Saying goodbye to our dog was incredibly difficult - but incredibly beautiful thing at the same time.

Our sweet pup, Gizmo, had been with us for almost 8 years. He was a member of family - an integral part of our everyday lives.

He came to us when he was 8 - re-homed from a family that could no longer care for him. It's really a very cool story, and I love how it ties directly into our homeschool journey, too.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about when children lose a pet - how we handle that, and things we have done since the loss of our pet that have helped all of us quite a bit.

Gizmo's Story

Eight years ago Anna had a dream come true - getting her very own dog! In typical eight year old fashion she begged and begged for a dog.

And we kept saying "NO".

At exactly this same time, we made the decision to take Anna out of school to homeschool her. I knew in my heart that getting a dog would be a great thing, but we wanted it to be a surprise for Anna.

We were lucky enough to find out about an eight year old Shih Tzu who needed a home. I didn't tell Anna, and one evening a friend of mine brought his dog, Gizmo, to our house. He was just visiting the area and needed to bring the dog with him for dinner.

As we were visiting (and as Anna was LOVING this dog), my friend Andrew began to tell Anna that he was very sad about Gizmo. He wasn't going to be able to keep Gizmo any longer and was looking for a home for him.

He looked right at Anna and said, "Do YOU know anyone who could take care of him?"

Anna replied that of course she could, but she would need to ask her dad. Turning to my husband, she asked him if we could PLEASE PLEASE keep Gizmo.

Much to her surprise, my husband didn't hesitate or flinch and just said, "Well, of course we could!"

That was settled. Andrew left GIzmo with us that very night, and as he drove tearfully out of our driveway, I think my eight year old was crying tears of joy.

Gizmo came to live with us and became a part of our family.

Because of his small size, he was the perfect little lap dog. The kids enjoyed taking him places. He knew a lot of tricks (and oh, how he could SING on command!) and became their little sidekick.

Gizmo was read to many days, dressed up in crazy costumes on others, and spent many a snowy and rainy day curled up in someone's lap.

In that first year of homeschooling he was Anna's ONE constant friend. It was a sweet, special relationship that I am positive God orchestrated to help us through a hard year.

When the kids did a room switch a couple of years ago, Anna's room became Grant's room. At that point in time Gizmo was getting old - his eyesight and hearing weren't so great - and he was very confused when they changed rooms.

From that day on he attached himself to Grant - sleeping in his bed and crying endlessly on the nights he would be away at a friend's spending the night because he missed him.

Both of my kids had such a caring, sweet relationship with Gizmo. It really was heartwarming to witness.

Saying Goodbye to a Pet

Gizmo turned 15 last May. He was getting very old - we knew a lot of his eyesight was gone, and he couldn't hear much of anything.

We first noticed a sharp decline last fall. He started having a lot of trouble getting up our stairs. His back legs didn't work so well, and he amazingly had the strength in his front legs to pull himself up the stairs (when one of us wasn't around to carry him).

I KNEW it was time to talk to the kids about what we should do when his back legs stopped working completely.

It was obvious his quality of life had declined, and each day was a struggle for him. He whined when moving around and was only happy when he was curled up by himself - or snuggled close with one of the kids.

We had gone to Florida for the Christmas holidays, and when we returned our dog sitter strongly suggested it was time to let Gizmo go. I think I knew about a month before then that this was what we should do -- but it felt a little better to get confirmation from another person who knew and loved Gizmo.

When we told the kids, they were obviously very upset, but I know deep in their hearts they knew this was the humane thing to do for him. (Still, I must admit it felt a bit like my husband and I were playing God - it was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.)

I called our vet's office and talked to them about what we should do, and what the procedure would be. I made an appointment for the following day.

The next 24 hours were somber, to say the least. We spent most of our time cuddling with Gizmo... alternating between tears and funny stories about him. I'm glad we had that day to say goodbye - I see it now as a tremendous gift that helped my children prepare to say goodbye.

I must say that the hidden blessing in all of this was my daughter discovering a strength that I don't think she realized she possessed.

Anna made the decision to come with me to the vet that day. Sweet Grant said he would rather stay at home, and I could understand that.

Anna, however, felt she needed to be with Gizmo - and that HE needed HER, too. She held our dog until the very end. I offered to take over for her, but in between her tears she held and loved her dog and was very brave.

I was so proud of her. It was one of those moments where I realized I'm not the mom of a little girl anymore - I'm the mom of a beautiful and strong young lady.

It was a day I'm sure she won't forget - a day she grew up a lot and learned she can get through hard things and life will be OK. We also all learned it's ok to be sad, too -- because we all moped around for the next several days very sad.

A few days after Gizmo passed we picked up his paw print from our vet's office. They do plaster cast paw prints when your dog passes away - it's such a nice remembrance of our sweet pup. We will put this with a scrapbook we've been working on for him, too.

It's been a month now since Gizmo left us, and the pain gets less and less each day, but whenever we see a new puppy or someone asks if we have a dog, some of that pain comes rushing back.

In the end, however, I'm so glad we had the chance to know and love Gizmo - and yes, even the experience of losing him. That is what life is all about, and we need to teach our kids about the good and bad times - and how to get through them all with strength, grace, and a dependence on their faith.

This was just another step in the journey of parenthood - guiding our kids through the loss of a pet. It was a step I'm so glad we could take - because if we wouldn't have lost Gizmo it would have meant we never would have had and loved him like we did - and THAT would have been even worse.

Resources to Help With the Loss of a Pet

A sweet friend at church gave us the such a comforting book - I Will See You in Heaven. We've been reading it aloud and learning a lot, and remembering Gizmo, too.

I also have Goodbye, Friend - that we will be reading next.

I'd love to know about your pet -- feel free to share with me in the comments below.

Notebooking has long been a wonderful way for my children to learn in our homeschool.

When children notebook they:

use creativity to document their learning
retain information longer because they have "created" something of substance
gain valuable research skills
create something tangible to demonstrate their knowledge

When you are new to a field its jargon can be intimidating.

But homeschool notebooking should not be scary because getting started is not a difficult venture.

Our notebooking expert for this post is Jimmie Lanley -- otherwise known as the Notebooking Fairy!

Select a Lesson for Your Notebooking

Look at your weekly lesson plans and choose an area that would lend itself well to notebooking. You may be thinking, "I have never done this! I have no idea what will mesh with notebooking!" In that case, I suggest you begin with either science or history. Those topics normally are easy to both write about and illustrate.

Then look at your weekly plans. Choose a day that introduces and completes a single idea. It might be a famous individual or a single historic event. Or in the case of science it may be a lesson about a chemical process or an animal.

Zero in on that one day's science or history lesson . Now you have your notebooking target.

Carry Out Your Lesson as Normal

Go ahead and teach as you normally would whether it's having your child read silently or you reading outloud. If it is a video or a hands-on experiment, that will work too. Don't change your normal homeschool plans for the sake of notebooking.

The only change you need to make is at the start of the lesson. Cue your children that at the end of the lesson you are going to have them retell the lesson on a notebooking page. If they look confused, don't worry. Tell them it will be easy once they get to that point.

Have Your Child Narrate Orally

Now that the lesson is over, ask your child to tell you back what he learned. You listen and probe for more details if you feel the narration is not thorough enough.

While your child is narrating, you need to make some choices. Eventually you are going to ask your child to write down what he just explained outloud. So you may want to take outline notes of what your child says. Or you may prefer to write key words, like a word bank. Some of you may even serve as a scribe for the child and write down exactly what she ways.

Write it Down

You don't need anything fancy here. A plain piece of notebook or copy paper will work. But you can also print out some of generic notebooking templates if you desire.

Ask your child to write down what he just explained. You can offer your outline or word bank as helps. If you have tips for things like capitalization or spelling, make mention of them, but don't stress the child out. The main point is to get her ideas down on paper. There will be mistakes, so use a pencil. This doesn't have to be perfect. And the oral narration should be a good "practice" for the written work.

Gauge the length by the age of your child. Some children may write only a sentence. Others will write multiple paragraphs.

Illustrate the Notebook Page

Reserve part of the paper for an illustration of the lesson. If your child is crafty, set him loose with markers. But if your child despises drawing, offer some alternatives such as an image printed out, a picture photocopied from a book, or a coloring page. Diagrams and graphic organizers work here too. And stick men are absolutely acceptable. The point is to illustrate the lesson not to create a work of art.

Check it and Store it

Now your page is complete. Check it for glaring errors and make minor corrections. Then hole punch your page or slip it into a page protector for safe keeping in three ring binder. Let your child personalize her notebooks and take responsibility for making covers and dividers. Even if they are very simple, the idea is to teach organizational skills.

Repeat the Process Again

To use notebooking another day, simply repeat this process. To prevent falling into a notebooking rut, take a look at the list of 50 things you can put into a notebook.

If you buy the complete guide to notebooking, Notebooking Success, this lists of 50 things is included as a bonus printable that can go straight into your mom notebook. After your children have learned how to make the basic noteooking page with written text and an illustration, let them select some new formats for their pages. There are many different ways to add variety to your pages: puzzles, paper dolls, flashcards, minibooks, postcards, photographs, brochures, stamps, paper crafts, coints, etc...

Getting Started With Notebooking from Jimmie Lanley

Notebooking pages can become an enjoyable part of your homeschool routine where children narrate their lessons, practice writing, adn expres creativity. As a bonus, when you are done, you have a portfolio of your work that documents all you learned.

See? Wasn't that easy? Getting started with notebooking is truly simple. Start small and see if notebooking is a good fit for your homeschool.

Jimmie Lanley is the mother of one creative teenaged daughter. Living abroad in China necessitated the original choice to homeschool. But now that she and her family are back in Tennessee, Jimmie can't imagine any other way to educate her middle schooler. Jimmie's Collage is where she blogs about her Charlotte Mason styled homeschool. In the early years, Jimmie's lesson plans were full of hands-on activities and lapbooks. As the years passed, she began using more and more notebooking and became so passionate about the method that she created her second blog, The Notebooking Fairy. That site features free notebooking printables and how-tos plus the affordable eBook guide Notebooking Success.

Our Favorite Notebooking Resource:

In our homeschool we have made excellent use of our Lifetime Membership to Notebooking Pages.

Notebooking Pages literally has a printable page for ANYTHING you are studying, and if they don't -- you can make one yourself using the Notebooking Web App publisher.

This is BY FAR the most used resource in our homeschool!

What about you? Do you notebook? Can we answer any questions about notebooking for you?

You might also like:

Notebooking: How to Resources, Tips, Tricks, & Freebies

When Children Lose a Pet