periwinklemommy Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Sometimes I feel like I'm just not doing this right! My kids are young - the oldest is 6 - but I really feel like we were led to TWTM and I want to do this right. So we've been "officially" homeschooling since September and my oldest ds is doing 1st grade but zooming through it all except History and Science because I have a hard time getting to the library (but I'm getting better). So I was re-reading sections in TWTM and I realized that our Notebook pages are not fun. They're done neatly, but when I've asked if he wants to draw on his narration pages or on a separate page he declines. Should I make him? And after a Valentine craft we did he's really taken to stamping, should I just let him stamp on his narration pages even if the stamps don't really "go" with the subject? When do you do notebook pages? Give me guidance please!?! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 My boys never wanted to draw as part of the narration either; so they didn't. No one likes to color; especially in coloring books. If they have an inclination to draw or color, it's always done on a blank page. I wouldn't worry about it, and I wouldn't make him do unnecessary work. If you have a narration, I think that in itself is success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabola Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 My son is the opposite, he wants to draw for every single notebook page we do. Actually, he loves to draw even in his free time, the output from this kid amazes me. Anyway, I agree with Beth, if he doesn't want to draw, don't make him. Especially since he is so young. If you're looking for ways of learning that might be considered fun, maybe you could do other kinds of art stuff with him that he may be interested in doing, such as making a giant collage from magazine pictures, pictures printed off the internet, etc. of the time period or culture you are working on in history. We did that with the continents when we were learning about them. There are also activity books for all kinds of subjects, both from science and history. And, if he just doesn't want to do anything else, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you're working on narration pages, and he's doing that well, then he's learning history or science and writing, and thats pretty good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friederike in Persia Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 partly because her older sister had done it so well, partly because I thought she ought to. It didn't make for happy times and I'm finding that now that she's 7 she's starting to write more neatly on her own and she's even enjoying drawing. Not lots, bot some. What I'm trying to say is that pushing didn't seem to benefit and her just getting that bit older seemed to make the biggest difference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Is HE complaining it isn't any fun? If not, then you're doing fine! Do you have the AG? My son isn't keen on the colouring pages so much as the maps. I have to restrain him sometimes! (Well, not physically!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periwinklemommy Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 We have the AG for SOTW and we use it. And he loves to draw, just not when I want him to draw something specific. He loves to write and writes well, just hates to do assigned topics. Thinking about it, the History and Science notebooks are doing better than we are at keeping the pace. It is more the reading/language notebook that is almost empty - except for Grammar. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Okay, what is it that you think you want to put in the reading notebook at this age? Would he like to draw pictures pertaining to the stories you're reading while you're reading to him? Do you have him sometimes narrate back a report of what you've read? or write some sort of report about a story that you've read? Would he like to keep a list of books he's read himself? He could put stamps by each book title to represent that book, etc. Is he spelling yet? If so, does he write out his tests? You could put those in there. He could decorate those with stamps.... Is he memorizing poems, etc.? If so, then he could write those out as copywork and put those in there. He could decorate those with stamps, etc. And he could decorate his grammar pages with stamps, too, if you wanted.... Is he doing handwriting work? That could also go in the language arts folder and could also include his own drawings, or other decor, if you wanted. Is he doing any languages? If so, you could put in any activity pages that he might do in relation to those.... I'm not sure what else would go in the language arts folder at this age, Regena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELaurie Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 was take pictures of any projects they completed. The (when I got around to having them developed ; O), I let ds make a "scrapbook page" for his notebook. When we visited a museum, or did anything else related to our history studies, I kept a copy of the museum brochures for his notebook as well. My ds hated to color also, so I let that go when he was 6. He's 8 now, and beginning to enjoy it more. With my first born, I discouraged doodling in his notebook; my second child doodles on everything, and I've learned to let that go as well - as long as he does his work correctly, I ignore the doodles : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I love the notebooking we've done in history--there are some examples on our blog (see siggy). As for the language arts notebook, I just toss in any copywork we've done that isn't history related (not much!), and I put in workbook pages from our phonics (Adventures in Phonics C--there are examples on the blog of that, too, I think) and reading. We use a composition book to write spelling tests and Rod and Staff grammar exercises in, so that's separate. I don't have dd make pages for rules yet. And our spelling is SWO, so that book doesn't have tear out pages. What I'm saying is that the history notebooking for us is the only WTM type notebooking we do. Dd doesn't like to always draw and color, so we get pictures off yahoo images for the top of her pages. We also use these for some of our timeline work, since she didn't like coloring all the Homeschool in the Woods figures (which are so cool--too bad). If you just keep track of his narrations, and then take some pictures of his history/science projects, you'll be fine. We are like ELaurie in that we like to have some mementos of the work we've done, but we don't really get that involved in scrapbooking. I think Rainbow Resources has lots of cool stickers and stamps, and you can also get a nifty little machine that will turn any little drawing into a sticker. We use the repositionable kind of "film" with this machine. It might make it extra fun for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 This happened with us, too! So I now know not to give up on the coloring business as it seems to come at different times for different children. We did practically NO coloring in first grade, or even second, then last year at age 8, boom!!!! You should see how much he colored! Regena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 drawing, but they are not always in the mood to do it. But, I still make them. :eek: They LOVE to go back and look at their drawings, so I feel like it is worth it. However, like I said, they don't hate it, and sometimes they really like it. However, I will give them something specific to draw (like last week was a model of Solomon's temple). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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