Notebooking Lessons Learned — Home School Support Network

At the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention I attended a session led by Jeannie Fulbright. This episode of our podcast will feature some of the things I learned from this session.

1st Grade Notebooking Page — Timeline example completed at the end of 1st grade. Riley summarized what he learned about Martin Luther after reading a couple of quality books.

Podcast Episode 15 Show Notes

I briefly mentioned Notebooking in a Methods of Homeschooling blog post with a promise to go into more detail. I went to this session and for the first time received a good understanding of what “notebooking” is and the curriculum that uses this method.
Jeannie Fulbright uses “a methodology of education that employs a child’s comprehension, critical thinking, and creativity to produce a permanent work of artistic and academic value.” This method is based on a Charlotte Mason approach (see previous blog post) which can be linked back to how many great thinkers of the past kept a learning notebook (IE Leonardo & G. Washington).
Highschool lab manuals are basically Notebooking.
You can use Notebooking with ANY curriculum.
It uses “narration” which is telling back in your own words what you have learned.
Is a great way to retain what is learned. You would read a book then the child draws a picture and writes what they learned or a summary. The child has to mull over the material. They forget what is read/learned if they don’t do anything with the information other than taking a quiz.
It becomes a record of learning for the year.
The child “owns” the book AND the knowledge that is in the book he/she created.
Include in the Notebook: maps, mini books/lapbooks, photos of trips or projects, field trip reports, copywork, timelines, summaries, newspaper articles, brochures, and charts/diagrams.
Notebooking does take more time than a test or quiz.
Don’t go overboard by doing one everyday.

Lets look at typical assessments for a minute.

Notebooking replaces “artificial assessment” with authentic learning. Typical assessments don’t increase learning potential and they do not engage the child.