Need notebooking ideas for a noncolorer/nondrawer

[Milknhoney]

My son is in first grade this year. I have pretty much ignored the notebooking advice in the WTM. I have been dilligently writing down his narrations on notebook paper and filing it into a notebook, but he hates to color and he can't draw at all. We failed an attempt at Drawing With Children.

 

As we draw closer to the end of our school year, I am looking at all these narrations and realize that he doesn't remember anything from the beginning of the year. He NEVER pulls that book down to review what he's done. And I think that is because I never gave him the opportunity to take pride and ownership in his work. I want to do something different next year. I want him to actually have REAL notebooks for his subjects. I just don't know what to have him do to make it special.

 

Any ideas?

[boscopup]

Glue pictures from the internet?

 

My son doesn't draw either. I have gotten him to draw TWO things the last 3 months for narrations, and that really shocked me when he actually said yes those two times. Usually, I just write down his narration and we don't bother with drawing anything.

 

One thing that is helping his drawing ability is we're doing the Draw Write Now books. I highly recommend them! They're easy to use. I print out story paper for both of us, and we sit together and draw an animal, then do some copywork below it. He does one sentence. I do all 4 sentences. We use color pencils for our drawings.

 

After doing a horse drawing several weeks ago, I had my son do a narration on a horse passage for science, and I had him draw a picture of a horse being aware of something in its surroundings (that's what the passage talked about). At first, there were tears "I don't know how to draw a horse!", but then I reminded him he had drawn one before, and I got it out to let him look at it while drawing. I also suggested the horse could be aware of Darth Vader. He decided to draw General Grievous on the horse's back. I'm sure the horse would be aware of that! :lol: So in the end, he actually had fun drawing. I actually need to do something like that again! It helped that I was able to give him a picture of what to draw. He can't yet come up with how something looks, and he's such a perfectionist that he freaks out if his drawing won't look like the real thing.

[Diana B]

My son is like this. We just discuss things. A lot. I do write down his narrations, but he has no interest in them after the fact.

 

I don't worry too much though, he doesn't recall all of what we learned (I don't expect him too) but if I start giving him some clues to get him started, it seems to click. I'm sure he'd remember the story/information as well if I read him his narrations (I haven't tried this, though).

 

But really the bulk of learning comes from the actual reading and discussions. And we just continue to have discussions.

 

With that said, one thing that we occasionally do are lapbooks (or lap-n-notes to make it easier to store - they are similar to lapbooks just done on cardstock or in scrapbooks instead of a file folder). Instead of just writing a narration and then coloring a page - try making them into mini-books / folds. More information here.

 

There are many many many free lapbooks available, with all the mini-books and information. My favorite place is Homeschool Share. We will be doing the Ancient Egypt one from there this week. We've covered all the information using other resources, so we'll just put it all together in a fun way.

 

Once my son is ready (I'm hoping next year), I'll write down his narrations and then have him copy them. This way he can put onto 'fancy' notebook pages about the topics and maybe make it more fun. We might start adding in more mini-books too.

 

Hope that helps. Don't get discouraged. He's not going to remember everything. That's why we keep teaching past 1st grade! :)

[mommy4ever]

My timeline is morphing into something of a note-book meets lap book meets timeline :glare:

 

When our next set is done, I'd be happy to share pictures.

 

DD is very crafty, until it comes to school stuff, then she scribbles. So we're using more images, less coloring. It still makes a pretty cool page ;)

[bbsweetpea]

I was going to suggest cutting out pictures from magazines, old encyclopedias (you can get some cheap at Goodwill or half price books), or even the internet. My son is in Kindergarten and really does not like drawing. He will attempt to copy what I write on the board so sometimes I write his narration there and he will copy it down. On a RARE occasion he will write on his own in his nature journal.

 

Draw Write Now is a great collection of books. My son will draw when using those books. I also bought Mark Kistler's Online Art Lessons from Homeschool buyers coop and he has done about one lesson a week. Slowly he is starting to take a little bit of interest in drawing with a little push from me.

[kalanamak]

Don't glue: double sided tape is much smoother.

 

I'm no artist, but when in doubt, I draw something for kiddo. He sometimes comments on what he wants in a drawing. Then we cuddle up and read an extra book. For me, it is more about the narration than the pics. I do coax him into doing the maps. For drawing, he'd rather draw animals and aliens. :)