Putting it down in writing...

I don't have any certain record-keeping requirements here in Wyoming when it comes to homeschooling but for some reason I just have this urge to make sure that it is all kept track of. I have a 3-ring binder that I started out using to keep all the daily/weekly assignment sheets that I would give to the kids at the start of the week/day and they would check off when they completed each one. I originally used Homeschool Tracker, which is a really great program but it somehow corrupted and now I am unable to use even the basic free edition. Anyway. So I switched to writing it down in my Record book (it has enough pages for years!). I did that for maybe 3 weeks. It seemed that by Thursday I would forget to write down the days happenings and next thing I knew we were starting a new week. I have bits of paper here and there with the info I need about what we have done but I wish there was a way for me, personally, to keep track of what they do. I have occasionally typed up their schedules on my other homeschool blog and I think that is good but I don't do that consistently either.
I know there are many families that use the notebooking system and I think I am coming around to see their point. I have bookmarked quite a few notebooking sites on the net that look interesting or have good information on the sites but we haven't actually used it. Someday I will post the links to them, but not right now.
What we do now that we are actually using AO is the kids have at the front of their own personal 3-ring binders a sheet that has the days of the week up top and subjects down the left side. I made the sheet in excel but it could be made just with a table in word as easily. I put an X on the day of the week that they are to do the subjects. For instance, Bible has an X on each day, but History has an X on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Health only has an X on Tuesday (or just one day, I can't remember which at the moment!). On the next sheet in their notebook they have another table of sorts that has subjects down the left side and books that are used for each subject off to the right. For example, dd's Bible has KJV, Mere Christianity, More Than A Carpenter; ds's Bible has KJV, My First Study Bible. That way they know what subject they are doing which day and also what books they are using or have a choice to use. The second sheet is intended for a term, so if there is a book that is not used that term (example, dd will use Ourselves later and so it is not listed for Citizenship on the sheet) it will be put on another sheet for the next term, and the first sheet taken out. Their binders have lined paper that they are to write the subject, book, and pages read. For dd, she also does a couple written narrations in her notebook, whereas ds does all oral narrations. This way we can look back on what we did last week or the day before. I had read somewhere that it makes them more accountable for their work and I think that it definitely has done that with my two. We are in our second week of AO implementing and I am glad to see the initiative they are taking to keep track of their work.
I would like to have some fancy system I think just because of all the claims of how easy and how much time it saves but I think that this way is pretty good. There are enough pages in their notebook that they could easily add things such as drawings, biographies, etc, about what/who they are learning about. No need for the fancy, I don't suppose. And I do have it written down :)