Top 10 Reasons to Choose Notebooking

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1. Notebooking works with any curriculum.

You do not need to change you curriculum or buy anything new to incorporate notebooking. Study your curriculum as normal and instead of comprehension questions or a worksheet, ask your child to summarize what she learned on a notebooking page. That’s how easy notebooking really is.

2. Notebooking works with any homeschool style.

No matter if you are a traditional textbook user, an unschooler, or anything in between, notebooking can work. Because notebooking is a method and not a curriculum, it works for any style.

3. Notebooking works with any age.

Pre-readers can begin notebooking by pasting on words or images or by having mom act as scribe. Young children can use lapbooking elements to add hands-on interest to their pages. And older children can compose full essays in their written narrations. Notebooking is a method that grows with your children year by year.

4. Notebooking is frugal.

All you need are the basic school supplies that you probably have on hand already: paper, pencils, binders, and a hole punch. As much as I love printable pages such as those at Notebooking Pages, they are not essential. If money is an issue, you can find freebies online or make your own printables. Or, better yet, give your children blank paper and let them go DIY for maximum creative expression.

5. Notebooking fosters creativity.

Because notebooking is an open ended assignment, it allows for creative expression and divergent thinking.

6. Notebooking activates higher order thinking.

In contrast to true false questions or multiple choice exercises, a notebooking page requires that a child not only comprehend but also analyze, synthesize, and apply what he learns.

7. Notebooking results in a finished product.

Although the goal of notebooking is learning and not a polished end product, notebooking generally results in a portfolio that a child can be proud of.

8. Notebooking teaches organizational skills.

The organizational skills of notebooking are both cognitive and concrete;  a child organizes the information to present on the page and then organizes the physical pages in a binder.

9. Notebooking is academic multi-tasking.

During notebooking, you are covering two academic areas — language arts and the subject at hand. So science notebooking is far more than just a science lesson; is also a writing lesson.

This is one of my favorite reasons to choose notebooking. It kills two (or more) birds with one stone, namely writing and whatever topic you are writing about.

10. Notebooking can be done digitally.

When my daughter creates notebooking pages on the computer, she uses Microsoft Publisher. The program doesn’t matter as much as the learning that is happening. Just as long as your child can type text and insert images, the software will work for digital notebooking.

Debra at Notebooking Pages has a Notebooking Publisher feature that allows students to make their own pages with the computer. This feature is available to everyone who has a treasury membership.

 

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Jimmie Quick

Jimmie is now a veteran homeschool mom. Her daughter Emma is a student of the sciences at a large university in Illinois. Her guide to notebooking—Notebooking Success—guides you through notebooking: what it is; how to use it; how it fits a Charlotte Mason, classical, and textbook curriculum; tips for getting the most educational value from it; and much more. It comes bundled with several bonuses, including a small set of generic notebooking pages that can be used with any topic.

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Kim Sorgius Reply

Yes! I so agree. Notebooking fits so beautifully with any method. Even those methods that don’t always fit inside a neat little box!

I personally use note booking with Classical and we love the way it complements what we do.

Molly Groman Reply

I never really knew that there could be so may advantages of Notebooking!

I also use it but never really thought of its merits, Thank you for the wonderful post :)!

Marlene Reply

I’ve been digging into the whole “notebooking” idea, and this post really summed it up for me! Thanks!!! I’m definitely incorporating it into our next school year. {so excited}

Rebecca Reply

WE love our notebooking and are thankful for the notebooking fairy for helping us get started with it!!!!

Judy @ Contented at Home Reply

Loved this article, Jimmie! In spite of our family’s tendency toward textbooks, I have always been intrigued by notebooking. I’m pondering how we could make notebooking work for us this coming year.

Corrie Reply

Could you go into more detail about notebooking with little kids

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