeeping, as well as organizing and tracking their own and their children's interests. Homeschool students can use Evernote for taking notes, capturing content from the Web, and otherwise organizing their research and interests.

You might also enjoy: The Homeschool Organization Collection