Notebooking, Our Preferred Method - Last Day of Sale...

We have used the notebooking page approach to homeschooling since the beginning of time and absolutely love it! So when I saw that today was the last day of the Notebooking Pages Lifetime Membership sale forever, I had to share. I believe notebooking is superior to traditional workbooks in that it's a more developmentally appropriate way of learning. A child can work at their level rather than someone else's ideal scope and sequence. Notebooking pages are also open ended. The student is open to think in creative, out of the box ways. It allows for the Science of Relations. 

Notebooking has worked wonderfully for my advanced learners as well as my struggling learners. Each student is able to interact with the material read and tell back what they know at their aptitude. For some, it may be as simple as a coloring page. For others, it could be drawing an illustration or a diagram. It could also be in writing a newspaper article, a letter, a biography, or a report. In addition, there are printable maps available through the Notebooking Pages membership that can be used for geography. 

I am not an affiliate and do not receive compensation for your purchase. I'm simply sharing a tool that has worked really well for our family. You can see some samples of our work over the years here.

At the beginning of the year, I print a variety of pages including: blank pages with borders, different lined pages, biography pages, themed pages, coloring pages, etc. Some of these I've created myself, some I found free online, and others are from Notebooking Pages. I keep the pages in a file folder at the end of my desk, where the kids can access them when needed. I usually print 2-6 copies of each style and my older kids know when they take the last of that style to make more copies or notify me so I can make more. Some pages are more popular than others. 

I have used this method with my little people all the way through high school and my kids have all preferred it. I find that learning really has lasted longer or stuck with my kids when they've created a notebooking page to accompany their reading. At the end of the year, I bind the pages with my ProClick Binder and they LOVE to look back at their work!

How We Make Our Own Notebooks...

I often get questions about my kid's notebooks. Many people want to know how and where I have them bound. Today, I did an Instagram live on our notebooks and the tools I use to create them. Since those videos are only available for 24 hours, I thought I'd make a more permanent record here.

First off, a little history. We've been notebooking almost since the beginning of our homeschool. I found this approach early on after reading several blogs, but the one that I tried to emulate with Riley in 1st grade was Charlotte Mason Help by LindaFay. I think The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise may have also tipped me off on this method.

Very early on, I was hooked! I loved the creative outlet it afforded my kids. And, I loved the record that was left at the end of the year. I found notebooking to be a much better approach to workbooks, especially in subjects like history and science, because it encouraged long term retention unlike workbooks. They were able to keep their narrations, illustrations, diagrams, and mapwork all in one place.

We've tried many methods of notebooking over the years, including hole punching pages for a 3-ring binder, but sometimes the pages would rip out with excessive handling. We've used lined sewn composition books. We've also used blank drawing journals. One problem with a pre-made notebook is page count. I never know how many pages my kids will need each year for their notebooks and I have a guilt complex about not using up all the pages...OCD, I know! We have also tried picking up the notebook where we left off the previous year to finish out the pages, but my kids and I both prefer to keep each year separate so we can see the progression. One other problem is sometimes the kids want lines and sometimes they prefer a blank page. Pre-made notebooks offer one or the other, rarely both. This is where my current method comes in.

I keep a file folder full of misc. notebooking pages on my desk. Some of them I've printed from notebookingpages.com. Others, I've found randomly online. When I can't find exactly what I'm looking for, I create my own. I have a few templates saved in Word that I print when needed. After the kids finish their assigned reading, they pick a notebook page from the file and work through it. The kids know how to use the printer to make copies. They are required to refill the file with a half dozen more copies if they take the last page of that sort.

Throughout the year, they collect their completed pages in a folder. At the end of the year, I bind them. I used to take them to an office supply store for binding, but that added up financially. After doing some research, I found it was cheaper to invest in a binding machine and do it myself.

I purchased a ProClick Binder P-50 from Amazon. It's been a very good investment! I use it to bind the kid's notebooking pages, as well as lesson planners, book lists, PDF downloads, notes from seminars, and whatever else ails me. I also purchase poly covers for the pages I'm binding and of course, the spines. I use the 45 page and 85 page Easy Edit Spines. There were a few times I could have used the 110 page capacity, but I can only find them in a 100-count pack and didn't want to make that kind of investment. I like the Easy Edit Spines because they open easily so you can add or subtract pages if needed. You can buy comb-binding machines, but I would advise against them. From my experience, comb-bindings become brittle and break. I have never had any problems of this sort with the Pro-Click Binder spines.

One last note I'd like to make about our notebooks is in addition to the poly covers, I usually add a title page. On the kid's notebooks that I bind at the end of the year for record keeping, I use regular paper, often photocopying the cover of the resources they used/read throughout the year to create their pages. However, if it's a workbook or some other resource that will have frequent handling throughout the year, I use heavier cardstock for the cover page. This makes it more durable through continued wear and tear.

Overall, I have been very satisfied with my ProClick Binder and am glad I made the purchase. It's been a handy homeschool tool! If you are interested in purchasing, please consider clicking on my affiliate links below. Thanks!

 

Reflections on Ruben's History, Year 7....

Last week, I reflected on RileyAnn's Year 8 History and Science. This week, I'd like to take some time to focus on Ruben's Year 7 History study. At the start of the 2017-2018 academic year, I had a bit of trouble figuring out which books I wanted to use for Ruben's history. However, by the end of Term 1, I had settled on a plan, which I posted about here.

I did continue to use Famous Men of the Middle Ages and Famous Men of the Renaissance & Reformation, both by Robert G. Shearer of Greenleaf Press throughout the year. Initially, I wasn't sure how Ruben would handle these short biographical sketches of so many men from history. But in time, he actually grew to love the Famous Men series! I would typically read one sketch every other day. I also added a variety of living books, some of which were a part of Ruben's IEW Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons, some were suggested in the Famous Men series, and some were books RileyAnn was reading in her Beautiful Feet Books Intermediate Medieval History study. I chose books based on overlap between these three programs and also from years of studying living book lists. The books we read included:

Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli
Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle
Cathedral by David Macaulay
Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden
Magna Carta by C. W. Hodges
Adam of the Road by Janet Elizabeth Gray
Castle by David Macaulay
Marco Polo by Demi
The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
The Apple and the Arrow by Conrad Buff
Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thomson
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by AVI
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley
Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley
Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley

Some of the books I read aloud and some Ruben read independently. After each reading, I requested an oral narration or often times a written narration in the form of a notebooking page. The notebooking pages included a conglomeration of map work, hand drawn illustrations, writing, and coloring pages. We've used the notebooking approach for years and it seems to work and be favorable with each of my kids. Below are some samples of Ruben's pages throughout the year....

Overall, we had a great year in history! I highly recommend each of the books we read. I'm very pleased with the variety of notebooking pages Ruben created. As you can see, I don't correct notebooking pages, but rather work with my students on the side to discover repeated errors in grammar and punctuation. In general, Ruben showed growth in his written narrations over the year, which was one of the goals set for him. We will continue with a similar approach to history in the fall as we move into American History.

Reflections on Ambleside Year 7 Science and Nature Study...

RileyAnn completed AO's Year 7 Science and Nature Study list of books this year. Yes, she was in 8th grade, but I don't fret over assigning certain books in certain grades. I look more for content and interest. Are the books I'm choosing going to meet my end goal? In this particular case, I was aiming for scientific literacy. Some of you may remember this post I did last summer on Scientific Literacy, in which I explained what it is and why it is important. With that said, the AO Year 7 suggested books held the variety of content I was looking for in order to foster scientific literacy at the middle school level. I want my students to have the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes that allows them freedom in personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. I want them to be able to ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. I want them to stand in wonder and awe of God's creation. I believe Riley's experience this year in AO science has given her that freedom.

The AO Year 7 Science books are living, making science come to life and allowing the student to make relations or connections within their own mind. I would even be inclined to read several of them as an adult, so I was certainly not worried about assigning them to my 14 year old.

After studying the way Charlotte Mason taught science in her school, as well as the way science is studied in other countries around the world, I was anxious to combine the various branches of science in one year. It was kind of an experiment to see how RileyAnn liked and learned from studying multiple streams of science at one time as we are in the decision making process for high school.

The books Riley read from and studied this year were....

Eric Sloane's Weather Book by Eric Sloane
The Social Life of Insects by Jean Henri Fabre
Secrets of the Universe: Discovering the Universal Laws of Science by Paul Fleisher
The Wonder Book of Chemistry by Jean Henri Fabre
First Studies of Plant Life by George Francis Atkinson
Adventures with a Microscope by Richard Headstrom
Signs and Seasons: Understanding the Elements of Classical Astronomy by Jay Ryan
Great Astronomers by R.S. Ball (Intro, Ptolomy, Copernicus, and Brahe)

Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp

One thing about doing science by use of living books that I like is the fact that there's no workbooks. There is no comprehension, true/false, multiple choice questions. No preconceived notions, no one right answer. It's simply the student's mind dancing with the penned ideas of the author. In order to further develop these ideas and nurture relations, I do require my student to notebook as they read. Here's what that looked like for Riley...

At the beginning of the year, I gave her a schedule of the readings, which was roughly from two books per day since we schedule our school on a 4-day week. I then requested she complete one notebooking page per day based on her reading. That was it! Riley was free to choose which book she notebooked on and the topic of her notebooking page. To me, this was one written narration per day based on her science reading. Riley could write, draw, illustrate, copy a passage, or whatever else struck her that day. At the end of the year, I bound her pages into a book and I found the results quite amazing! Here is just a sample....

 

This may seem like a lot of pages, but it's only about 6 out of 36 weeks worth of work. What strikes me about these pages is the diversity. Riley covered many streams of science including: biology, botany, animals and their habitat, astronomy, weather, physics, and chemistry. She didn't do a single stream per term, but rather, intermingled throughout the year. I'm really pleased with her level of competence. Riley's notebook pages far exceeded my expectations and I really believe she enjoyed the creativity she was afforded. We are still in the planning stages of high school, but I'm sure we will continue some measure of living books and notebooking throughout. 

Beautiful Feet Medieval History - 2017-2018 Third Term Review and Wrap-Up

Riley Ann completed her third and final 12-week term using Beautiful Feet Book's Intermediate Medieval History guide. You can read more about her first term here and second term here.

In the third term of her study, Riley covered Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Joan of Arc, Johann Gutenberg, 15th Century Poland and Christopher Columbus, among others using the following books:

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, adapted by Barbara Cohen
Joan of Arc, Warrior Saint by Jay Williams
Fine Print, A Story about Johann Gutenberg by Joann Birch
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster

Riley is a fan of Genevieve Foster's work. She appreciates the fact that Foster can take one person from history and weave the story of what's happening around the world at the time of their life. Riley said she enjoyed each of the books she read this year, but her three favorites were The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Kite Rider, and The Trumpeter of Krakow.

Beautiful Feet Books sells a World Map to accompany their Ancient, Medieval, and Modern US & World history studies. Although, we didn't buy one. Instead Riley created her own map by drawing the world freehand on a piece of tag board....

Riley commented at the end of the year how much congestion there was in Europe on her Medieval map. She also asked if she could add Columbus' journeys and of course, I agreed!

Throughout the year, Riley created a series of notebooking pages. Most included research essays and biographical sketches of the people, places, and events she read about. She did not complete any of the hands on projects suggested in the BF guide. Here are samples of her third term notebooking pages...

Overall, Riley had a great year studying Medieval History using Beautiful Feet Books! We wholeheartedly recommend studying history with their literature guides. However, Riley will not continue with BF next year in 9th grade, as she has already read most of the books used in the BF Early American and World study. On the bright side, I will be using the BF Early American Primary set with Levi. It will be my second time around with that guide and I'm sure I'll be blogging about it throughout the year as I'm looking very forward to it.