Homeschool Guest - Getting Started With Notebooking
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 5:00AM 
I love Wednesday because it means I get to have another Homeschool Guest here! So far, six guests have shared their homeschools and hearts with you.
This blog is a place where I LEARN daily. That is the biggest blessing in blogging... the friendships I make and ideas I glean.
Today's Homeschool Guest is Jimmie... she is the homeschool notebooking expert and I'm so happy she will share an introduction to notebooking with you today!
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. Here are the steps to take:
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 sentecne. 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...
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:
Reader Comments (63)
We plan on notebooking next year in 3rd grade...at least for composer and hymn studies.
I've used notebooking a little in the past, but want to incorporate more next year.
Thanks! This was very helpful!
We have just started to use notebooking this year. So far we started a Bible notebook to use with our Bible time every morning. This would be so helpful for a new homeschool mom like me! Thanks :)
We do not notebook consistently, but that is one of my goals for the next school year.
Appreciate all the positive feedback here! And I like the question about silly drawings. I need to tackle that in a post at The Notebooking Fairy.
We jsut started notebooking this year. We currently use notebooking in math, geography, history, and science.
I am starting to notebook this upcoming school year...looking forward to using it for all my subjects!
I haven't really done much notebooking in our homeschool YET. I've been looking into it and liking what I see!
Thanks for the chance to win a copy of the ebook - I had heard about it lately and am curious!
I just found out about notebooking and can't wait to try it.
I appreciate this post, because Jimmy really simplified the notebooking process for me. I WANT to notebook--I know what it is, but never knew HOW to start...thanks for this guest blogger.
We have been notebooking for some time. We like to use real books and read alouds because I despise text books and worksheets. Before we began notebooking, I would finish a year of schooling and wonder just what we had done for the last nine months. Now we have a beautiful record of the books we've read, people we've discovered, and topics we've discussed. We don't capture everything in our notebooks, but we are getting to that point. In fact, I'm now starting a notebook/journal to record my sewing and craft projects.
Great guest post Mary. I love Jimmie and all her great ideas. I would love to be able to sit and go through all of Sprite's notebooks! I am very anxious to get started notebooking with Kei.
I would absolutely love to have this book! Thank you for this giveaway.
We haven't used notebooking yet, but I was planning on trying it this year. I'd love to win the Notebooking Success ebook!
We don't do notebooking yet, it honestly seemed intimidating to me until I read this post!
I would love Jimmie's book. We do not notebook yet, but I would love to give it a try
I have only touched the surface of notebooking. Sometimes I use notebooking and other times I don't. I am anxious to do more. I think I have been making things a little more complicated than I should. This info has definitely given excellent direction.
We have not used note booking, but it is something that my daughter should start doing.
HI,
We're about to withdraw our girls (7, 5 and 3) from school and start on our homeschool journey in September! Sooooo excited! Have been trawling around the internet and stumbled across notebooking a few months back. This will be our main way of learning to start with, as we ease into homeschool and learn how it will work for our family. Very excited about notebooking!
I would love your ebook :-)
Thanks,
Suzanne
I do not book yet with my children but I am leaning toward doing it with them this coming year. I think this way of learning will be so much more enjoyable way of learning then the more traditional way it may end up helping the material stick.
Very interesting idea - I definitely will try this! :)
I have decided to put notebooking in to my school with my 3rd graded and also introduce it in to the History (SOTW) and Science (Elemental Science) I will be teaching at our co-op
We did a lot of notebooking when my oldest was younger. Then we switched to lapbooking but that overwhelmed her. She thinks she's crafty but she's really not. After that we just fell off the wagon. I'm looking to try notebooking again with both of my girls. My oldest does enjoy looking at her old notebooks.
I have not notebooked with my daughter, but since I'll be starting my son in the fall I would love to get them both started together!!