living notebooks

 Nature Study Notebooks were first introduced to me along with Charlotte Mason and her schooling style many moons back, I immediately assumed an "I'm on board, count me in mentality." Thus, the girls and I began a Nature Study Notebook.  We thoroughly enjoyed our weekly afternoon walks, coming home, gathering our colored pencils and simple sketchbooks, to spending time around the kitchen table drawing what we had seen, heard, and delighted in.

I have always liked keeping diaries, journals, and a variety of notebooks of all sorts whether they were used for simply jotting down things such as vocabulary words, recipes, or sewing instructions. What I did not know then were the so- called names for these different kinds of notebooks.

Travel notebooks are another favorite of ours, and my last one has been helpful in the creation of my Maine scrapbook.

But lately my " I'm on board, count me in mentality" has been broadened and taken to new levels. I am fully persuaded these living notebooks have clout in these last years of Charlotte's education, even as she begins her high school years. She too has a natural propensity for keeping notebooks, journaling, and sketching.

  We are delving into Apologia's Physical Science this year, and as science is not a favorite subject of Charlotte's, I think her brain might possibly go "googly-goo" with all the hydrogen bonding and water polarity and so forth in her daily readings, yet I am instructing her to read the material aloud, find recognition in what she is reading, and then talk about what the lesson material is teaching. Then the idea of a physical science notebook took center stage as an additional learning resource. The wisdom of her drawing the figures presented, recording and drawing the experiments, and writing the facts and explanations around her drawings to help her with understanding all the material better came into focus. It is working beautifully! She might not be my scientist, yet she can learn about the wonders and functions of atoms, molecules and science in the physical realm.

I have found several extremely helpful sites to inspire and encourage us as we intentionally embrace  these living notebooks. After Christmas we will be adding a Commonplace Book, a Book of Centuries, and an Enquire Within notebook to her high school studies.

These are just a collections of our journals/notebooks, most in use, others with definite plans attached for future use.

 An after lunch Nature Notebook watercolor drawing session.

Here is very enjoyable site, including Youtube videos, of a Calendar of Firsts Notebook.