You have probably visited the different areas on our website...we hope so! In "The Everything Toolbox" there are three products that can really help you understand Unit Studies. As mentioned, the Notebook Project is one of two KEY elements of a unit study. There, we have listed a brief description about the benefits of using and building notebooks during each study. But I think it would be helpful to expound on notebooks a little more...so here we go!

You know, what I really wish is that you were here (or I was there), so we could sit down together and I could show you some examples of studies we've done and notebooks we've compiled during them. Whenever we are on site speaking, I bring samples of our children's notebooks. If you're like me, I like to see things and get my hands on them to really understand. Well, since we can't get together today, we'll have to make do and I will attempt to describe what a notebook can be using our study on water as an example.

Recently, we studied "WATER" because my nine year old daughter was begging me for months, but the idea didn't inspire me at all...at least not until I started planning. Now, I always start out planning by 1) praying for direction, 2) going to our own shelves (our home library) to dig up what I have on the topic, 3) visit the local library to see what else I can find.

It was during my trip to the library that the Lord gave me the perfect idea and one which DID spark enthusiasm in me for the topic. Along with teaching the water cycle and the concepts of condensation, evaporation, dew, frost, ice, liquid, solids,gas. I could teach WATER by looking at bodies of water and the animals that live in them! We started with contained bodies like ponds and lakes and moved into flowing water in creeks, brooks, streams and rivers and then into the ocean. Well, I found a wealth of materials along these lines and I also found books on the everglades, rain forests, and artic regions.

After I have gathered all my materials into one pile, I can begin to plan. I didn't have any topical guides for ideas so I was on my own to create this unit from scratch. Now, on the first day of any unit study (which lasts one month), I give each child a new white view front binder, several sheets of 60# colored cardstock, stick-on tabs, and a record sheet to list important information about the study (found in our notebook package). Because it is a "project" and not just a place to store papers, we make some concentrated effort to work on the notebook throughout the study. Each child will design their cover and subject boxes with pictures that fit the topic to place on the section dividers. Most of the time those sections will include titles of subjects like spelling & vocabulary, writing & handwriting, geography, art, Bible, general information etc. In this case, we decided to divide this notebook into sections: ponds, creeks-brooks- streams- rivers, oceans, other (everglades, rainforests, arctic). The kids chose some clip art splashes of water to decorate their subject. (Needless to say, they have become more computer literate through working on assignments during a study and on their notebooks.)

Notebooks have given us a main focus and encourage creativity. Reading non-fiction books interactively together gives us plenty of ways to make something tangible of things learned. Instead of reading and answering a few questions at the end of a (textbook) chapter, we try to "keep" what we've learned by making something to go into the notebook.

Let me share some of the things we studied and put in our notebook for "ponds." We spent our first few days on PONDS, read books on pond life, drew pictures using Draw Write Now book #6, visited a pond, collected samples and then drew pictures and identified our samples, read and copied a poem titled "Twenty Froggies (onto some decorative paper - purchased at a scrapbooking store)," studied spelling and vocabulary words about ponds, also wrote out the list and tested, printed some items off the CD-Rom encyclopedia, drew a diagram showing the life cycle of the pond, wrote a paper comparing oceans to ponds (i.e. Ponds are...made by man, contained, small -- Oceans are...made by God, reach into each other, are vast). We listed animals found in ponds and decorated the borders with clip art animals.

In our "general information" section we put sheets we created throughout the study like: Forms of water 1) Solid - ice 2) Liquid - rain, dew, water 3)Gas - evaporation, A diagram showing what percentage of water the earth and also a human are made up of, A picture the children drew showing 1) dew on a blade of grass 2) frost on a house - using silver glitter 3) rain dropping from a cloud - using puff paint 4) snow on a tree - using cotton balls. We also listed "Ways We Use Water," A picture and description of "How an Evaporative Cooler Works," A picture of the water cycle, Photos of field trips pasted onto decorative "water drops" paper (field trips taken were: to a pond, to a water treatment plant, to a dam). Scripture written out like Ecclesiastes 1:7 (handwriting practice), splashes of water containing water words (mist, sprinkle, spray, gush, wet, kerplop etc.), Pictures colored from educational coloring books, Notes taken during reading from non-fiction books, Dictation taken from our read aloud - Moby Dick (abridged version). We brainstormed up some water sayings like: That's like water off a duck's back, Those two go together like oil and water, We're oceans apart on this, Don't let it rain on your parade etc.

I haven't taken the time and space to tell you about ALL we did and studied for this is only a list of things found in 2 sections of our notebook. If we were to count, we would see that we did a lot and we had such a great time. If you could see this notebook, you would see a binder (more like a report) FULL of items that show what we learned...and all in the space of one month! Learning can be so fun, kids don't even consider it "school."

Notebooks become wonderful educational keepsakes the children are so proud of. Not only are they impressive, but they serve as a living record of accomplishments. We find we do more "school" and accomplish more valuable academics because of notebooks.

Our notebook package is full of reproducibles and tons of ideas for your notebooks. See The Everything Toolbox to find out more.