Notebooking

   While talking with peers, I recently considered having Mara make notebooks for different subjects such as geography, i.e. the 50 States, or the Countries on the Globe, where each page would have a representation of an area covered and then record trivial facts and bits of knowledge to go along with the picture. I have a great resource and thought I'd like to take advantage of it, however, as I began working through how this type of activity would work within our study time for next year, I realized that it wouldn't. At least not now. I feel like this type of activity might be a benefit towards someone who is teaching a group of children or more subjects. My goal is not to overwhelm her with a bunch of different subjects merely to occupy her time, but to teach her the foundations and skills needed to add to for the rest of her life. I want Mara to first hear many stories from all over the world before she memorizes the shape of Turkey or Greece. Perhaps this type of activity can be bookmarked to return to another time or altered to create a time-line notebook of sorts. In the last year after reading a particular story whether about George Washington or Buffalo Bill, if we came across a new territory or region, we labeled it on our map. I will probably continue this method in making ties across subjects.