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Notebooking For Preschool & Kindergarten?

5/31/2014

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Disney Countdown: 109 Days


After one week of notebooking, I knew that was the way for us to go.  It was amazing to see the spark back in Julia's eyes.  Plus - it was evident at the amount of information she was really learning because she now speaks about  so many things from her readings and research. 


Science is a favorite subject for Julia but I had her bored her to tears with a workbook!  She loves chemistry and we had this book for over a year without even opening it up.  Now she is learning about the periodic table and enjoying it!!!


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Now my thoughts went to Hope.  Is it possible to notebook with her since she is only doing preschool/Kindergarten work?   Would Autism be an obstacle to this kind of learning?

Then I had a moment of epiphany. 

When I was searching for a binder for Julia to use, there were none to be had anywhere in the house.  I found it odd - I knew I had a couple of extra ones from last years Staples sales.  Where could they have gone?

The answer was Hope.  Over the past year, one of her therapists had thought it would be a great idea to have a visual to help her learn language in a very personal way.  So she started to make up different books for Hope.
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There was the answer to where my binders had gone - as well as the answer to whether she could learn through a notebook system.  And the answer was - YES!
The first book that they created is an "all about me" book.  It has some of Hope's "favorites" listed along with her family and friends.
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The next book is themed after Disney's Doc McStuffins - The Big Book of Boo-Boos.

Hope is not yet able to make her wants and needs known to us - that includes telling us what hurts her.  It is a guessing game to say the least trying to figure out what is wrong when I know she doesn't feel well.  So this book is to help her be able to let us know when she doesn't feel good. 

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The next notebook is her cookbook.  Time in the kitchen is invaluable!    We all love to cook in our house and Hope is definitely showing an interest too.  She likes to scramble eggs and make French Toast.   It's great to share such a special time with her.
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The next book is the latest creation - The Big Book of "Why".  Again, Hope can't answer very simple questions yet.  So this book is to help her begin answering "why" questions and introduce the word "because" into her vocabulary.
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So it looks like notebooking is the way to go for us!!!  I'm so excited!  Even in the short amount of time we have been using it, I find it amazing what a positive difference it has brought to our homeschool.
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Workboxes, Lapbooks & Notebooking... OH MY!

5/22/2014

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Disney Countdown: 116 Days
So it started last week when Julia, now 12, announced to me that school was not “fun” anymore.  I was devastated!  But the final blow was her next admission which was that she felt like she wasn’t learning anything lately.  WHAT?!?  How could this be?  Of course you are learning!  Of course school is fun! That’s why we homeschool! 

I remained calm and let her get everything off her chest.  When she went off to read and Hope was playing Starfall, I looked through Julia’s workboxes with new eyes.  It was 10 drawers of workbooks: reading, writing, spelling, math and even science, history & religion.  ALL workbooks.  I don’t how it happened.  I never intended it to…  One reason why I would never put her in school is because of all the mindless, busy work – but here we are.  And I felt like a hypocrite.

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The truth is that as Hope gets older I find she needs me more for her work and therapies.  So little by little, I added “just one more” workbook for Julia to work on independently.   Alas... 10 drawers of mindless, boring busywork.    I can’t blame her for feeling the way she does.  I knew I had to change something and immediately.

So I took to the Internet and “hit” the blogs.  Soon a solution caught my eye.  Notebooking.  It seemed like a very simple yet brilliant idea.  Would it work?  I explained it Julia and I saw her eyes light up with excitement.  “YES!”  She exclaimed, “Let’s do it!”   

I didn’t have any extra binders laying around.  (I’ll explain why in a later post.)  And I have a strict rule that I force myself to adhere to:  When I want to try something new that I find on a homeschool blog, I am NOT allowed to purchase any new “system” unless I know it will work for us – or at least give it a try. 

So while I didn’t have binders, I did have a ton of 3 prong folders.  That would work. I set up a few into a notebooking / lapbook combo folders.  I forced myself not to get fancy and refused to have to have it be “perfect”.   When I was done, I was happy.  So was Julia!

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Today is day four of notebooking and school has changed – along with Julia’s attitude & work schedule.  She is now actually excited to open her drawers and complete her work.  At first, I don’t think she really knew what to do.  I noticed that a lot of her writing was just copywork from the book.   On day 2 , I explained that I was interested in her words – not what the book said, but what she “learned”.  On day 3, her work exploded; not only in her notebooks, but in our conversations.  She was telling me so much about the things she was learning.  WOW- what an eye opener!  I think Notebooking is here to stay for a while!!!

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    I am a homeschooling mom who lives in New York State and homeschools my 2 daughters.  My oldest is 19 and Dyslexic and my youngest, who is 12,  was diagnosed with profound Autism. 

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