Notebooking

Notebooking is a great way to shake things up in the literature-based style of home education.  One only needs to check the topic before the reading (today's was Daniel Boone) and simply do an internet search on the topic plus the word "notebooking."

I have a lifetime membership to Notebookingpages.com, so I just printed a simple one-page document with a picture of Daniel Boone for my BKSK 3 group.  I read the entire Daniel Boone assignment from the Beginner's American History (to make up for taking yesterday off) and assigned a "complete" written piece on whatever part of the chapter struck their fancy.

I do not assign a number of sentences or a certain length of writing.  I just want them to write and produce something that I can put in a page protector in a three-ring binder for all eternity.  Notebooking really is that easy.

I've over-thought the whole notebooking topic for years; all it did was set me up for failure.  I found all sorts of really cool free printables for different subjects, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money in colored ink.  I tried lapbooking, which is just notebooking in 3-D, and my kids hated all the cutting, folding, and gluing.  I tried the Evan Moor History Pockets, but again, my kids hated all the cutting, folding, and gluing and I hated all the photocopies I had to make.

But notebooking when the mood strikes? That keeps things interesting and prevents waste and burnout.

Just make sure you keep your notebooking pages away from your baby sister!