Notebooking is one of my children's favorite ways to learn.
We began years ago, and have been notebooking (in one way or another) for the past six years.
Why do I love notebooking so much?
- It allows us to keep a TANGIBLE RECORD of student learning
- It allows for great CREATIVITY
- It can serve as an ASSESSMENT tool
- It is CHILD LED -- not parent led
- It keeps LITTLE (and big) HANDS BUSY
- It can be done ACROSS ALL SUBJECTS
( Don't know what notebooking is all about? Getting Started With Notebooking is an excellent overview! )
*This post contains affiliate links.
The following 5 ways to use notebooking your homeschool will hopefully inspire you and encourage you! No matter what your homeschool style or age of your children, notebooking can be an effective and fun tool to incorporate into your homeschool
Notebook by Interest Led Subject
When my kids were younger, we followed their interests quite a bit.
One particular spring, the kids were just enamored with BIRDS. We learned everything we could about different birds, and they decided they wanted to learn about Cuckoos!
Perfect.
I printed some Cuckoo Notebooking Pages (from my subscription to Notebooking Pages) and away they went.
You can take ANY subject, find notebooking pages about that subject, do a lot of research, and then have your children document their learning with words, pictures, artifacts, and more. The sky is the limit!
Notebook Through Literature
We have used notebooking to work our way through pieces of literature.
Notebooking while mom is reading aloud keeps hands busy and keeps your children engaged while listening.
We've participated in literature fairs where we used notebooking pages as integral parts of our display boards.
One of my favorite memories is how my daughter notebooked through Calico Bush.
We did a state study of Maine (using the beautiful 50 state notebooking pages from our Notebooking Pages membership) and included that on the literature fair display board.
For a highly creative type like my then 9 year old daughter, getting out all of her favorite colored pencils, watercolors, and twisty crayons was BLISS. She would spend hours coloring her notebooking pages while I read aloud.
Not only did she have a beautiful finished product, but we also made a wonderful memory!
(You might also enjoy a free notebooking download I created to go along with the Harry Potter books -- MUCH fun!)
Notebook Through History
We have notebooked extensively through our favorite history curriculum, The Story of the World.
GIANT notebooks sit in our bookshelf upstairs because we can't bear to pack them away.
These noteooks were created as I read through the lessons in each volume of SOTW.
To learn how we did this, you can read How We Use The Story of The World, and/or you can watch the vlog below -- and my goodness, I cannot believe this video was recorded three years ago!
Notebook Foundations Memory Work
Now that we participate in Classical Conversations, my son has greatly enjoyed notebooking through the memory work in Foundations.
This not only helps cement the facts he is learning, but it also serves as a great review tool.
It also keeps him busy -- and digging deeper - while I am sometimes assisting his Challenge age sister!
You can see how I create a history notebook (the summer before school starts so I'm not scrambling during the year), because my son LOVES to expand upon the history sentences.
Notebooking is the perfect way to do that.
Between our membership to CC Connected and Notebooking Pages, creating this notebook is very easy.
It might also be helpful to see the notebook in action:
Create Your Own Notebooking Pages
This is something we will be pursuing during the coming school year.
Included in every Notebooking Pages Lifetime Membership is access to the Notebooking Publisher Web Application.
This AMAZING feature lets you (or your STUDENT) create their OWN notebooking pages. Not only does this allow for practice with computer skills, but it also lets your child pull resources from the internet to create their very own custom notebooking pages.
Grant will be able to choose from hundreds of pre-made notebooking pages in his study of the Ancients next year -- and then type in his own information and add his own pictures.
I'm VERY excited about this!
Do you see how notebooking is so VERSATILE, FUN, and PRACTICAL?
