notebooking

Notebooking Sale-a-bration

May 8, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

Y’all know I love notebooking. It inspires more critical thinking and freedom than worksheets and workbooks. We notebook in every subject; even Alex does preschool notebooking {though he isn’t fond of it yet!}

You might be asking: what is it? I answer that it can be as extravagant or as simple as you wish. It can be elegant scrapbook journals {I could only wish I had the discipline to maintain my nature journal like a Victorian lady} or a binder with printed and filled-in pages relating to a unit study. It also depends on your teaching style and the learning styles of your children. Notebooking is different with each of my kids, but it is not optional.

I recently went through some boxes looking for something and came across all of Elizabeth’s old notebooks from history and language arts. They’re so cute and organized. It inspires me to get better organized with the girls and for them to have ownership of their own notebooks rather than having to do it myself. They’re now of the age Liz was when I began with her!

Next year is the first year that Kate is mandated to be in school and I have to write a letter for her to the county. She turns 6 on Saturday and will be in 2nd grade according to our loose records.

Alex is currently blowing through 4K work and he just turned 3.

Tori is pretty on track for age 7, loving math the most. Her favorite thing is her math journal. {we call i t mathbooking!}

Liz is a voracious reader at age 12. I hope their writing will improve with notebooking. We have oral narration down pat.

I don’t think my kids would be as advanced as they are without the freedom notebooking affords. It forces them to think about what they learn rather than just regurgitate facts. {But we do a lot of memory work too!} Notebooking is great for lists and copywork too. It also encourages creativity since they can embellish as much or as little as they wish on the drawings and lapbook aspects.

Check out my notebooking posts here to see how we use it in our homeschool.

Check out my notebooking Pinterest board here.

And my favorite notebooking company is having a birthday sale! Happy Birthday!

Become a Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Member during their NotebookingPages.com 7th Birthday Sale-a-Bration Event:

Save $25 on your membership
Receive access to 150+ current notebooking products
Receive ALL future notebooking products
Receive up to two years FREE access to their notebooking (& copywork) web-app, The Notebooking Publisher™
Receive a $100 e-gift Bonus Bundle from various homeschool publishers
Earn a chance to win some great prizes … an iPad mini, $100 Amazon.com gift card, LIFETIME access to The Notebooking Publisher™, and a LIFETIME membership to MomsToolBelt.com.

FACEBOOK PARTY

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) we are having a Facebook Party.
Lots of FUN and PRIZES!
May 21st from 9-10pm ET.
Come join us here: https://www.facebook.com/events/600204473336778/

Wonder how to use notebooking?

Visit NotebookingPages.com to learn more about their memberships and their new web-app, The Notebooking Publisher™

Make custom copywork pages!

7th Birthday Sale-A-Bration Details:

Save $25 on Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Membership (two-payment plan available) ...one time payment of $74.95 or two monthly payments ($50.00/$24.95).
New members receive up to 2 Years FREE Access to The Notebooking Publisher™ … purchase by Friday, May 10th to receive 2 years FREE access
… purchase by Friday, May 17th to receive 18 months FREE access
… purchase by Friday, May 24th to receive 15 months FREE access
…purchase by Friday, May 31st to receive 12 months FREE access
All LIFETIME members (new and current) will receive a $100 Bonus E-Gift Homeschool Package from participating NotebookingPages.com Sponsors …The e-gifts will be delivered to the Member Download Center by May 31st.
All LIFETIME members (new and current) may enter a prize drawing for: *an iPad mini (1 winner) *$100 Amazon.com Gift Card (2 winners) *LIFETIME access to The Notebooking Publisher™ (3 winners) *LIFETIME membership to MomsToolBelt.com (5 winners) …details for the drawing will be found in their Member Download Center.
New (& improved) features of The Notebooking Publisher™ web-app *Copywork feature … create your own custom copywork pages (print/cursive, regular/primary). *Ability to create templates -and- save your work-in-progress to the web. *Ability to edit selected portions of text within a text frame. *Separate user accounts for mom and kids … password protection coming very soon. …new demo videos will be added to the site each week of the sale.

Don’t know where to begin with notebooking?

Check out this amazing starter guide with bonus notebooking pages.

Click here to view more details!

Click to download a NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS SAMPLE!

Filed Under: notebooking Tagged With: journal, lapbook, notebooking, scrapbook

Middle School Art

May 7, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 4 Comments

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

We listened to Haydn’s Farewell Symphony. It was part of our classical history studies with Tapestry of Grace Year 2 and the book was on the girls’ list of reading, but we read it together as a family and was delighted and then I found the whole symphony on YouTube. It is magnificent.

Liz finally broke out her acrylics and painted this:

She loves abstract art. I love her representation of the musicians’ candles. She explained which parts of her painting meant which emotion from the symphony.

Brilliant.

Check out these great Haydn notebooking pages.

We love Notebooking Pages for all our main notebooking needs.

Use discount code = discount5 to save $5 on your $10+ purchase at NotebookingPages.com

Check out this: FAMOUS COMPOSERS SAMPLE

Interested in a comprehensive classical/Charlotte Mason history-based Christian curriculum program? This includes Bible, government, philosophy, language arts, fine arts, and social studies components: geography, history, timelines. It covers different learning levels for lower grammar {1-3}, upper grammar {4-6}, dialectic {7-8}, and rhetoric {9-12}. I can print what I need from their online system. Their reading lists are exquisite.

Filed Under: art, notebooking, Tapestry of Grace Tagged With: art, Charlotte Mason, classical, Haydn, history, notebooking, Tapestry of Grace

B is for Birthday

March 26, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

Spring is birthday time around these here parts.

2 in March, 1 in April, 1 in May.

Boom, Boom, Ba Da Boom Boom

Tori had an ocean theme for her birthday dinner. She requested Kalbi, rice, and stir fired vegetable. My little island girl!

Tori turned seven years old! wow

My birthday was next. I am 37. Tori loves it that we both have sevens. Winking smile

So we did birthday printables for fun and watched The Wizard of Oz (in preparation for an amazing Poppins Book Nook unit next month!). We usually go out to eat and make a special dinner here at home.

In honor of me (cuz I can) I had the girls write a biography page about me. Adorable! And they know me so well.

I love how Kate “decorated” my dress.

Alex is obsessed with graphing. Obsessed, I tell you! He rolls that little paper die and marks off the colors of cupcakes on the dry erase board. He loves it.

Alex giggled so much when we played this hide the cake game! I made him close his eyes and hid a little paper cake under a number and then I told him the cake was “under number 2” or “under a green number” and he did perfectly! Then we just played a guessing game, which was not near as entertaining. He loved the hiding and closing his eyes.

Tori just loves patterns. She asked me to find her some more and harder ones. I think she can just cut these all up and make her own.

Want to have a birthday unit of your own?

~Birthday Printables~

Birthday Preschool Pack
Happy Birthday Printables
Birthday Fun!
Preschool Birthday Party and Birthday Bash links
Birthday Tot School 3 Part Cards
Birthday Tot Trays
Cupcake Unit

Filed Under: notebooking Tagged With: birthday, fun, spring, unschooling

Geography Sale!

March 11, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

We use Notebooking Pages for all our subjects. I have the Treasury and Publisher so we never have to worry about missing a file download. With 4 kids at different levels, it is our best option.

It certainly makes learning geography a breeze! We use outline maps in our history and state studies. I look at our schedule for the week and print out the maps we need, along with pages for famous people of the time period we’re studying.

And right now, they’re running an awesome sale! You can download some maps for free and there’s a 50% off coupon for the geography bundle!

Free Country Outline Maps

To kick off the fun, we have added a free outline map from each of our currently available Country Study & Canadian Province Study Notebooking Sets to your Free Member Resource Center.
LIFETIME Members, we have included these in your download area as well for “quick” reference.

There are over 60 maps so far!
Click to download your free maps!

50% Coupon for Geography

From now through March 31, 2013, save 50% on any Geography Notebooking Set. This month we have added a new BUNDLE … you can now purchase ALL of our Country & Canadian Province sets for one price, that’s over 60 sets for just $14.98 (with coupon).
{You will also receive ALL future country and province sets!}
Click to get your geography notebooking sets!

Prize Giveaway: March 11th – 15th

We are giving away 3 prize packages … packages include a LIFETIME Treasury Membership, Bundled Country Study Notebooking Sets, Bundled USA State Study Notebooking Sets, and Amazon.com Gift Cards! There are a variety of ways to enter.
Click here to enter!

Filed Under: notebooking Tagged With: coupon, geography, notebook, pages, publisher, treasury

Grapevine Studies in a Classroom

January 15, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

I love using Grapevine Studies in our home as part of our homeschool curriculum and personal Bible study.

I was recently asked to lead the children’s program during our new Wednesday family nights at church. I immediately thought that I could incorporate stick figuring through the Bible! I contacted Dianna and received her blessing. I do love her!

For our first lesson, I chose to teach on the Three Kings, or Magi. Epiphany had just been last Sunday and I thought this would be a fun topic. The adults “de-greened” the church (took down all the holiday decorations) while I kept the kids occupied.

I began with a story about the “other” wise man that follows a lost fourth Magi through the crucifixion of Christ. It is so beautifully written and illustrated and I got all choked up in front of the kids!

I showed the kids pictures of the gifts the Magi brought baby Jesus. I brought some frankincense essential oil to let the kids apply to their wrists. They thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I divided the white board in the classroom into 4 quadrants and taught the lesson from the Bible and Grapevine Studies text. The kids weren’t sure about it all at first.

I had the kids at two tables. I taught students ranging from age 3 to 10. The three older girls were “helpers.”

One table ended up being almost all girls. I had one helper at this table. Katie and Tori knew what to do!

The three older girls were primarily in my classroom as “helpers.” They sheepishly asked me for pages to do while I taught the lesson. I think that is the perfect testimony to how great Grapevine Studies are! The big kids wanted in on the fun too!

The other table got the boys and two helpers.

Those boys really enjoyed drawing their stick figures. I know this was a new concept for them. That’s my Bubba there with his new Traceable page too!

Grapevine Studies

Katie modeled what to do with her Traceable page. She loves this new concept! It helps her focus.

I gave the boys different pages according to their ages and abilities. One Traceable and one regular page.

For this lesson, the Traceable page only has two scenes whereas the older kids had four scenes on their pages.
I handed out some take home Bible verse pages about the Wise Men.After the lesson, we did this really fun 3 Kings paper chain craft. I prepped it all by tracing them out and all the cutting. The kids just colored them. It saved time and was still fun. Most didn’t even finish and had to take them home to complete them.

I’m pretty excited about using Grapevine Studies to teach the Bible to these kids every Wednesday night! I can’t wait to gather materials for my weekly themes.

Filed Under: Bible, Elementary, notebooking, Preschool, Reviews Tagged With: Bible, Christmas, church, class, craft, family night, kids, kings, magi

Winter Nature Walk

January 12, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 7 Comments

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

Join us on our walk around our neighborhood?

I love the birches in this area. Their bark really stands out…and has eyes!

an evergreen silhouette with the sun shining through it.

a tree that still has leaves on it

Just look at that gorgeous bark! I think it’s a striped maple.

crows in the tree. they were eating walnuts.

and, look! a crow footprint in the snow.

this tree already has buds on it

this birch with buds and catkins

juniper berries. Tori was good to spot these.

a really big beautiful rock in someone’s front yard

a poignant picture of unpruned withered roses with rocks

Tori was excited by how long her shadow was.

Rosehips along the next door neighbor’s fence. I love how they stand out against the gray and snow.

our new nature display box. I found this at Hobby Lobby. perfect.

the girls hard at work drawing the milkweed pods

Tori is proud of her tree silhouette page

Katie is drawing the buds and crows in her tree silhouette

Alex drew his pictures too. He loves being a part of it all.

Tools we use and love

Outdoor Hour Challenges

Winter Challenges

Notebooking Pages

Amazon.com Widgets

Sure glad we got in that walk since we’re in a blizzard this weekend!

Tori got a little rock set for Christmas and we’re going to explore that since all our rocks are under billows of snow right now.

Filed Under: art, Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Nature Study, notebooking, Preschool, Tot School Tagged With: art, drawing, nature, notebooking, rocks, snow, trees, walk, winter

Middle School is Tough

January 9, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

I need to a better job showcasing Liz and her schooling. Middle school isn’t all cute and craft-laden. It’s lots more work than what the littles do. And it doesn’t make for fun pictures.

Except when I get wide-eyed leave-me-alone stares.

Liz loves notebooking with PowerPoint and Notebooking Publisher. yay for technology!

Visit NotebookingPages.com to learn more about their memberships
and their new web-app, The Notebooking Publisher™

I snapped a pic of Liz’s DNA strand. She’s going through Apologia General Science. She does most of the experiments with Dad, so there aren’t usually any pictures since I’m not involved.

Liz is enjoying Tapestry of Grace. We’ll learn about her namesake Elizabeth I next week!

She continues to adore Life of Fred math. She is now on Elementary Physics, a pre-algebra book.

Some of Liz’s favorite things…

Her aStore

Filed Under: Charlotte Mason, Classical, daughters, history, math, Middle School, notebooking, science, Tapestry of Grace, technology Tagged With: Apologia, Charlotte Mason, classical, daughter, math, middle school, notebooking, science, technology

Math Monday

January 7, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

Nursery Rhyme math to coincide with our nursery rhyme readings in history! Most nursery rhymes originated during the Middle Ages and Renaissance to help teach lessons to children.

I got this journal free from a TpT shop. She must’ve taken it down now. She has lots of other fun printables though!

We talked the math problems through and they helped me figure it out. I wrote it on the board and they copied it on their papers.

This one is Humpty Dumpty’s men. Five men…how many fingers did they have to help Humpty Dumpty?

The finished page…drawing…words…equation

Music Math!

Dad taught the count of the musical notes and helped them through counting their notes on these fun math pages.

8th notes…counting by twos. they enjoyed having something different in math.

Check it out here…Early Math with Mozart!

Filed Under: Classical, Daddy Time, Elementary, math, music, notebooking, Tapestry of Grace Tagged With: dad, math, music, notebooking, nursery rhymes

Back to work

January 3, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 4 Comments

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

We worked on a nursery rhyme unit with our Tapestry of Grace studies this week. We practiced rhyming and picking out the main character in the poems. These notebooking pages come with the TOG lower grammar printable pack. I have a Mother Goose book that my uncle gave me when I was 3 and the girls loved seeing his inscription on the title page to me.

We started some new copywork to go along with our Hero Tales Bible study. The girls love the missionary stories so far. We read the story each morning and the girls recite our character trait and verse. They copy the message and they draw something meaningful from the story. They love the drawing element.

We’re on lesson 21 of All About Reading, Level 2. They’re coming right along. Almost fluent readers! Tori likes the hands on stuff more than Kate. And she needs the lessons more. Kate is almost bored, but it’s good review.

Kate is putting story cards in chronological order.

Our January poem. I made this on Publisher. Kate already has it memorized. She recited it for me today! She remembers it from last year. I guess I should find a new one, but I love this one. I plan to make a Montessori poetry basket to go with our snow unit this month. Stay tuned!

Mama’s favorite: Katie reading the Tacky the Penguin books while she waits on Tori and Mama to transition to the next thing.

Linking up at Trivium Tuesday.

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through my site, it benefits our family. Thank you.

Filed Under: Bible, Classical, Elementary, notebooking, Tapestry of Grace

New Year Memories Cards

December 30, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Don't forget to "Pin" this post. It helps get the word out about my site. Thanks!

I made these cards up for my kids now that they’re older. They can remember and contemplate this last year.

And I’m sharing them with you! I’ve included a blank one so you can write in your own idea too. They’re in duplicate for however you wish to use them – for two kids or print a set and share with a friend! I know you can get creative.

Enjoy!