Clear.  Concise.  Full of practical ideas.  Easy to implement.  Very motivating!  Those are phrases that perfectly describe Notebooking Success by my blogging friend, Jimmie.

I’m not new to notebooking.  My children have used this method of narration and writing for years in our homeschool .  But, after reading Jimmie’s e-book, I felt a renewed passion for this excellent method of teaching and learning – and this old dog even learned a few new tricks!

Jimmie’s writing style is so smooth and succinct that you’ll find yourself easily reading all the way through the book in less than 30 minutes.  More importantly, at the end of the 30 minutes, you’ll have all the tools you need to get started (or refreshed) with notebooking right away.

Why incorporate notebooking into your homeschool?  Jimmie answers that.  How is notebooking with a 1^st grader different than a 6^th grader or 10^th grader?  Jimmie answers that.  Doesn’t notebooking get boring for children?  Jimmie answers that.  She covers everything you need to know about notebooking from start to finish, including plenty of grade-specific ideas to get you and your children rolling.

As explained in the book, notebooking works well with just about any type of homeschooler – even those who use a strictly textbook curriculum.  I have often mentioned notebooking to friends who are looking for a “better” way to help their children retain information or for children who need extra motivation for writing.  Now, I’ll be sure to point those people toward Notebooking Success!

Related posts:

1. Nature Notebooking and Read-Alouds
2. Spring is in the Air & a Notebooking Page
3. Mountain Press Review

Before we read, I have them hop out into the yard to collect whatever nature specimen they need to complete the page or activity. Since they know we’ll be reading for some time, they don’t rush through the assignment and the resulting work has been excellent! Below are just a couple of examples from the Fruits and Nuts and Delightful Deciduous Trees studies.

(Note that my notebooking pages are copied in black and white. All the NaturExplorers notebooking pages are created in full color, but print just fine in black and white if you don’t have a color printer.)

Related posts:

1. Apologia and Nature Study
2. Nature in Early Fall
3. A Nature Walk With Great Finds

This was another of the projects we did during our Colonial Life unit.  It was super-easy and I loved how the notebooks turned out!

To begin, we found compostition notebooks (the kind where all the pages are sewn together with string and the covers are hard.)  I picked out several scrapbooking papers that complimented each other then the kids cut the papers into various square and rectangle shapes.  We used Mod Podge to decoupage the scrapbooking paper to the notebook covers.

Just in case you don’t know how….To decoupage, you apply Mod Podge (or any liquid glue, really) to the surface you plan to cover.  Place your papers on the glued surface then apply more Mod Podge over top of the papers.  Easy!

We turned our notebooks into new Bible Journals.  As the Bible is read each morning, the kids are taking notes or drawing pictures about the reading to keep their minds more focused.

Related posts:

1. Our Field Trip Notebooks
2. Astronomy Final Projects and Notebooks

Caleb’s presentation included a talk about astronaut suits (see his helmet and jet pack?), space shuttles, rockets, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, dehydrated food and thrust.

Mahayla’s presentation included information about the sun, other notable stars, constellations, how to use an astronometer to tell the brightness of stars and some information about light years.

We used Exploring Creation With Astronomy as our main text, and also added in a few lapbooking activities and lots of hands on projects.  I put what we had into modified lapbooks.  The lapbooking activities were glued on the first flap, while the notebooking pages were simply stapled together at the top of the other side.

Our trip to the Answers In Geneis Creation Museum’s Planetarium earlier this year was a great addition to this unit!

Here are a few of the fun website games the kids enjoyed during the unit.

Solar System Trading Cards

Problems in Space

Make Your Own Solar System

Related posts:

1. Ancient History Final Projects
2. Some Astronomy Fun
3. Our Field Trip Notebooks

This past week, I asked them each to choose the civilization that was their favorite and create a presentation about it.  They could choose to present their information any way they liked and we video taped them.

Mahayla created a poster with information about various aspects of the Ancient Greek lifestyle.  She made a discus, drew a wonderful picture of a horse and chariot, set up a book for a visual and dressed in a Greek fashion of the time.  She really took this project seriously and made a great presentation.  )  (Sorry for the dark pictures.  I keep saying we need a new camera and I really mean it!)

Caleb also created a poster, but his was mostly pictures he (we) found on the internet that he labeled.  He made a clay model of the Geat Wall of China, dressed in a robe and served us hot tea.  I thought it was excellent for his first-ever presentation like this.

I really liked doing an end of the unit project and I think the kids did, too.  I think we’ll make these part of each unit this year.  Here are a few pictures of the notebooks we worked on throughout the unit.

Next stop:  Space!

Related posts:

1. Ancient Greece
2. Our Week in Ancient Egypt