Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Story of the World Notebook

Recently I have received several questions about the history notebook I make for princess. So I thought that I would explain it in a post here as I hope that it will help many of you.


I prefer to make up our notebook ahead of time. I usually print out half a year at a time and bind it together because the whole year at once gets pretty thick :). Princess always makes her own cover as she likes to do that.
This year we bound our notebook at the top by punching two holes and inserting brad fastners, which I recommend that you tape in the back or they will pull out.


As for what's inside, I start with the notebook pages that I create.
I print one template for each chapter. Then as we read a section we add to our chapter notebook page. Sometimes princess will draw a picutre, sometimes not. Somedays I will have her copy her narration onto the page herself, sometimes I will write it for her depending on how much writing she has already done that day.



Next I add the coloring pages and the maps from the activity guide. I purchased the activity sheets as a pdf from Peace Hill Press halfway through the year, so it's been really easy to print them up and add them to the notebook. Next year, I will just copy them from the activity guide.


Then I add her copywork sheets.
I absolutely love Zane-Blouser website because you can make customized copywork sheets for free (just click on the get started button). So I take the list of copywork sentences I have, enter them in and print them out. I then put these sheets in her notebook.


Finally I add the project pages that I have created.
I count up the number of projects we have planned and print out that number of pages. Then put them in the back of her notebook.


For me I find it easier to have sections for each catagory (ie. notebook pages, maps and so on), but you could certainly arrange your notebook by SOTW chapter. It take quite a bit of effort on my part, but it makes our days go so much smoother. Princess really loves looking back at what we have studied and I'm grateful that I don't have to constantly keep track of papers to hole punch and put in her notebook. So there you have it, our SOTW notebooks.


ETA: All the pages (with the exception of the AG pages) and my plans are available for free here and at my yahoo group (link in the side bar).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks Paige, went right over and typed up the copywork for desert habitats AND chemistry in cursive. I loved the option to avoid someone complaining about my handwriting, because it's the "official cursive" of the universe! BRILLIANT!!!

the wild raspberry said...

great blog...
we started doing lapbooks this year and LOVE them!!

chasity