We use lots of notebooking in our homeschool, mostly for narration. But notebooking has other applications too such as research.  Honing research skills is one of the goals I have listed for Sprite’s middle school years, so I try to regularly incorporate short research assignments into her schedule.

Here are two recent examples.

Uganda Notebooking Pages

My husband went to Uganda in November for a mission trip, and I kept meaning for us to do a short study of the country. But the holidays came up fast, and the “extra” study was pushed to the side. When we had a few scattered days in between Christmas and New Year’s, it seemed the perfect time for covering some loose ends. Instead of pushing forward with our next semester plans, I gave Sprite a research task on Uganda.

Notebooking a Country -- Uganda

She used the country notebooking page from The Notebooking Fairy, some images from pretty notecards that my husband brought back from Uganda, and even a small map from the church bulletin. She had to research to fill in the Quick Facts section at the bottom of the pictured page and write about the symbolism of the national flag (not shown here).

You may notice that there is quite a bit of white-out on the page. Yes, there were some problems with Sprite’s research, but it made for a good teaching point about reading critically and thoroughly to get the right answer not just an answer. After all, that is what research is all about.

So I don’t consider that white out a sign of failure at all. It’s quite the opposite. And I want to be real with my blog readers. Sprite’s work is not perfect on the first go around. We do plenty of editing.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Notebooking Pages

The seven wonders of the ancient world notebooking page are based on an inexpensive product I purchased at CurrClick also titled The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This was another one of my brilliant plans that I had trouble working in to our schedule. In our history studies, we are between ancient Greece and ancient Rome, so it’s a perfect time to fit in these ancient monuments.

Purchased Pages from CurrClick

I was pleased that Sprite covered all seven wonders in one day even though I had scheduled it over two days’ time. She  found the facts so interesting that she wanted to continue researching all seven. That kind of immersion in a topic makes me far happier than her finished product.

I desire for Sprite to love learning, and I hope that these notebooking assignments give her the chance to develop these attitudes:

• be curious
• enjoy investigation and research
• love to read
• enjoy experimentation
• want to record observations and ideas.

Two of the Seven Wonders

If you want to know more about using notebooking in your homeschool, I have the perfect resource for you. I have written a very modestly priced eBook  called Notebooking Success. You can learn more at The Notebooking Fairy where I offer plenty of free printable notebooking pages.

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Our artist for the term is Paul Gauguin.

Artist Study Background

While most Charlotte Mason homeschoolers focus on one piece of art a week, we prefer to narrate a piece each day. For some reason a daily activity is easier for me to remember and implement than a weekly or monthly one. (Our poetry study is done in the same way.)

Some people use online resources for art, but I prefer a book. I rely on used book stores and thrift stores for excellently priced “coffee table” art books.  (If that’s not an option, I have bought the Taschen art books.) As long as the books are full of color reproductions, they are great for artist study. We skip over ones that might make us feel icky (violent, graphic, or just sad).

How I Design Sprite’s Lessons

Art is a subject that Sprite and I both enjoy, so we use it as a springboard for many other areas such as geography, reading, and writing. This interdisciplinary learning is a foundation of a Charlotte Mason education — letting children find connections among concepts. Learning does not need to be segmented into strict categories.

Your artist study doesn’t have to be this detailed. I’m taking this almost to a unit study level. Realize that as we do art, we are also sneaking in other academic areas.

Paul Gauguin Details

Our Paul Gauguin artist study revolves around a HUGE second hand book and some additional titles I reserved from the library:

1. Paul Gauguin (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists) A simple overview.
2. The Yellow House LOVE this one since it ties Van Gogh with Gauguin in a beautiful picture book.
3. Paul Gauguin (Artists in Their Time) A more thorough treatment.

I created some notebooking pages which you can also download and use for your own Gauguin study.

Paul Gauguin Notebooking Pages - Four layouts in three line styles for a total of twelve printable notebooking pages featuring the artist Paul Gaugin.

I integrated geography into our artist study with the help of some printable maps from Scholastic’s Ready-to-Go Super Book of Outline Maps. (I bought that as an ebook from the Scholastic website at a discounted price. I have used it time and time again because the maps are so nicely done.) As a location was mentioned, I had Sprite locate and mark it on her map pages.

I normally have Sprite choose one work of art to “make her own” by creating a reproduction. She chose the painting Reverie.

Then I asked to to choose another piece to analyze with the material from the Smart Art book. She chose Reverie again. From her notes on the evaluation form from Smart Art, she wrote a one paragraph analysis of the color and emotion in the painting.

Remember, we don’t use a formal writing curriculum. Instead, I look for opportunities like this one to integrate writing into what we are otherwise studying. An artist study certainly doesn’t have to include a writing assignment.

I created a Squidoo lens with more details about a Gauguin Artist Study where you can read Sprite’s paragraph and find more printables to download.

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Why “Piranhas eat mostly decayed antelope skin?” Because “Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally” is just not good enough for the non-conformist, creative child.

She must create her own mnemonic device.

No matter how odd it may be.

On the math front, we are still using Teaching Textbooks (TT) math. Sprite wrapped up level 5 and moved directly into level 6 which is already ¼th complete. (No, we are not “behind.” We are moving at Sprite’s pace.)

We have just finished Unit 2 of LivingMath.net lessons, most recently reading about the invention of decimals, John Napier, Order of Operations, and the googol. We do the computer math (TT) and the math history lessons side by side, and I’ll continue that pattern for next year (7th grade).

The combination makes for a very well-rounded math curriculum, one in which a very creative child can find room for expression.

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I have a couple of geography resources on the shelf, but mostly we cover geography by integrating it into our other lessons. And more often than not, it is not planned.

Case in point: yesterday’s study of the Strait of Magellan.

In Sprite’s proofreading practice (Evan Moor Daily Proofreading, grade 6) she came across strait of magellan which had to be capitalized. She didn’t realize that it was a specific place. In fact, she didn’t even know what a strait was. And she had forgotten all about the explorer Magellan.

At that point I had a choice. I could simply tell her that the Strait of Magellan is a place on the tip of South America and it should be capitalized. Or I could take this natural opportunity for a mini-geography lesson.

Yesterday I chose the latter. (I don’t always, by the way. Sometimes you just have to say no to a tangent.)

We started with the atlas. Amazingly we couldn’t find Strait of Magellan in the index! I didn’t want to just tell Sprite what or where it was, so I suggested the dictionary next. She looked up the word strait and wrote down the definition. Then she looked up Magellan in the dictionary too. Based on the information she found there, she was able to figure out that to find the Strait of Magellan in the atlas we would need to look at the South America page.

To solidify her understanding, I asked Sprite to draw a simple map of the Strait of Magellan below the definitions she had looked up. And then that page went into her geography notebook. Voila! Geography lesson is done.

For more details about this style of sneaky teaching without a curriculum,  see my Teaching Reference Skills series at The Homeschool Classroom.

• Part 1: Why and How
• Part 2: Using a Table of Contents and Index
• Part 3: The Atlas
• Part 4: The Dictionary

By the way, if you do want a more direct approach,  this workbook is good — World Map Skills, Grade 6. It is serving as an occasional geography supplement for our Beautiful Feet ancient history study.

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Normally I think it’s best to study something and then take the field trip. But when a chance to tour a museum presents itself, I certainly wouldn’t turn it down because we hadn’t reached that part in our curriculum. Actually, for the Civil Rights topic, I think that having our visit to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN was better before our book study.

Books We Used (mainly the first three)

• If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Don’t Know Much About American History
• Lift the Flap Timelines — American History (notice the yellow timeline below)
• Childhood of Famous Americans series — Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Amazing African American History
• Children’s Encyclopedia of American History

Sprite remembered the main gist of many of the exhibits. So as we read our living books, she already had some understanding of the events. Then she used the postcards I bought at the museum as the meat of her notebooking pages.

Of course, we had to watch the inspiring “I Have a Dream” speech by MLK, Jr. during the 1964 March on Washington. Then I gave her both the printed text and this notetaking guide to analyze the speech a bit.

For more language arts tie ins, I assigned Sprite The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 (downloaded to her new Kindle 2, but my DX is pictured here) and this proofreading page with a MKL, Jr. theme.

Other notable links:

• Montgomery Bus Boycott Graphic
• MLK, Jr. Full Color Poster
• Free MLK, Jr. notebooking pages
• Free MLK, Jr. lapbook

You might not suspect it, but Sprite was able to relate in some ways to the prejudice described during the times of segregation. Living as minorities in a racially homogeneous nation does present some unique challenges.  We can never blend in no matter how fluent we are in language or culture. We are forever the “foreigners.” But she was quick to point out that we rarely face overtly negative treatment. Our worst treatment is merely unfair prices or rude gawking and name calling. But the whole concept of being treated differently because of your race is something she really understands (and dislikes intensely).

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We have been studying American history for a long time now. (I first posted about this notebook in October of 2008.) After the American Revolution, when the colonies became states, Sprite began her 50 States Notebook. My idea was to add each state as it entered the Union chronologically. Well, we are finally finished. With Hawaii and Alaska gaining statehood in 1959, we have now wrapped up the notebook. What a rewarding project!

Look at how thick it is! Almost four inches!

Each state has a two cardstock notebooking pages filled with information about the state, including the state flag, state bird, a map, etc. Most every state also has at least two postcards — a map card and a card with the state capitol building.

Here is page one, front and back.

And here is the second page, front and back.

At the beginning of the notebook, we added information on American currency, Washington D. C., the three branches of government, and all the things that President Bush sent us.

No offense, Obama. We haven’t written your letter yet. We’re giving you time to make some nice glossies of you and your White House pets.

During our two months in America, I let Sprite work on a collection of US license plates. She used the Ultimate Sticker Puzzles: License Plates Across the States: Travel Puzzles and Games! (yeesh, that’s a long title). Although she discarded the other puzzles, she kept the pull out map with all her stickers. We never found Hawaii, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Nebraska, and maybe a few others. But the vast majority were filled in by the time we were ready to leave.

For how to make your own and for links to state notebooking page templates, visit this 50 States Notebook lens.

Other tasks Sprite did to wrap up the 50 States Notebook:

• Completed all the US Presidents matchbooks which I got from Notebooking2Learn. (No, this doesn’t directly relate to the 50 States, but it seemed the best place to put the collection we’ve been working on since good old George Washington.)
• Added state rock/mineral/gem information to each state.
• Added Yellowstone brochures, maps, etc in page protectors.
• Added various brochures received from flat traveler exchanges and from our summer travels (The Hermitage, for example) behind the appropriate state pages.
• Added a list of the 50 states in chronological order by when they entered the union

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This post isn’t about how to organize the completed notebooking pages. Instead, this is for mom, the lesson planner and materials organizer.

I’ve got two main tips for managing and organizing your notebooking pages.

1.   When you buy retail sets, print out the table of contents and add that page to your planning notebook.  (You do have some type of record/planning/idea book, right?)  As you plan, you’ll have the list available for quick reference.

I always think that I’ll remember what I have on my computer, but I never do. So go ahead and use that paper and ink. It’s worth it.

2.  Create a file of blank notebooking pages that work with any topic. Print several copies of your favorite layouts and store them with your child’s homeschooling supplies. Then when it’s time to create a page, your child can flip through the choices and select an appropriate page. I like to print these generic notebooking pages onto a variety of colored paper plus white. Can you see how thick our stack is? There are dozens of choices in there.

It’s convenient to have the pages ready to go because we don’t have to stop studying to go find the file and print it out. This strategy is similar to what I do about minibooks, that is, create a whole slew of them and store them for long-term use.

My favorite set of general notebooking pages come from Notebooking Pages and is called Basic Lined Notebooking Pages. I turn to that set of 200 pages time and time again.  If you don’t want to invest the $13 for that set, be sure to download the  Free Notebooking Pages which are samples from the larger set.

Of course, making your own notebooking pages is not terribly difficult. I use Publisher, but some people use Microsoft Word. Either will work. Here are some blank pages that I’ve made myself. (I use Cute PDF or Primo PDF, both free software, to convert the Publisher file into PDF.)

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Another period of history is complete; this time it’s World War 1.

We used the Eyewitness WW1 book as our main resource, and I pulled a few chapters from True Stories of the First World War. The stories were not as good as I’d hoped. They had more of a textbook style than narrative style. Some of the stories dragged on and on… like the war, I guess. I had planned to read all of the book, but because of the style, I picked the best, most engaging stories instead.

For notebooking, we used quite a few pages from the History Scribe Combo I bought way back here. (I’m so getting my money’s worth out of that purchase.)

I found some fabulous printable resources at Schoolhistory.co.uk. The site is a tad difficult to navigate, so I’m going to give you two links to get you started: WW1 Worksheets and Grade 9 WW1 Worksheets. Don’t let the grade 9 scare you. I found several things that were prefect for 5th grade Sprite. The map on the right is an example of what is offered there, all in PDF.

And Teacheroz.com has some wonderful WW1 maps. I’m a firm believer in having a map handy during history studies (as well as other subjects). Otherwise, it’s so hard to visualize what you’re studying. The Eyewitness WW1 book is good, but it is really lacking in maps, in my opinion. We referred time and time again to the Western Front map glued onto the blue notebooking page to the left.

The PBS site was helpful in this regard too since it has some interactive diagrams showing battles and the frontlines.
Some more notebooking pages:

As it turned out, my initial plans to create a lapbook changed. So although I found these neat printables, we didn’t even use them. I’ll add them here for YOU!

Free Printable Templates

1. Free templates for minibooks related to WW1 and WW2.
2. Templates for WWI- German Aircraft minibooks.
3. Free sample from A Journey Through Learning –shutterfold minibook template including the two sides that fought in WW1.

And here are thumbnails of some additional websites that looked very promising:

Worksheets

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I have a new favorite president. No wonder this guy is on Mount Rushmore! I can’t remember ever studying Theodore Roosevelt in school. Where was I? Did we just skip all the interesting things in history? Surely we did because I was a “good” student. If it was taught, surely I heard it. But I only remember a few times in all my years of school when history was interesting, and it was never American history.

We read a very simple book –Time For Kids: Theodore Roosevelt: The Adventurous President — from our Winter Promise American Story 2 curriculum.  I love how it was full of photos and quotes.

In fact,the quotations inspired me to make the copywork pages that are a part of my notebooking set. I love it when Sprite’s handwriting can be meaningful and tie into what we’re studying.

Of course, I’ve included his famous quote, “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” Historically, at least, that is very important. But listen to this one:

The lack of power to take joy in outdoor nature is as real a misfortune as the lack of power to take joy in books.

Isn’t that beautiful and true?  This one resonates with me because it values 2 things I revel in — books and nature. Most everyone admits that reading needs no defense, but in our nature deficient culture, many people need to be reminded of the value of time spent outdoors.

And two quotes about working hard (something I feel very strongly about instilling in Sprite):

When you play, play hard. When you work, don’t play at all.

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

That last one reminded me of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, so we pulled out the Bible and compared.

Of course, the notebooking set also includes some basic pages for recording history. Sprite focused on the Spanish American War and the Teddy Bear (no surprise there).

I hope that you find them helpful when you study Roosevelt or need some cursive copywork.

For some Roosevelt minibooks, see Learning by Living for photos. The printables are actually at Homeschool Share. And this PDF has notebooking pages for many presidents, including Roosevelt.

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Updated to add some discount codes. I didn’t have these when I ordered. (pout!)

Debra over at Notebooking Pages is having an incredible deal with her Back to School Winter Sale. If you were thinking of buying notebooking pages from her, this is the time to act. I snapped up two deals:

1. Famous Composers Notebooking Pages for $2.98. (regularly $5.95) –286 notebooking pages for 28 famous composers.
2. Combo:History of Ancient Times Complete Set of Notebooking Pages for $9.98 (regularly $34.70) — over 1000 pages.

I’ve enjoyed her free composer pages in the past, so I’m excited to have more composers to choose from. And since next school year we’ll be studying ancient history, I thought I’d go ahead and add these notebooking pages to my ever growing list of resources.

Debra’s site is so easy to use. She’s even got the special bargain prices already posted clearly on the website for each item, so there’s no guessing as to what you will pay at checkout. And if you happen to have a discount code, you can still use that. I won a $10 coupon to the NotebookingPages.com Store during Lilliput Station’s 2009 Christmas Party. After applying that coupon, I ended up paying less than $3 for 1300 printable pages. That’s almost ridiculous! Thank you, Debra!

Wed-Thur: 50% off | Fri-Sat: 40% off | Sun-Mon: 30% off

(Changes in percentage discounts will change at midnight EST.)

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