Notebooking in Homeschool

This post is all about the what, why, and how we use notebooking in homeschool.

Notebooking is a simple, yet powerful tool. It is a great alternative to worksheets in education, and it is a practice used with many highly efficient people.

Studies show that notebooking helps improve memory, turn your ideas into action, and helps you connect more with what you’re writing down. It has been shown to improve achieving results along with day to day accountability and efficiency.

I asked for questions on this topic on Instagram, and will address all of them here in this post. Let’s look at how notebooking can be used well in the homeschool setting.

This post is all about how we approach keeping a notebook in our homeschool.

[RELATED POST: Our favorite resources for notebooking]

Notebooking: Where to Start

Learning how to use a notebook builds confidence and organizational skills. Children can build an efficient habit of organizing their thoughts and ideas, which will help tremendously down the line in composing papers or presentations. In the early years, I like to think of the goal as simply helping them to think about and process new ideas.

“Narrating is not the work of a parrot, but of absorbing into oneself the beautiful thought from the book, making it one’s own and then giving it forth again with just that little touch that comes from one’s own mind.”

charlotte mason

When I was a student in school, the main method of checking if we understood what was read or learned was through some kind of assessment. Often, it looked like a worksheet, an oral presentation, or a multiple choice fill in the bubble test. Remember scantrons, friends?

These methods, while to the point and what I was used to, often took the love out of the learning process. As a homeschooler, with more freedom in the method of educating, we can explore other means to an end. I found that notebooking, or written narrations, can serve the same purpose of assessing, without deflating the delight of the content and stories gained.

For us, the goal in notebooking is to aid with retention, and to provide an opportunity to process what was read. Reading a chapter of a historical living book is a lot of input into a child’s mind, so narrating gives them a chance for some output. It is also great practice for written composition, but with a lot less pressure and rules (there is a time for teaching writing structure in a different lesson – see link below).

[RELATED POST: Our Go-To Writing Curriculum]

When They Do Not Write Yet

You can start with oral narration as early as they can understand a story in a picture book. In fact, in my own experience, the earlier they can practice this habit, the easier it is to build.

Here is a simple example: You read a picture book to your child. You can start by pointing out or asking what the setting was, who was their favorite character, or you can ask if anything made them feel happy or silly. Simply getting in the practice of discussing the story afterward will develop this habit of reflection, and is an opportunity to review anything that may have been missed.

As they progress with oral narration, the next step could be the parent writing down their oral narration in a notebook. My favorite notebooks for these early years have space for illustration. After the parent writes down the oral narration, the child can then draw a picture of a part of the story they liked. I like to encourage giving their best effort, and adding some color to their picture. This just stays in line with my hope of the children developing a pattern of taking ownership of the work they produce.

How Often?

Personally, I think this highly depends on the child. If you have a child that loves to draw and write, they can easily (and happily) notebook daily for multiple subjects. If you have a child that has a hard time with writing, and doesn’t care for drawing, this can be a daunting task. I have one of each! So for us, I keep our written narrations to once a day, two times at most. Please keep in mind that my kids are old enough to read and write paragraphs on their own, so it will vary depending on many factors.

Notebooking: Oral to Written

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Okay, maybe not 1000 in this case, but let’s start with a sentence. As your child moves from solely oral, to written narrations, I suggest taking it slow. Maybe try doing all oral narrations, with Wednesdays as a written narration day. Start with a sentence or two, and work your way up as you see their confidence grow. If you picked up a notebook that has room for illustrations, this is a great way to transition. My kids love to draw their pictures while I’m reading. Part of it keeps their hands busy while they are listening, and also, they are practicing active listening so they can decide what key part they want to draw and write about. Also, by drawing a scene from the story, it helps them to retain detail, which they can use when they begin to write.

“I Don’t Know What to Write…”

There are a lot of reasons you may hear this. From my experience, I have heard this when they are hungry, tired, or merely did not pay attention. Thankfully, these things can be discussed and turned around. Sometimes, they may just need some help, which is completely understandable! Here are some example prompts that you can choose from to help spark their mind:

• Who was your favorite character?
• What was the most exciting part of the story?
• Write a letter to (insert relative/friend’s name), and tell them about this story.
• What setting in the story was a place you wish you could visit?
• What was something the main character did that showed (insert good character trait)?
• What is something new you learned from this passage?

When it Feels Frustrating

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like there are always bound to be bad days with two subjects: math and writing. Most days are fine, but with each of my three children, there have been rough days with these two subjects. So, if you’re feeling frustrated, please know you are not alone! I have had many discussions with my children, and with God, about humility, perseverance, and patience – character traits we all struggle with in the more difficult lessons.

One thing to keep in mind is that narrating is hard. Think about all of the processing that needs to happen mentally to organize bits of information, and then to be able to churn those out into beautifully constructed sentences. Not to mention any external distractions that may have interrupted their train of thought.

So, approaching this with an extraordinary amount of patience in the beginning is vital. I also highly suggest that the parent lead the discussion for oral or written narrations in the early stages. It does not need to feel like a quiz, but a pleasant and encouraging environment is most inviting for conversation. I know I mentioned any form of narration is designed as a measure to assess, but it is so important in any successful lesson to model the expectation frequently in order to understand it properly.

Expectations

I heard a great line from Abby over at Rooted in Rest. She mentioned it is important to inspect what you expect. So if you expect your child to write 3 sentences, make sure to inspect it afterwards. This holds them accountable, and shows that this is something worthy of their time.

I put as little emphasis on the perfection of their composition in notebooking as I can bear. Why? I prefer to use this practice as an enjoyable, critique-free, and creative outlet. Also, we use a formal writing curriculum where they are heavily enthralled in grammar, structure, and writing style. So I don’t feel the need to use written narration for correction, but rather, comprehension.

However, I do randomly ask one child to read their narration aloud just to keep them on their toes, and be prepared. I’ve found this helps them to give their best effort in their writing because nothing is worse than being outdone by your siblings!

Notebooking: Which Subjects

You can use oral or written narrations for almost any subject. We have worked up to using different notebooks for different subjects over the years. We have one for history, Bible, science, nature, and writing. It may seem like a lot, but we only utilize 2 of them each day on average. Every family will vary on which subjects and how often they notebook, but here is our general pattern:

• History: 1-2 times a week
• Bible: 4 times a week
• Science: 1 time a week
• Nature: 1 time a week
• Writing: 1 time a week

[RELATED POST: Mid-Year Review of Beautiful Feet Books History of Science]

Notebooking: Curriculum + Supplies

Some homeschool curriculum really supports the use of notebooking, and even assigns it. Here are some of our favorite resources that encourage written narrations.

Curriculum that Supports Notebooking

• A Gentle Feast
• Beautiful Feet Books
• Simply Charlotte Mason
• The Peaceful Press
• Sabbath Mood Homeschool
• CM Simple Studies

Resources that Support Notebooking

inexpensive starter journals

When my oldest first started written narrations with Beautiful Feet’s Early American History, we used these inexpensive notebooks. The lines were a great fit for my early writer, and there was space to illustrate on the same page.

high quality ruth journals

Once I was sold in the habit of notebooking, I decided to upgrade all of my children to these beautiful Ruth Journals. The paper is higher quality, and there a variety of line options to choose from. This helps when you have different levels of writers – some who may need more space for long strokes, or those who are writing neatly in cursive.

For the Ruth Journals, after you select your interior line options, you can then choose to either side or top binding. The top bound journals have been really great for us! They like not having the binding in the way, and I imagine it works really well for left handed kids. These journals and the entries are so nice that we will be keeping these as our homeschool keepsakes.

nature journals

There are so many nature journals out there now! It can be overwhelming to select one for your child. I have found that my kids like watercolor paper best for this subject, so I get this 3-pack of nature journals (one for each child), and it lasts them for the year. This watercolor paint set has actually lasted us for over 2 years, and is perfect to take on the go as well.

know and tell

The book, Know and Tell: The Art of Narration by Karen Glass is a great resource for narration. It can provide inspiration to get started, and ideas for furthering this practice.

This post was all about how and why we use notebooking in our homeschool rhythm.

Other Posts You Make Like:

• Favorite Charlotte Mason Inspired Resources
• Favorite Supplemental Subjects (non-core subjects)
• 6 Best Art Curricula We Have Tried