What is Notebooking?

Notebooks can hold anything that reflect what you have learned during homeschool lessons. 

Notebooks are Varied

A basic notebooking page is a written narration of that day's material. An image or drawing is typically used to dress up the text-filled page. But notebooking can include many different types of narration. In fact, I have compiled a list of 50 Things to Put into a Notebook. 

Here is a sampling from that list:

• poems
• copywork
• magazine articles
• sketches
• graphic organizers
• creative interviews

Notebooking is Inexpensive

All you need are notebooks and the homeschool supplies that you probably already have -- pencils, paper, glue, scissors, markers. Most notebookers use three ring binders and find that a three hole punch is a worthwhile investment. But when you are just starting out, stick with the supplies you have on hand.

Notebooking can be Used with Any Curriculum

No matter what type of curriculum you use, notebooking works. After a lesson, have your child create a notebooking page about what he just learned. His page can include written text, pasted images, drawings, diagrams, maps, etc. 

NOTE:  If you use a traditional, textbook curriculum, notebooking can take the place of many of the comprehension questions and worksheets that you normally do.

Notebooking Can be Used for Any Subject

You may want to start with notebooking just one subject. Many people find that history is a very easy area to begin with. But notebooking can truly work for any academic discipline. Besides history, we have used notebooking for 

• bible
• poetry
• music
• art
• science
• math
• nature
• geography

Notebooking Offers a Way to Review

When dad comes home and asks what your children learned, the notebooks are full of detailed answers. Even weeks later when you need to look up a fact, you can reference the notebook as an authority. A child comes to take great pride in his notebook as its contents grow over the weeks and months of a school year.

Furthermore, if your state requires portfolio documentation, notebooks are perfect. 

For less than the cost of a single workbook, Notebooking Success eBook walks you through exactly how to use notebooking in your homeschool no matter what style you use -- classical, Charlotte Mason, delight directed, or textbook.

The Notebooking Fairy is a blog devoted exclusively to homeschool notebooking.

There you will find Q & A articles about implementing notebooking, tutorials, how-tos, and maybe best of all, free printable notebooking pages.