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nissag Forum All-Star
Joined: Nov 23 2006 Location: Massachusetts
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Posted: Dec 18 2006 at 3:34pm | IP Logged
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This fascinates me, but I'm terrified to try.
First, I'm not altogether sure I know what I'm supposed to do.
Second, it looks like a terribly addictive (and therefore, in my case, expensive) activity... which leads me to:
Third, it looks very time intensive and with everything I have going on I'd need to know how to streamline the process.
Can anyone offer some advice, tutorial, encouragement?
__________________ Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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cathhomeschool Board Moderator
Texas Bluebonnets
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Posted: Dec 18 2006 at 6:39pm | IP Logged
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Nissa, there are several threads which address the "how to." I'm short on time and can't dig right now, but I'll post links later.
Expenses (time and money) depend largely on how elaborate you want to get and how much you want to let your children do. Our first two lapbooks and first extensive notebook project were highly directed (by me). After that, I've really let the children go more, giving general framework instructions and advice and suggestions as they went along, but really letting them do the work and make the creative decisions on their own. (This is for my older two. My 5yo still requires much help, but he's only done one lapbook. His notebook pages are nothing but bunches of stickers and some marker drawings and letters, which he does all on his own. )
Streamlining: I keep binders, page protectors and file folders (all bought in large packs at Sams), colored paper, construction paper and stickers (stickers bought half off at Hobby Lobby or the scrapbooking store) all on hand. Couple those things with general art supplies (scissors, glue, crayons, markers, etc) and you have everything (and really more than) you need. We started small -- with the file folders, notebooks, and construction paper that I happened to have on hand. Since the kids enjoyed that first experience, we bought the other supplies.
__________________ Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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nissag Forum All-Star
Joined: Nov 23 2006 Location: Massachusetts
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Posted: Dec 18 2006 at 6:48pm | IP Logged
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Oh thanks so much Janette! Sounds like an after Christmas project! I'm loooking forward to giving it a shot - seems like a wonderful way to preserve their "school" years!
__________________ Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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Willa Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Dec 18 2006 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
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I don't have any advice....I am in the same boat as you.
I have read lots and lots about it, but the trick is to figure out how to make it work for my particular family.
Plus, I have a Scottish frugal side that makes it really difficult for me to hand expensive supplies over to my children
Thirdly, notebooking is just open-ended enough that I have trouble figuring out how to actually do it. I don't have a clear enough idea of what the goals are or what the daily details look like.
Is there a patron saint of notebooking?
__________________ AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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JuliaT Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 18 2006 at 8:30pm | IP Logged
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We are in the process of making a notebook for science. We are doing astronomy. I am finding that notebooking is less stressful than making a lapbook. My 7 yr. old dd is able to do most of the work on her own. With lapbooking, I still have to do the folding for her.
We put narrations in the notebook. My dd will draw a picture to accompany it. Sometimes she will just decorate the borders around the edge of what she has written. We write out experiments or activities that we have done. I don't use stickers too much just because I haven't found any that match our theme. But I have lots of scrapbooking supplies, templates, etc. and she uses them. I am very pleased with how it is turning out.
Your notebook can be as elaborate or as simple as you want/need it to be.
Blessings,
Julia
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk
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alicegunther Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: N/A
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Posted: Dec 18 2006 at 9:38pm | IP Logged
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WJFR wrote:
I don't have any advice....I am in the same boat as you.
I have read lots and lots about it, but the trick is to figure out how to make it work for my particular family.
Plus, I have a Scottish frugal side that makes it really difficult for me to hand expensive supplies over to my children
Thirdly, notebooking is just open-ended enough that I have trouble figuring out how to actually do it. I don't have a clear enough idea of what the goals are or what the daily details look like.
Is there a patron saint of notebooking? |
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I nominate St. Therese the Little Flower and St. Faustina in memory of their glorious notebooks!
I like to notebook in spurts, doing small manageable projects in one or two month spurts. This keeps me from petering out and abandoning them half completed.
__________________ Love, Alice
mother of seven!
Cottage Blessings
Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
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Lisa R Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 9:32am | IP Logged
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Nissa,
Look down a little further on this forum (I don't know how to link! ) and you'll see a post I did about notebooking. Lots of help there!
__________________ God Bless!
Lisa, married to my best friend, Ray and loving my blessings Joshua (17)and Jacob(15), Hannah(7) and Rachel (5)!Holy Family Academy
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Tina P. Forum All-Star
Joined: June 28 2005 Location: N/A
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 10:58am | IP Logged
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The links: notebooking
for beginners
I don't know whether the second was already listed in the first post (if that makes sense), but if not, here it is.
BTW, I'm with you. I need an in-house demonstration to get started. Anyone game?
God bless,
__________________ Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
Mary's Muse
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Willa Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 1:12pm | IP Logged
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Tina P. wrote:
BTW, I'm with you. I need an in-house demonstration to get started. Anyone game?
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Seriously! I was just thinking something like that! Not just finished product but step by step, unique and beautiful, like Alice's beautiful Easter Vigil Notebook
Also, ideas on how to get the kids started -- the more basic and user-friendly, the better.
__________________ AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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MichelleW Forum All-Star
Joined: April 01 2005 Location: Oregon
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 1:37pm | IP Logged
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We did beautiful First Communion Notebooks (to which there are multiple links to conversations if you do a search). The ideas were not our own, we borrowed heavily from the many talented women here.
Right now, we are notebooking American history. We started with a page on Colombus. We divided the page into 4 boxes, pasted a picture of Colombus (from Homeschool in the Woods) and a large 1492 right in the middle of the page. I divided Columbus' life into 4 major periods and read something to the kids from each period. In each of the 4 boxes I had the kids draw a picture from each period in Columbus' life.
My daughter's next page is a picture she drew of Kateri Tekakwitha.
Next is Jamestown. We read several books on Jamestown. The page has a little map of the area, and the important people of the time (Pocahontas, Capt. Smith). Also a list of what they did right and what they did wrong. Each child's is of course reflective of his/her ability to write, draw and process.
Next is a page we did on Virginia. It has a map of the state with important locations labeled. Each child included interesting facts about the state and how it was started.
Next is a page or two on the pilgrims. We used some paper doll cut-outs, my son has a picture of the Mayflower. They needed to include the date, Plymouth, the important people and something about each person they included and a bit of the story.
Next is a page we did on Massachusettes very similar to the one we did on Virginia.
That is where we stopped. Since then we have read "The Matchlock Gun" and "The Courage of Sarah Noble." When we start up again next month we will probably do a page on colonial life, a page for each of the 13 colonies (except the two we already did), a page on Ben Franklin and then begin the Revolutionary War.
Does that help? The only expense was white cardstock (because it holds up better for us that plain paper). The kids drew, wrote and colored with crayons, markers and pencils we already had. My daughter used bits of fabric and felt for embellishments. Each notebook reflects the personality of each child. I love them.
__________________ Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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cathhomeschool Board Moderator
Texas Bluebonnets
Joined: Jan 26 2005 Location: Texas
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 3:41pm | IP Logged
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Tina P. wrote:
I need an in-house demonstration to get started. Anyone game? |
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This is exactly what we did when several of the moms on this board got together in Virginia a couple of falls ago. Only it was Mary Chris teaching us to lapbook. (We lapbooked Salamander Room, and I'm thoroughly embarassed to admit that we still haven't finished those yet! ) It was our first taste of lapbooks, though, and the demo made all the difference! If anyone wants to coordinate a gathering, I'm always up for a road trip...
__________________ Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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cathhomeschool Board Moderator
Texas Bluebonnets
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 3:56pm | IP Logged
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More threads on notebooking:
Lapbooking/notebooks expensive?
Lapbooking/notebooks questions
Starting Notebooking
And there are links in those threads that will take you to pictures of actual notebook pages. You could be reading and clicking all day...
__________________ Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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nissag Forum All-Star
Joined: Nov 23 2006 Location: Massachusetts
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Posted: Dec 19 2006 at 3:59pm | IP Logged
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Wowee, there's a lot to read. I'm beginning to form a better picture in my mind now of what I could do, but keep suggestions coming!
I think I'll start with a scrapbook with the posts you can add, then use dividers by subject... Maybe just a binder we can make pretty on the outside.
See why I could make this expensive I'm Scottish, too so I have a great internal conflict going on - spend the money, save the money!
__________________ Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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marihalojen Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 12 2006 Location: Florida
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Posted: Dec 20 2006 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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MichelleW wrote:
We did beautiful First Communion Notebooks (to which there are multiple links to conversations if you do a search). The ideas were not our own, we borrowed heavily from the many talented women here. |
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We've been working on Marianna's First Communion for awhile, though it's really morphed into more of a liturgical year one instead...but I did want to say that the words "First Communion" are not searchable here, very odd. Here is the First Communion Notebook, and here is a Year of the Eucharist one we found helpful. The Stations of the Eucharist looks neat, but we didn't get around to it.
I could turn this whole post blue with links to awesome ideas that we could have included! Easter Vigils, Study of the Mass...it's a work in progress, right?
__________________ ~Jennifer
Mother to Mariannna, age 13
The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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Willa Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Dec 20 2006 at 11:58am | IP Logged
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nissag wrote:
Wowee, there's a lot to read. I'm beginning to form a better picture in my mind now of what I could do, but keep suggestions coming!
I think I'll start with a scrapbook with the posts you can add, then use dividers by subject... Maybe just a binder we can make pretty on the outside.
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I am just experimenting with that kind of thing.... it is fun! But I still don't know quite how to apply it to my household of boys.
One thing that occurs to me -- this is just a thought inspired by Janette's offer of an inhouse demonstration. You probably don't have any trips planned to the CA Sierras in the near future??
I am wondering if we could have an online step by step demonstration. Maybe we could take a liturgical year project and go page by page. Walking through it like that might work for some who have trouble visualizing the concrete details, and who prefer things to be personalized rather than just a boughten kit to follow -- yes, that would be ME!
This is just an idea -- and I would not be the one to implement it, obviously, so I hesitate to even suggest it. But it seems that SO many people come here asking for beginner's help on this subject that it would be a useful thread to have in the archives.
I also wanted to mention that Elizabeth has some really beautiful notebooking visuals in her article on
Living Books I don't know how to link directly to the article but it's on the left sidebar of the site I linked to. And Kim has visuals of her
lapbook on our Catholic Faith not quite a notebook, but might give some ideas.
Also, I am looking at the First Communion Notebook thread and it looks like the closest there is right now to what I was thinking about.
I won't have any First COmmunion students for at least a couple of years but I am thinking of taking some of the ideas and making a scrapbook of the sacraments with old photos and the like contained in it. That might give me some practice for the future.
Also, Theresa's blog on
How We Do Notebooking is useful for beginners -- it might give you some ideas!
__________________ AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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lapazfarm Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005 Location: Alaska
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Posted: Dec 21 2006 at 8:10am | IP Logged
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Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all get together for a little notebooking party (oops, I mean workshop )!!!???!!!
I am always up for a trip. Perhaps to make it worth a longer trip we could add in some other workshops like living the liturgical year, nature study, science, art, etc...I could think of a million workshops the ladies on this board could give!!!Our own 4real learning conference!
Anyone game???
__________________ Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Lisa R Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 21 2006 at 8:38am | IP Logged
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Theresa,
Wouldn't that be WONDERFUL!! It would have to be central though because we're all over the U.S.!!
__________________ God Bless!
Lisa, married to my best friend, Ray and loving my blessings Joshua (17)and Jacob(15), Hannah(7) and Rachel (5)!Holy Family Academy
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cathhomeschool Board Moderator
Texas Bluebonnets
Joined: Jan 26 2005 Location: Texas
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Posted: Dec 21 2006 at 9:11am | IP Logged
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I personally loved the 4Real "retreat" a couple of falls ago, but I know that it was a BIG deal to coordinate, and that it's so hard to work out everyone's schedules, let alone find a "convenient" meeting location.
We are planning a trip out west late in spring.... Willa, we're not (currently, anyway ) planning on heading as far north as you are, but we will be in San Diego. You northern CA ladies could meet us half way... Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful! (for me, I mean! )
__________________ Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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nissag Forum All-Star
Joined: Nov 23 2006 Location: Massachusetts
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Posted: Dec 21 2006 at 9:54am | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all get together for a little notebooking party (oops, I mean workshop )!!!???!!!
I am always up for a trip. Perhaps to make it worth a longer trip we could add in some other workshops like living the liturgical year, nature study, science, art, etc...I could think of a million workshops the ladies on this board could give!!!Our own 4real learning conference!
Anyone game??? |
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I'm actually putting together a family retreat with activities for moms, dads, and kids. I have information here.here and a more detailed of mom's portion herehere. Of course, lapbooking/notebooking could easily be added as part of a home education module. Not to worry, I spent years as an event planner!
What do you all think?
__________________ Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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Tina P. Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 21 2006 at 11:26am | IP Logged
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I'm all for it, but as Lisa says, it has to be somewhere west of Virginia, this time. Colorado might be nice ...
__________________ Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
Mary's Muse
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