Charlotte Mason Homeschool Cottage

I know most people have started school already. I know I’m testing out my schedule I’ve put together for this new school year and trying out new planning forms to see if this is the schedule and the organization format I want to use for the rest of the year.

Because we change and our routines change from year to year, our school always seems different every year. So, our schedule and the way I organize and schedule things always changes too. I know that the schedule I have put together for now and my planning forms that I use will be tweaked and changed by the end of the month after we give it a test run.

Because scheduling, planning, and organizing are on my mind right now (especially “What’s for dinner?” – I’m running out of fresh ideas and time to plan and prepare), I asked Cindy Rushton if I could offer my readers a special price on her Organized Mom Super Set.

This set comes with 7 assorted e-books and over 30 audio seminars in mp3 audio files. Here is a list of the ebooks and the sets of audio files you will receive as a bonus:

• Homeschooling the Easy Way
• Let’s Get Organized
• Make Your Own Brain-in-a-Binder
• The Ultimate Mommy Menu Planner
• Getting Back to God’s Design for the Godly Home
• Homeschool the Easy Way Magazine Reprint Book Volume 2
• Christ-Centered Christmas
• Assorted audio files about Homeschooling High School, Organization, Restoring Balance in your Life
• Special workshops presented by Cindy’s homeschooled son to fellow homeschoolers
• The Organization 911! Help for the Messy Mom Seminar Audio Set! (Over 24 mp3 audio seminars)
• The Let’s Get Organized for the New School Year Seminar Audio Set! (10 mp3 audio seminars)

For a detailed description of each of the e-book sets and the audio seminar sets, please visit this page.

I have purchased most of these items individually and have thoroughly enjoyed and have used all of them! I even do housework, exercise, or wait for the kids during one of their activities listening to these same audio seminars over and over again!

This set is usually available at a special price of $99.95 (much more expensive when purchased individually). For this week only, until midnight next Friday night, I am able to offer this huge set of resources to my readers for $49.95. Cindy has generously agreed to allow me to run this special just for you. This special is nowhere else, so take a look at all there is included in this Organized Mom Super Set..

As a special gift to my readers, I also want to offer you a free sampling of what to expect when you purchase this set.

It is an audio and ebook set that Cindy actually sells on her website, but she is giving it away to help us get familiar with her resources. Here is the link:

Let’s Get Ready for a New School Year Super Set!

Let’s Get Ready for the New School Year Mommy Planner…
Ebook by Cindy Rushton

Download Part One
http://www.cindyrushton.com/pdfs/GearingUp1.pdf

Download Part Two
http://www.cindyrushton.com/pdfs/GearingUp2.pdf

PLUS! Companion Audio!
Let’s Get Ready for a New School Year–Audio

Download by Mp3
http://www.cindysdesktop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/GetReadyNewSchoolYear.mp3

I know that after looking at the sample planner set and listening to the audio, you will see why I find these resources so valuable. I have reread them and reprinted the planning forms again and again for our homeschool, my business, the children’s activities, and our home organization. You will too! I especially loved the Christ-Centered Christmas as well as Homeschooling the Easy Way!

This is my way of celebrating the start of another great homeschool year and starting it off right! God bless you and your family in your new school year and may your time together be fruitful!

Nature Study and More ebooks by Season

Autumn Nature Study and More

Well, some of you asked for smaller units for nature studies and we did it! This is not just a nature study though. Just like our Nature Study Through the Year book, this nature study uses nature to introduce more formal scientific study topics and areas. So to use an old saying, “You can have your cake (Charlotte Mason style nature study) and eat it too (study more traditional science topics).

If you’re like me, you like the idea of bringing your kids out into nature, enjoying the current season and appreciating the little things in your surroundings. However, you might be concerned about covering science as an academic subject.

The new Autumn Nature Study and More has been taken out of our year long study and made into its own ebook for those of you who want to pick and choose which season you want to study at a time and wish to purchase something at a lower cost to you than our Nature Study Through the Year ebook.

This nature study has you observing the autumn season during the months of September, October, and November. There are several suggested topics to observe each month. Just like our larger ebook, this ebook includes:

• suggested nature study books to use alongside our practical nature study suggestions
• poetry about the topics of nature study
• living book lists for each topic for each month
• suggested activities to do during your nature walk or after the walk
• questions to ask during the walk to help your child focus or discuss their observations about a topic you want to  study on your walk
• scientific connections: topics of formal science subject areas – includes living book lists and activity or experiment ideas to extend your scientific study
• nature journal pages to print and use to keep a nature journal
• suggested book list for keeping nature journals and drawing from nature

For example, this nature study will ask you to observe, read about, discuss, and explore migration habits of birds and animals. That is your nature study topic for one month. (There are others to choose from as well, if you wish to do something different or do more than one topic for each month.) From the idea of migrating birds and animals, you extend your nature study into a formal scientific study into physical science with a study of the earth’s magnetic fields, then magnets and magnetism.

This nature study supplies you with what you need if you want to use the poetry for copywork (you can use the included nature journal pages and include the copywork in your nature journal), read about topics in nature, bunny trail ideas into formal scientific study, and links and suggestions for more research, activities, and experiments into topics in the fields of biology, physical science, and chemistry.

Autumn Nature Study and More e-book

  Purchase now for $6.50

Buy Now

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We hope you will enjoy this nature and science study as much as we do! I am enjoying the crisp feel to the air and can’t wait for the rest of the fall season.

Other Nature Study e-books

We have other nature studies that we have taken out of our year long study for the Winter season and the Spring season if you wish to purchase either of those now as well here. They have everything the Autumn season nature study has, but different topics appropriate to each season.

Winter Nature Study and More ebook
(covering December, January, and February)

$6.50

Buy Now

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Spring Nature Study and More e-book
(covering March, April, and May)

$6.50

Buy Now

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Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year e-book

This ebook is a year long study of nature divided into seasons and months and the natural events that occur during those seasons. Through a natural introduction into science through nature, this study introduces children into different areas of biology, physics, and chemistry.

For an overview of what you will find in Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year, I invite you to view a slideshow I created to help explain my ebook:

 Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year ebook slideshow

Would you like to give nature study a try but don’t know how you will find the time or fit it into your schedule and still feel like you are covering everything you really feel the need to cover for science?

I’ve been there. That is why I have written a book that takes the time for nature study but still covers different areas of biology, chemistry, and physics as an extended study of what you observe in nature. These topics can be covered generally or more in depth. It all depends on you, your child, and the time and interest you have for each topic.

This 215 page study includes the following sections that you can print off a few at a time depending on the topic of your study and the time of year:

• Each Season has 3 months
• Each Month has poetry and quotes that have to do with that month or topics within that month
• There are different topics and a different number of topics depending on the natural events during that season or month.

  For example, under Winter, you will find December, January, and February. Within January, you will find the topics of Trees in Winter, Astronomy, Owls,and Nocturnal Animals.
  
  Within each topic you will find:
  

• Pertinent poetry and quotes
• Suggested Living Book list
• Nature Walk and Post-walk Activities
• Questions with which to engage your children in conversation about the topic of study during the walk
• Scientific Connections that naturally draw your child into an extended study of biology, physics, or chemistry that is connected to your nature study topic
  
  For example, a topic study in July is Weather – Thunder, Lightning, Rain, and Rainbows. After observing this in nature and studying it, a Scientific Connection offers suggestions in which to extend that study into a study of Electricity, Sound Waves and Vibrations, Color, Light, or Acid Rain.

             Each Scientific Connection has

• Suggested Living Books list (if books are available on the topic)
• Suggested Activities and Experiments
  Some of these are described in the book, others are websites or books of experiments.
   
• The Next Major Section of the book is Nature Journaling
  Here you will find Recommended Nature Journal and Drawing book suggestions and websites. You will also find Suggested Sources for Nature Journaling pages and Sample Nature Journal pages within this book to get you started right away.
  
• The Last Section is the Poetry section.
  Here you will find Suggestions in which to integrate Poetry into your nature study through Writing and Studying Literary Devices commonly found in Poetry.

 So, you can see that you CAN do a weekly nature study and still tie it into a more formal study of the traditional scientific areas and have the best of both worlds.

You can purchase the Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year ebook here with Paypal

for an introductory price of $14.95.

 Buy Now

I am paypal verified

Please let us know how you like the ebook after your purchase. We are eager to hear your thoughts! If you know anyone else that may be interested please share our post. Thanks! 

Well, some of you asked for smaller units for nature studies and we did it! This is not just a nature study though. Just like our Nature Study Through the Year book, this nature study uses nature to introduce more formal scientific study topics and areas. So to use an old saying, “You can have your cake (Charlotte Mason style nature study) and eat it too (study more traditional science topics).

If you’re like me, you like the idea of bringing your kids out into nature, enjoying the current season and appreciating the little things in your surroundings. However, you might be concerned about covering science as an academic subject.

The new Autumn Nature Study and More has been taken out of our year long study and made into its own ebook for those of you who want to pick and choose which season you want to study at a time and wish to purchase something at a lower cost to you than our Nature Study Through the Year ebook.

This nature study has you observing the autumn season during the months of September, October, and November. There are several suggested topics to observe each month. Just like our larger ebook, this ebook includes:

• suggested nature study books to use alongside our practical nature study suggestions
• poetry about the topics of nature study
• living book lists for each topic for each month
• suggested activities to do during your nature walk or after the walk
• questions to ask during the walk to help your child focus or discuss their observations about a topic you want to  study on your walk
• scientific connections: topics of formal science subject areas – includes living book lists and activity or experiment ideas to extend your scientific study
• nature journal pages to print and use to keep a nature journal
• suggested book list for keeping nature journals and drawing from nature

For example, this nature study will ask you to observe, read about, discuss, and explore migration habits of birds and animals. That is your nature study topic for one month. (There are others to choose from as well, if you wish to do something different or do more than one topic for each month.) From the idea of migrating birds and animals, you extend your nature study into a formal scientific study into physical science with a study of the earth’s magnetic fields, then magnets and magnetism.

This nature study supplies you with what you need if you want to use the poetry for copywork (you can use the included nature journal pages and include the copywork in your nature journal), read about topics in nature, bunny trail ideas into formal scientific study, and links and suggestions for more research, activities, and experiments into topics in the fields of biology, physical science, and chemistry.

Purchase now for $6.50

Buy Now

I am paypal verified

We hope you will enjoy this nature and science study as much as we do! I am enjoying the crisp feel to the air and can’t wait for the rest of the fall season.

We have other nature studies that we have taken out of our year long study for the Winter season and the Spring season if you wish to purchase either of those now as well in our Cottage Store. They have everything the Autumn season nature study has, but different topics appropriate to each season.

Please let us know what you think! We are eager for feedback and want to hear what you would find helpful!

Happy Fall! 

I’m hoping to write this post so that others will post comments and ideas about helping to fill your teens’ needs for socialization while homeschooling them. They (not quite sure who “they” really are) say that the teen years are when they start to really crave and need more socialization and search for independence so that when it is time to leave the nest they are ready. I know I have one son who is more extroverted than the other and is happiest when he has had the opportunity to be out and about. That child feels the need to be verbalizing and interacting and do it with fresh faces (as the family members can wilt sometimes if they are the ones mostly interacting with the extroverted child.) The parents and the child do need a break, where the parents can have some time alone and the child can interact with fresh faces.

I want my children to grow to be well-rounded, independent thinkers, self-sufficient and confident. I homeschool them to raise them to walk with the Lord, offer the best education I can, and to raise a loving close-knit family focused on more intangible priorities you won’t see advertised most times in the media.

I feel homeschooling offers parents the opportunity to get to know the kids and families your teen socializes with. But, at the same time, depending on where you live, it can be challenging finding situations, other teens, and activities where your teens can meet and socialize with others. What I want to accomplish with this post is an exchange of ideas and thoughts that may benefit those of us who are embarking, in the midst, or ending homeschooling teens.

Things that I am working on doing in the rural area in which I live are making connections with groups within my area to find out what is already up and running to help teens meet and greet others. Not easy if you live in an area with a small population and alot of homeschoolers complete their education going to a local public or private high school. I want to bring my son to activities and events with other teens that meet rather consistently so that he can spend time with and get to know the same people and develop friendships without me having to drive over an hour each way once a week for each activity. Then, there is the issue of whether younger siblings are allowed to accompany you to the event because you have to stay while your teen mixes and mingles. If your husband or a sitter is not available to stay home with the younger sibling, you have a problem.

Another type of event to get your teen out, socializing, and yet pull in character building is to consider some kind of volunteer work. Is there a local food bank where your teen can stock shelves or fill boxes with other volunteers? A local senior activity center or a soup kitchen? Here’s an opportunity that gives teens an opportunity to do some good, learn skills, and focus outward toward others (instead of teens’ tendencies to worry about their world).

Some suggested teen opportunities that we’ve experienced are boyscouts, 4-h, church youth-group, monthly teen night activity group, teen night at a local planetarium, a monthly book discussion group or classes. Some areas maybe lucky enough to have debate clubs, organized sports teams, bands, theatre or dance groups. We have tried assorted sports and other groups where there were teens, but no other homeschoolers and the environments were mixed results. For us, it was easier to meld into groups where there were other homeschoolers that understood more about homeschooling and we held similar house rules. There have been a number of times where my kids got tired of explaining why they were not allowed to do different things or watch or play certain games and then were looked down on or told they were being sheltered.

It was a good learning experience and reaffirming to know that my kids can tell others, “This is the way we do things. I respect you following your family’s way of doing things, I expect you to show the same respect.” When this didn’t work and the kids persist in arguing with my children that there is nothing wrong with doing “so and so” and you need to convince your parents that you are old enough now to make these decisions on your own and you can handle it – my children have decided that perhaps this friendship may have too many differences that make it beneficial for everyone.

So, mingling with others can be a character building experience toward independence by strenghtening their ability to stand up to peer pressure. Do I want them to do this in the environment for 7-9 hours a day at the local public school where it would probably be an onslaught? Probably not. But in manageable doses without the constant pressure, it can be positive. I feel like I’m still giving my child the time, opportunities, and space to figure out who he is without negative pressure from other children who are still figuring out who they are.

What about one of the latest trends that wasn’t around when I was a teen? Sure, we had the phone and my parents always gave me a 15 minute limit (which in my eyes was ridiculous, because how can you possibly have a conversation about anything in just 15 minutes). Nowadays, we have the internet. That brings a whole new avenue to socializing. There is email, chat groups, online games, and classes. How much time is too much time developing friendships in this manner? Is it good at all? Does it take away from a teen’s ability to develop social skills you need when spending time with others face to face? Does it give teens the feeling that they can say things or act in a way that they would find uncomfortable or even wrong if they were physically present with the person?

Share your thoughts about this latest trend, please. I would enjoy hearing from others how you’ve used the latest technology to benefit your teens. Also please share any ideas of teen social opportunities that have worked for you. Have you started a group so that your teen can socialize or share a particular interest with others?

Thanks for your input!

I know most people have started school already. I know I’m testing out my schedule I’ve put together for this new school year and trying out new planning forms to see if this is the schedule and the organization format I want to use for the rest of the year.

Because we change and our routines change from year to year, our school always seems different every year. So, our schedule and the way I organize and schedule things always changes too. I know that the schedule I have put together for now and my planning forms that I use will be tweaked and changed by the end of the month after we give it a test run.

Because scheduling, planning, and organizing are on my mind right now (especially “What’s for dinner?” – I’m running out of fresh ideas and time to plan and prepare), I asked Cindy Rushton if I could offer my readers a special price on her Organized Mom Super Set.

This set comes with 7 assorted e-books and over 30 audio seminars in mp3 audio files. Here is a list of the ebooks and the sets of audio files you will receive as a bonus:

• Homeschooling the Easy Way
• Let’s Get Organized
• Make Your Own Brain-in-a-Binder
• The Ultimate Mommy Menu Planner
• Getting Back to God’s Design for the Godly Home
• Homeschool the Easy Way Magazine Reprint Book Volume 2
• Christ-Centered Christmas
• Assorted audio files about Homeschooling High School, Organization, Restoring Balance in your Life
• Special workshops presented by Cindy’s homeschooled son to fellow homeschoolers
• The Organization 911! Help for the Messy Mom Seminar Audio Set! (Over 24 mp3 audio seminars)
• The Let’s Get Organized for the New School Year Seminar Audio Set! (10 mp3 audio seminars)

For a detailed description of each of the e-book sets and the audio seminar sets, please visit this page.

I have purchased most of these items individually and have thoroughly enjoyed and have used all of them! I even do housework, exercise, or wait for the kids during one of their activities listening to these same audio seminars over and over again!

This set is usually available at a special price of $99.95 (much more expensive when purchased individually). For this week only, until midnight next Friday night, I am able to offer this huge set of resources to my readers for $49.95. Cindy has generously agreed to allow me to run this special just for you. This special is nowhere else, so take a look at all there is included in this Organized Mom Super Set..

As a special gift to my readers, I also want to offer you a free sampling of what to expect when you purchase this set.

It is an audio and ebook set that Cindy actually sells on her website, but she is giving it away to help us get familiar with her resources. Here is the link:

Let’s Get Ready for a New School Year Super Set!

Let’s Get Ready for the New School Year Mommy Planner…
Ebook by Cindy Rushton

Download Part One
http://www.cindyrushton.com/pdfs/GearingUp1.pdf

Download Part Two
http://www.cindyrushton.com/pdfs/GearingUp2.pdf

PLUS! Companion Audio!
Let’s Get Ready for a New School Year–Audio

Download by Mp3
http://www.cindysdesktop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/GetReadyNewSchoolYear.mp3

I know that after looking at the sample planner set and listening to the audio, you will see why I find these resources so valuable. I have reread them and reprinted the planning forms again and again for our homeschool, my business, the children’s activities, and our home organization. You will too! I especially loved the Christ-Centered Christmas as well as Homeschooling the Easy Way!

This is my way of celebrating the start of another great homeschool year and starting it off right! God bless you and your family in your new school year and may your time together be fruitful!

I love the idea of nature study and bringing my kids outdoors and exploring science in a natural way. But how do you turn it into something where you know your kids have learned some of those scientific concepts you want to teach?

Sure, I like Charlotte Mason’s ideas of attention to detail and creating a picture in one’s mind of what you are looking at. I also like the idea of getting outside in the fresh air and experiencing science and nature first hand. But, I guess I’m a little to up tight to just leave it at that without turning it into some kind of lesson on a concept.

One way that Charlotte Mason and homeschoolers do this is by keeping a nature journal of what they are observing in nature. Through the use of observation and reading field guides, children can narrate onto journal notebook pages what they have observed in nature, what they read in the field guides, any other information about their nature walk, and maybe a drawing.

If you want to put this narration and drawing in a bound book, you can find these in book stores or school supply catalogs with lined or blank pieces of paper. Some may have fancy fabric covers; some may be plain white or with a simple outline sketch on the outside. We have used all of these variations and have enjoyed them all.

Now that is an effective way of teaching about what you see directly in nature. But, how do you teach areas within biology, physics, and chemistry from there? Well that’s where you build a bridge or connection between what the child experiences first hand in nature and has a personal connection with a concept of science that can be extended from the child’s first hand knowledge.

Let’s say you are studying weather where it is common to experience thunderstorms and lightning during that month. After you observe this weather, maybe making charts of what the weather has been or making predictions, and researching what causes thunderstorms and lightning, you want to extend your study into other areas of science. From thunderstorms, you  begin to read and do science experiments with sound waves and vibrations or examine the water cycle. Or, you look at acid rain and focus on some chemistry experiments looking at the effects of acid rain, which can extend into a study of acids and bases and ph.

Maybe you want to move from there and look at lightning and what causes that and do experiments with static electricity and electrical circuits and conductors and insulators. Or, after rain, sometimes you can see a rainbow. After looking at the causes of a rainbow, you look at the color spectrum and perform experiments with white light and prisms and color absorption.

As you can see one study in weather, can lead you into more detailed studies encompassing areas of physical sciences and chemistry. Any studies with different classes of animals and plants can build into anatomy and physiology, and botany studies.

So, don’t be afraid to let go of that textbook, at least for a little while. After exploring where your nature studies lead you, you may find you are enjoying and learning so much more science than you imagined that you will forget to return to your textbook.

If you are interested in more ways to teach science this way, check out Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year.

I had promised for a few months now, that anyone who subscribed to our newsletter would have a chance in a drawing for a copy of our new nature study ebook, Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year.

So, we notified our winner last night and received an answer back from her this morning! Congratulations, Joanna! We hope you enjoy the book and your nature study adventures with your kids!

If you haven’t checked out the book yet, please take a look here: Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year.

To check out a slide show describing this ebook, click on this link: Ebook Slide Show

We hope you enjoy!

It’s finished! I apologize for the delay – but family comes first The ebook I’ve been working on for months – Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year – is now finished!

A number of months ago, I had a poll on my website which some homeschoolers graciously filled out and requested more information in various areas of using Charlotte Mason methods in their home schools. The number one top request was more information on using nature study and nature journaling.

This ebook is a year long study of nature divided into seasons and months and the natural events that occur during those seasons. Through a natural introduction into science through nature, this study introduces children into different areas of biology, physics, and chemistry.

For an overview of what you will find in Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year, I invite you to view a slideshow I created to help explain my ebook:

 Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year ebook slideshow

Would you like to give nature study a try but don’t know how you will find the time or fit it into your schedule and still feel like you are covering everything you really feel the need to cover for science?

I’ve been there. That is why I have written a book that takes the time for nature study but still covers different areas of biology, chemistry, and physics as an extended study of what you observe in nature. These topics can be covered generally or more in depth. It all depends on you, your child, and the time and interest you have for each topic.

This 215 page study includes the following sections that you can print off a few at a time depending on the topic of your study and the time of year:

• Each Season has 3 months
• Each Month has poetry and quotes that have to do with that month or topics within that month
• There are different topics and a different number of topics depending on the natural events during that season or month.

  For example, under Winter, you will find December, January, and February. Within January, you will find the topics of Trees in Winter, Astronomy, Owls,and Nocturnal Animals.
  
  Within each topic you will find:
  

• Pertinent poetry and quotes
• Suggested Living Book list
• Nature Walk and Post-walk Activities
• Questions with which to engage your children in conversation about the topic of study during the walk
• Scientific Connections that naturally draw your child into an extended study of biology, physics, or chemistry that is connected to your nature study topic
  
  For example, a topic study in July is Weather – Thunder, Lightning, Rain, and Rainbows. After observing this in nature and studying it, a Scientific Connection offers suggestions in which to extend that study into a study of Electricity, Sound Waves and Vibrations, Color, Light, or Acid Rain.

             Each Scientific Connection has

• Suggested Living Books list (if books are available on the topic)
• Suggested Activities and Experiments
  Some of these are described in the book, others are websites or books of experiments.
   
• The Next Major Section of the book is Nature Journaling
  Here you will find Recommended Nature Journal and Drawing book suggestions and websites. You will also find Suggested Sources for Nature Journaling pages and Sample Nature Journal pages within this book to get you started right away.
  
• The Last Section is the Poetry section.
  Here you will find Suggestions in which to integrate Poetry into your nature study through Writing and Studying Literary Devices commonly found in Poetry.

 So, you can see that you CAN do a weekly nature study and still tie it into a more formal study of the traditional scientific areas and have the best of both worlds.

You can purchase the Using Nature Study, Nature Journals, and Poetry Through the Year ebook here with Paypal

for an introductory price of $14.95.

 Buy Now

I am paypal verified

Please let us know how you like the ebook after your purchase. We are eager to hear your thoughts! If you know anyone else that may be interested please share our post. Thanks! 

I tried lapbooking with my two non-cutting, non-coloring boys (who don’t mind making things from scratch or writing notebooking and pages and adding their own artistic renderings of what they have written). It was not the success I had envisioned or hoped for. Something about the file folder and putting all of these little booklets on the file folder turned them off. I still don’t completely understand the emotional reaction they had to this, but we have found something that does work for us.

I’d like to share this idea with you. We use pieces of card stock, 3-hole punched and place these into our notebooks alongside our notebook pages. We do a couple of little booklets or whatever at a time and glue them onto the card stock as we study the topic throughout the semester. I think the variety of combining the written narration, their own drawings, and the booklets a few at a time breaks up what they might have felt either overwhelming or monotonous in putting together a big lapbook alone.

To give you some ideas of what we have done, I broke down ideas into subject areas and have included pictures, descriptions of what we have done, and links to resources you might find helpful:

• Science
  Botany Notebook – Using Jeannie Fullbright’s Exploring Creation with Botany
       My son used Jeannie’s free notebooking pages available here – Botany notebooking pages and whenever we went on a nature, Charlotte Mason style, we would look for a sample of the plant life he was studying in this book to take home. We dried it, glued it onto a piece of card stock, labeled it, slipped it into a plastic sheet protector, and placed it into the notebook with the rest of the pages.
  At the same time, I printed off little diagrams or booklets about parts of a flower, seed, or plant that he would label or fill out. After completing each one, he glued that onto a piece of card stock and placed it into the notebook in the appropriate section discussing that topic.
  Each piece of card stock would be labeled with the topic on that page, and would be close to full- so that it wasn’t just one or two small items on the page.
  Whenever, my son had a science experiment to perform, we had a science experiment procedure notebook page, that he would use to write out his hypothesis, materials, procedures, observations, data, results, and conclusion. This page would also go in the appropriate area of study.
  In the end, he had a nice botany notebook with a cover provided in the free notebooking pages filled with samples, notes, experiments, and little diagrams and booklets. All of these placed in topic areas, as opposed to notebook sections labeled “notes”, “labs”, “projects”. This was more fluid for him.
• Apologia General Science with my older son was a bit different.
  My older son likes a bit more structure and functions better when things are categorized. He labeled sections of his notebook “notes” (written narrations for him or handouts of notes), “labs”, “questions and answers” (lapbook parts from Live and Learn Press), “quizzes” (review study guides and tests provided by Apologia), and a pocket for index cards that he used to make flash cards for himself from the study guide questions.
  His notebook was organized according to function of the piece of paperwork. It was a combination of notebooking pages on which he wrote narrations of topics he read aside from the Apologia text and handouts where he read something and answered questions (this usually was a tie in to the historic period we were studying and how it related to his science), science experiment procedure notebooking pages (just like his brother) or printed from the Apologia text CD-Rom, and lapbook booklets glued onto pieces of card stock.
  The lapbook components we use are from Live and Learn Press – Live and Learn Press. They have booklets in which he can write the answers to questions from the Apologia text and write down definitions to vocabulary words as he proceeds through the text. My son glues these onto pieces of card stock as he works on them in order of the text.

• History
  For the past two years, we have studied ancient civilizations and the middle ages. We put together a notebook for each during each year. We used a variety of notebooking pages from different sources for our written narrations and map study. For a study of crests and family history, we had matchbooks and other little books to glue onto cardstock to explain heraldry.
  For the chain of causes for the black plague, we used the wheel from the Story of the World Activity book, glued onto cardstock also.
  This year, we will be studying the Renaissance; we’ll be using a lap book (glued onto card stock pages) for that as well from Live and Learn Press along with our notebooking pages.

Heraldry and our Ancestors

Learning about the Hagia Sophia.

Notebooking Links

Here are a variety of resources that you may find helpful in assisting you in your notebooking endeavors:

Notebooking Pages (Great pages to purchase – big sale right now)

http://www.homeschoolnotebooking.com/All_About_Notebooking.htm

 Cindy Rushton – Notebooking Queen

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Notebooking/

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/notebooking.php

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/notebooking.htm

http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/productspage.html (Click on the Exploring Creation product and then the journal pages you want)

http://www.holdthatthought.com/ (Great notebook pages to purchase)

http://www.squidoo.com/notebookingexhibit (Great notebooking lens by Jimmie)

http://www.knowledgeboxcentral.com/notebooking.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NotebookingNook/

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking.htm

http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/notebook.htm

http://www.historyscribe.com/

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking-vs-notebooking

Notebooking training resources (ebooks, audio seminars in mp3 format)

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Notebook_Pages.php

Lapbooking

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.php

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lapbooking/

http://www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com/lapbooks.html

http://lapbooklessons.ning.com/

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks.htm

http://www.knowledgeboxcentral.com/stkitforla.html

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/lapbooks.php

http://www.liveandlearnpress.com/

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/

http://lapbookladies.com/

Cindy Rushton lapbooking ebook and audio seminar