Homemaker Mondays

I've posted about this before, but each of my four children have required reading homework every.single.day. It doesn't matter if they are absent or if its a weekend, they are still required to read every night. Have I mentioned that I absolutely love it?

To prove that they have completed their homework, a reading log must be signed bya parent each night. They vary by class, but they pretty much include title, minutes read, and a parent signature. This format works fine for teachers who have to check 25 reading logs every day, but me, I like a more detailed approach.

I keep a notebook for each kid and each book they read is documented on it's own page. It includes title, author, date read, and a commentary by the reader. It helps when looking for new books to borrow from the library, no duplications or getting something you've already read.

Over at my new blog, I'll be posting some of these commentaries by my kids over the next few weeks. They will include my son's thoughts on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which he has just completely devoured the last few days and one of my girls will be talking about The Little House on the Prairie.

I also keep track of books I read, not in a notebook, but rather in a file on my computer. I just open up Word and type up a paragraph or two about the book. The basic storyline, my thoughts, things like that and save it in a folder I call Books Read. Creative, huh? Doing this makes participating in online book groups and carnivals so much easier because you already have the information handy, all you have to do is a little copy & paste work and maybe a quick edit or two and you're done.

What about you? How do you keep track of books that you read?

*Head on over to 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven for more awesome Homemaker Monday posts.