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Natalia
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I can't make up my mind about notebooking: do I want a notebook for every subject or a one notebook for everything with dividers. What do y'all do?
If you do individual notebooks for each subject what size has worked best for you?
Thanks,
Natalia
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cheesehead mom
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I also have some of the same questions. I searched the archives and did note see this question answered. Lots of great notebook picstures though. I have used Bare Books in the past for Nature, Poetry, Bible History and Art. Then last year we tried to have afamily History Notebook, only slightly successful. Do all of you use sketch pads or make your own? Or do binders make more sense?
Laura in WI
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time4tea
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I like to use a binder. I tried pre-bound notesbooking, and it never has worked for us, because there always ends up being one more thing to add and no room to add it to. As far as what kind of notebook (one large vs. many separate), ideally, I would like to have many separate notesbooks, one for each subject. Unfortunately, our space for storing our school supplies is very limited (and getting more so as the younger dc enter our homeschool), so I usually end up with one large binder w/dividers for each dc. I try to get the kind of dividers that have at least one pocket in them, so I can add little extras.
I'm looking forward to hearing what the reat of you do here!
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~Tea
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Betsy
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+JMJ+
I have one more questions to add to this. Does everyone just use a 3 hole punch to add paper or do they put it into sheet protectors, or something else?
My boys are a little rough around the edges  and I am afraid that they will pull out all the pages if they are just 3 hole punched.
Thanks for all of the ideas and for asking this question!!!!!
Betsy
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andibc
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Our children use a 1/2 inch binder. Their work goes into top loading, non-glare sheet protectors (imporant as it gives the page a finished look instead of 3 hole punching it.) Dividers for composition, science, history, geography, Other (copy work, memory work, etc.) Others put everything in theirs from spelling to math worksheets, but we limit it to the five above. At the end of the week they share their weekly notebook with their father and then I move those pages to larger individual subject binders. We've found it easier to keep one small notebook each week, rather than 6 or 7 subject notebooks. The call to fill up a small binder with beautiful things is strong. A large subject binder tends to look empty and it isn't clear what is new and what is old. Incidentally, each child has their own smaller binder and the larger ones are stored in a box.)
I buy sheet protectors in bulk at SAMs and occasionally we go through the subject notebooks to see if they want to discard anything. At the end of the year the pages can bound at Kinkos.
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stacykay
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I think we are going to implement notebooks for each subject, this year. In the past, we have had one big notebook, except for history, which has alaways had its own.
I was reading on another thread about math notebooking. I am intrigued by the idea, and am going to try that this year. We'll see how it goes. 
Space is an issue, and I am trying to cull the books, to make room. Not easy.
I am so interested to hear how everyone does this!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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Courtney
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My kids have been doing Miquon math and I've always put the pages they've done in page protectors and kept them in their own notebook (one per child). This year I've set up a binder for copywork, narration (we add pictures to that as well), religion, nature and math for each child. I think I"m going to do one for geography as well since we are studying different countries this year.
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Courtney in Texas
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Mom to Candace 10/97,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
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Cheryl
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I was just about to ask the question on page protectors vs three hole punched papers when I saw this thread.
I have another question though. Do you know how much a package of page protectors costs? I'm wondering if it may get expensive to have a few notebooks for each child.
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Cheryl
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Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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Donna Marie
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Does anyone know where you can buy the heavywt top loading page protectors in bulk for a good price??
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc 
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Donna Marie from NJ
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Finding Elegant Simplicity
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lapazfarm
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We do a combination of things.
For our unit studies we make specially designed notebooks at the end of the unit and include the unit-related work in it.
For writing it depends. Freewrites are in a marble journal, finished work goes into the notebook for whichever subject area it is related to.
Science, history and religion each have a half-inch 3ring binder with sheet protectors. Ds also has a half-inch dragon notebook that he adds to regularly.
Nature study is in a large blank journal.
Poetry and copywork is done either in his lovely blank book or on the computer.
Math has always been just a spiral notebook, though I may go with the marble comp book this year.
DD will have a single one inch notebook this year divided up some how, not sure how yet.
Page protectors vary widely in price, depending on the weight (thickness) and quantity you buy. I use the economy weight for most things, and the heavy weight for unit-study notebooks, since they are more keepsakes.
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Theresa
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andibc
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We use these sheet protectors from SAMs Remember, you can put two sheets in each protector (front and back) and they can be reused year after year.
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Cheryl
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Theresa,
Are the half-inch binders for one year of work in a subject?
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Cheryl
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Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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lapazfarm
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Yes, the half inch binders are for a year, but I was mistaken about the history one. It is one inch and we will keep adding to it through the years. It will most likely last another year or two. I will most likely move the religion stuff into a larger binder at the end of each year to save it all together.
Our subject area binders do not fill up all that quickly because alot of the work goes into the unit-study notebooks (like our pirate unit included writing, history, science,and geography). We kind of go back and forth between unit-studies and regular work, for variety, so the notebooks don't fill up as much as if we stuck to our regular work all the time.
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Theresa
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LaPaz Home Learning
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Kathryn UK
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andibc wrote:
| At the end of the week they share their weekly notebook with their father and then I move those pages to larger individual subject binders. |
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I like this idea  . I am definitely going to do this next year to keep our work in progress under control. Much better than just piling up unfiled papers .
We keep separate subject binders for history, geography and science, and next year I'm planning to add one for religion. We have two or three part-done or almost-finished projects (liturgical year, Rosary and so on) that are currently in separate display folders and I want to put them together so we can add to them in the future. I use my printer-copier to make copies of anything that belongs in more than one notebook - for example, something on a saint would go into both history and religion binders. My eldest daughter is going to start keeping a current affairs notebook, which will add another binder.
I used to use page protectors, but we now have just too much stuff and it would make the binders too bulky, so I just hole punch the pages.
For language arts I like to use small notebooks that have movable pages and also contain page dividers. I think I will also get these to use for Latin and French. They could have separate sections for exercises, grammar notes and vocabulary lists.
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Dh Michael, Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
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Dawn
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This is a great thread! I love notebooks! I'm trying to fine-tune how we'll use them this year. I like the idea of using individual notebooks and then filing work into subject binders as we move on.
Here's what I have done/am doing:
I bought the boys color-coded binders (i.e. each boy has his "own" color). They match their tote bags.
These notebooks will hold the week's work and a page that shows their week-at-a-glance/to-do list. At the end of the week we'll review our week and then file the work away in subject binders to make room for a new week!
I try to sketch out the weeks as far in advance as possible and organize materials ahead of time ...
I have a week-by-week overview sketched out in my own catch-all journal. Nothing fancy - I just use a ruler!  Dh is always offering to make a spreadsheet on the pc but I still do it this way.
Every year I set up a file folder crate for all the weeks of the year. 7 hanging folders - 2 months in each (July-August '06 - July-August '07), filled with folders for each week.
Each folder has a notepage attached - so if I find out something I need to do or get a piece of paper for something, I file it in the appropriate folder.
Some things are specific to a certain date. For instance, our pastor wants to meet with all CCD parents on the 10th of September so I wrote it on that folder; if I had a flier or handout I'd file it.
Some things are general (like pumpkin recipes or leaf crafts) and they get placed in the hanging folder. I found a a book for Catholic Mosaic at the library so I printed out the page and put it in the folder for September.
I try to pull the folders one or two weeks ahead of time to go over stuff, make photocopies, secure materials, etc. I had tried to keep a huge binder with dividers but I found it hard to keep up with the 3-hole punching so folders work better (one less step).
I don't think I'm explaining this clearly - not enough coffee in me yet! - but I'm going to post about it on my blog at some point in the near future.
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Erin
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Natalia,
We use one notebook for all. We don't use the ring binders as we found them too cumbersome and pages tore out. We use the presentation folders with the clear plastic sleeves. As needed we add more sleeves. At the end of the year we divide the subjects with title pages and bind as one book. (for each child)
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andibc
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Can you post a link to an image of a presentation folder? I don't think I've seen one and they sound very helpful.
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Erin
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This image I found of a display/presentation folder shows one with a professional cover. You can buy them at the supermarket with cheaper covers for a very cheap price. This picture gives you an idea of the comb and plastic. Do you have them in the USA?
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Erin
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Natalia
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In the past, each child has had one big binder for all subjects and a separate one for history. But i have found that one big binder is bulky and it seems to me that the rings on big binders tend to get messed up easier that the smaller ones. So I was thinking in having regular spiral notebooks for the subjects that are more structured like Latin and Math and then have binders for the things that I am going to be doing more notebooking kind of stuff. I made sure that the spiral notebooks are three hole punched so that I can put them in a binder at the end of the year for storage purposes.
I like the idea of having a binder for the week's work and the file in bigger binders at the end of the week. The big binders wouldn't get handled as much. I have to give this idea some thought to see how I can make it work for us.
Dawn, I like your idea of having folders with the different activities for the different months. I have a binder titled homeschool ideas with tab dividers for each subject. There I file all the things that I see here or somewhere else that I think we might incorporate into our school. The thing is that sometimes I forget to look at it when I am planning. Maybe filing things according to when they could be done would ensure that I actually use the ideas!
Erin, the presentation folders I have seen in the States seem small to me. Do one presentation folder of the ones you use accomodate the work for all year? or do you use one for each unit study or one for each subject? when you say you add a sleeve what do you mean?
thanks,
natalia
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Erin
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Natalia wrote:
| Erin, the presentation folders I have seen in the States seem small to me. Do one presentation folder of the ones you use accomodate the work for all year? or do you use one for each unit study or one for each subject? when you say you add a sleeve what do you mean? |
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Natalia,
The folders come with a certain amount of sleeves, but when they fill up you can take the comb apart and add in a whole heap more plastic sleeves. So the folder can become quite fat. My children have never been prolific in written output, I only dream about having so much work that we need different folders.
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Erin
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: notebooks- how many, what kind?
