What you have to determine is what is right for your family.
My best suggestions for doing this are:
1. Pray -- the Lord WILL lead you.
2. Discuss with your spouse how much documentation should be done
and how.
3. What level of planning documentation makes you comfortable
-- enough to give you a sense of accomplishment but not so much
that you are overwhelmed?
4. What does your state/local authority require of you as far
as documentation and at what levels?
5. Find out what other folks are doing.
My System
We are in a state that requires very little of us in terms of documentation, but I need a certain amount to keep me accountable and to help me remember what we have accomplished at times that I feel like I'm not doing enough.
For FIAR
For our FIAR studies, I have developed my own lesson plan sheet. It is a variation of the one in the FIAR manuals. I plan by book and subject area, not by day as we usually row a book over a two week period. I have (in advance) made up a mostly-blank one of these for each book that I keep on the computer. I have filled in the identifying information (Title, author, illustrator, copyright, awards, & book location) on each form. Then as I read the boards or find resources on the web, I can cut and paste information (like websites or supplemental books) into my "additional resources" section. When I am ready to plan for a specific book, then I go through the manual and make my notes for each subject as well as anything I glean from the archives, etc. I USUALLY have the sheet in printed form before we begin a book, but not always. Also, with regards to collecting resources for a book, I utilize an idea I read on the boards of a using page protector to store any printed resources for each book. Resources that I have collected in advance are kept in a page protector in my FIAR notebook. The resources for a current book (or another I am planning for the near future, or one for which I still need to do a "log", I keep in those plastic pocket folders/dividers).
I try to make brief entries into my weekly planner/log on a daily basis (see below), and then at some point make up a "log" or narrative journal entry for each book. I use these "logs" and put them up on our website as a means of sharing them with our family and friends as well as with other 'Rowers. If I get behind in these logs, doing them in retrospect is not that difficult -- I just go back and look at my daily notes, my plan sheet, and also back at the kids notebooks and my resources for that book.
Daily/Weekly Records
For day-to-day planning/record keeping, what worked best for me during our first year was one of those "student planners" that has a week on a spread. For our second year, I chose to make a larger, more personalized version of this on the computer (using MS Word). It still covers a week over 2 pages, but now they are standard sized pages so I have more room for recording and specified areas for each subject. Because I found that I often used my school planner to record doctor appointments, etc. that affected our school schedule, I also included places on this planner for appointments, etc.. I plan to update this as necessary to meet our changing needs. Depending upon how things go, I may actually put our "permanent" records on the computer.
When planning lessons, I usually use the tiny sized "Post-its" (either the bookmark ones or the 1 1/2 x 1 size) to write down what I "think" we will do for a particular day in math or language arts (or any other subject - FIAR included). (You could use any size that suits you. I tend to write very small, so I'll often cut even the small ones into pieces.) If we get it done, the "Post-it" stays on that date until I get it written down in ink. If we don't get it done, the "Post-it" gets moved to the next day -- no erasures necessary. For math and language arts I usually record only page numbers or section numbers, not content. Although I will usually only map out about a week at a time, I found the "Post-it" system worked wonderfully when I was trying to get a better grasp on how long it might take us to finish with our language arts curriculum. I went through each section of the book and made a tentative plan (again on the "Post-its") and left those in my teacher's manual, then I would transfer them a few at a time.
Each day (but at least weekly) I try to make brief notes about our FIAR activities (or field trips, or AWANA work, etc.) as well. (Sometimes this is as simple as just a reference to the FIAR subject covered - like SS: geography and sometimes I'll include more info if something was especially effective or not.)
Appointments and Repeated Activities
I have also found that this "Post-it" system works really well for repeated activities, especially those that impact our schooling (library books due, FIAR journal entry to be done, my pre-natal visits, etc.). I have a "Post-it" for each of these activities, and once the event is completed, I simply move the note to the next place in the planner where it is applicable (or to a spot in the back if I don't have a definite place to put a "next time"). Once the "Post-It" gets too beat up or loses its "stick" I just make a new one.