Top 10 Reasons to Choose Notebooking

The Notebooking Fairy is joining in the fun of iHomeschool Network’s 10 in 10 blog hop. Today’s topic is 10 reasons why you chose your homeschooling method. At the bottom of the post is information about how you can participate in the link up.

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.

Very soon, Debra at Notebooking Pages will be offering her Notebooking Publisher feature that allows students to make their own pages with the computer. This feature will be available to everyone who has a treasury membership.

;

This post is linked up at Angie’s Top Ten Tuesday.

If you want to join in, post a top ten post of any topic and link up there.