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We/I write in the manuals. I have four kids and there are four corners to each box so we started in the top left hand box and around the 'box' we will go. My dd has a tendency to make larger check marks than me, but it is a great memory reminder. Maybe this year I will do stars or hearts in the CTC book, which we can't wait to get!!! Check marks are much easier (for me) than rewriting or typing what we need to do. I am all for efficiency of the messy sort!
Happy deciding! Do what you feel fits your personality!

jess

I also do colored check marks. I love that I don't need to write anything else out and make more work for myself. The HOD plans are great!!

Kathleen

You all are making me think I need to just write in the CTC manual when I get it..lol...especially being able to jot down notes that will be helpful for future dc using it. I always tend to have a ton of lists around....but never when I need them..lol..so this will def be a time saver...I think I'll just use pencil until I break the book in though

Thanks for all the great responses...and such humorous ones too

I've decided I will write in the manuals. It will be so liberating!!!!! I like the idea of using colored check marks since some of my manuals will be going through 2 more sets of kids.

Blessings to you all!
Ann

I'll add that I write in mine. I didn't at first because I was brand new to homeschooling and envisioned having things to sell. Well, then I realized that I'll want to use the manuals and books for my ds when he gets to that point which will be a few years behind his sister, and I want to remember everything we've done. So I make notes like Daisy said of the books we use for a genre, or movie ideas that tie in, etc. I use a pink check mark for dd and will use blue for ds. Even if I can't part with my manuals when I am done with ds using them I could sell a lot of the books and that's truly where so much of the expense of the curriculum comes from. I use so many books from the library that I'd never have a complete package to sell anyways. I also really make them mine by stripping the binding off and having them 3-hole drilled to go in a binder!

My thought (for me) is that since I found HoD I really am NOT a curriculum junkie, and therefore don't really have to recoup the expense of investing in the manuals. What I would truly love is to be able to bless a new homeschooling mom with my manuals when I'm done and just give them to her. I have a few friends that were given materials in this way and they just go on and on about how blessed they were to have received such a gift.

This is a fun thread to read - so many different responses! It took me awhile to write in my manuals. I started by hi-lighting the Introduction materials, and jotting notes about my choices in the margins. Then, once my ds began Bigger Hearts, I decided he needed to learn to use the manual right along with me (in preparation for more independent work to come in the subsequent guides). So, I put a small pencil checkmark in the top right hand of the box when we finished our work together, and he checked the boxes he did independently. I also did this in LHTH, because with one of my dc I began by doing it 3 days a week, and I liked checking it off to know what I'd done. I also began hi-lighting my Bible halfway through, when I read it cover to cover a few years back. I LOVED this, because now I can look back and easily find my favorite verses as I go through the BIble again. I started having my dc hi-light the verses they memorize in their Bibles, and they love this - these verses are like old friends to them now! But, that is as far as I've gotten with writing in the manuals. We'll see what happens this year...

In Christ,
Julie