Why we choose notebooking

It may be because I have always been a scrapbooker at heart (no, I hardly ever take time to actually work on my scrapbook), but I think notebooking is the most effective way of organizing and learning for all ages.

We have notebooks for everything. Each notebook is a 3-ring binder and each child designs the front of the binder how they want. There is one for each subject we are studying. Most of our work gets put into these notebooks. At least the stuff worth looking back on. This includes photos of our activities and projects, papers, pressed leaves, recipes, you name it.


We have a box of page protectors and each child is responsible for putting their items in the page protectors and into their notebooks as they finish them. When we complete a unit, we have a whole book showing what we have learned.


My kids love to look back in their books. It is a source of pride for them and it provides great review and fond memories. I think they do their best work knowing that it will be displayed in their books, not just thrown away or forgotten.


It is also so simple. It is easiest to understand if you take a look at them. Here are some samples from our Oklahoma History notebooks, and some from our Nature notebooks.