talk2ham.1 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I like the concept of journaling and prompting students to think and respond in a journal to all aspects of learning. But I would like to know why such a simple concept as keeping a journal in school can get so complicated as to require membership fees of a hundred dollars or more at certain websites. :001_huh: There must be something that I'm missing about this current homeschooling craze. For example, I am looking at some notebooking activities and thinking that it is about the same as lap-booking. And I'm also looking at some and thinking, what's the difference between this and what they are already doing in their textbook: this activity is basically transferring what is already in their text to a journal? With some "notebooking pages" it looks like mom did all the beautification and text transfer except for filling in the blank. Which then begs the question, why is it going to help the kiddo so much more than just using the textbook would? But I'm sure there's more to it than this. Maybe there's confusion about this tool out there? Maybe I'm just getting a smattering and not the heart of the tool? Maybe some people are calling things "notebooking" that aren't notebooking at all but just another collection of supplemental activities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Read this post from Daisy. Makes me want to notebook! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talk2ham.1 Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Very helpful! What age do you really begin notebooking, then? Is this something they do from K on up with letters and then blends and literature units and nature studies and what not? How do you do this with kids that don't really write yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Dd does notebooking in all subjects except Latin (although she is making a book with all the color pages) but we don't use form sheets. She draws pictures, uses photos, images we print from online, and just write. You can do ths with any age. When she was in pre-k and K, I was her scribe and wrote all the questions and her answers. Now, at age 7, she mostly writes the info herself or I write her answer and she copies it. I am not sure what others think notebooking is, but for us it is keeping a written record of the things learned in their own words or pictures. It is different then workbooks or textbooks because it is their own words and how they are putting their learning together. This is a different skill then regurgitating facts on a workpage. By doing this, it makes them think about what they read or listened to and then retell it. This then lets you know exactly what they are pulling from the lessons and you can point out things missed or mixed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuzor Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) The prices of some material is just highway robbery! Try notebookingfairy.com they have some notebooking sheets for free and some for purchase Edited February 21, 2012 by tuzor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinL in Canada Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 We have used notebooking for history and geography, mostly below the high school level. In my experience, some kids will take the time to add lovely layouts and details while others quickly jot down "just the facts, ma'am"--but doing so does help them retain information and often produces quite a lovely keepsake. You can determine what the standards should be. For history, we used the Book of the Centuries pages from Ambleside Online--just a few dollars to download and then you can print them out on coloured or textured paper. You can see some examples produced in my co-op here: http://www.freewebs.com/shiremistress/shirecoop201011.htm Robin (formerly StaceyL in Canada) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 We are just getting set to start kindergarten so I don't have any experience with notebooking yet, but I've been researching notebooking and it seems to me that the best learning would mostly come from the simplest notebooking materials. I agree that some of the notebooking pages out there are almost like worksheets, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of notebooking (as I interpret it), which is that it requires students to generate their own material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrissySC Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 You need to visit Guesthollow and Practical Pages too. I "smash" a notebook. You don't have be complex. It can be very simple. We add lapbooking elements to our notebook pages too. It can become more like a scrapbook, and not so formal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River notes Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I love notebooking (i always thought of it as a scrapbook), but my teen boy didn't find it amusing this year. I finally opened up my scrapbook software and it has come alive again in our home. Instead of purchasing some you can open ms word(pc) or i pages (mac) and add some black and white picture and some lines for scrapbooking. The programs also have tables that you can make if you want him or her to copy word lists or something simlar. If your looking to save money their are many websites with free pages and there is a yahoo group as well. Have fun.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talk2ham.1 Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Thanks, guys! I appreciate all the ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 For younger kids, I like to use 3D lapbook components on notebook pages. Let's say the minibook is on foods the ancient Mesopotamians ate. I would have the kids paste pictures of the things they ate on some sort of minibook I either created or found somewhere. Manipulating the components seem to help my children with interest and retention. Also, you can write down things as your children narrate, have them decorate either with their original pictures or pictures found on the Internet that they choose. Then you can move into copywork after narration and then just writing their own thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 We use notebooking for our geography and science studies, and I intend to add it to our history study next year. I will probably also create some notebook pages for literature. I wouldn't purchase notebook pages as the more open-ended, the more unique the results. The notebook pages are really general. For science, there are 3 writing sections: What Did I Do? What Happened? Why? I have a blank space for drawing and labeling a picture of the experiment. For our geography state study, it's a list of a few facts, the state flag, and the state map. The kids really enjoy looking at their past work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5knights3maidens Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Try http://www.hslaunch.com ALL FREE I have some there also. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoZeeCo's Mom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 My son has been doing it for the past 6 months now, and it is great! I keep it super simple and it hasn't even occurred to me to look online for ideas, so thanks all for the great links. Anyway, all we do is take white paper and staple it between two pieces of colored construction paper. He decorates the cover himself, and then every night we journal about his favorite part of that day. I usually write, and he draws. I am keeping it simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeturn Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 The beauty of notebooks is that they can be as simple as you want them to be and still be effective. Look at the examples here under #2. Didn't cost her a thing for the kids to do these pages. They probably learned just as much if not more using this method. Of course if there is money to be made off something, then someone is going to try and do it. I have no problem with that at all :D but it isn't necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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