So how do you actually do notebooking?

[vaquitita]

I tried to do notebooking this year, and well it didn't really happen. We just slipped back into oral narrations. I really want to try this again next year. Since my oldest is at the top end of the age range for RSO, I thought that might be a perfect place to use notebooking instead of the accompanying worksheets. But when I look at the worksheets and try to picture what notebooking for those activities will look like, I draw a blank. All I envision is basically writing all that same stuff by hand, so why bother? How do I turn our science demo/lab from RSO into a notebooking page? Do I just have him read his book on the topic, do the demo, and let him write/draw whatever he wants? How do I encourage him to expound on it, out some effort into it? Science is his favorite subject, so that should help. But I know I'm going to need to have a plan to get him to write/draw in detail. He's going to want to just do it quick, keep it short.

 

How do you actually turn your work into notebooking? How much do you model or direct the output?

 

Eta: would notebooking pages help? They're on sale right now, and I'm tempted to get them in hopes that would help. Though the selection of science pages seems limited. We will be doing RSO chemistry next year.

Edited April 27, 2016 by vaquitita

[visitor]

We also do lots of narration . Right now I ask them to summarize what I have read oraly. I write it down and my oldest DS use it as copywork . I am hoping that this will learn him to write well . I am also intrested in more information in regard to notebooking .

[2_girls_mommy]

I would keep labs as actual lab sheets, using the proper form.  If you want to add notebooking, I would encourage diagrams of activities or of the things learned about.  I would have the child read a section and then either outline it or write a written summary of the section (along with drawings or page decorations if the child is into that.) And any written work you require like definitions or answering questions would go into it.

 

I do buy the notebooking pages for Apologia.  Every chapter has a few pages for summarizing what they read with room for drawings.  Each chapter usually includes a drawing of what is being learned about to color and label.  Every chapter has summary questions and a vocabulary worksheet crossword puzzle in lieu of actually writing out definitions, and then there are occasionally pages encouraging a creative writing project on the subject, two copywork pages with a Bible verse that includes the week's subject, and an extra cut/paste activity page that is usually just about writing more on the topics somehow. 

 

It is a lot of work that I could assign myself into a spiral notebook, but my middle schooler responds well to the premade sheets and instructions.  It is totally worth it to me.

Edited April 27, 2016 by 2_girls_mommy