Eliminate Busy Work With Notebooking

Have you tried Notebooking with your children yet?  I have added it this year to our day and I am really loving how easy it is to implement. What is Notebooking you ask? It is simply allowing your child to write and illustrate what they have learned in any subject.

How do you begin Notebooking: 

1. Start by just choosing 1 or 2 subjects you want to notebook.  I started with History and Science. For science, I purchased each of my children a sketchbook.  For each science topic we study, they write a few sentences about the topic and they draw an illustration.

George Washington Rules of Civility Copywork

George Washington was a very impressive young man that grew into an even more impressive man.  Have you ever taken the time to read his list of  Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation? 

By the age of 16 Washington had copied out by hand 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation. This was believed to be a penmanship assignment from his teacher.   They are based on a set of rules composed by French Jesuits in 1595.

As you read through them, some may seem silly or even outdated and more suited to an early period of time.  However, as you read them, there is one thing that is obvious, they are all focused on good manners toward others. Today self-centeredness and self-interest is evident everywhere we look. Many people are focused on themselves and what they want, they forget to look outside of themselves and use good manners toward others.   Though they may sound silly, we can learn a lot from them on how to treat others around us.