Beginner's Questions!

[Lindy S.]

Hello everyone! I'm just gearing up to start our official homeschool next week and I have a few questions! I think that I'm going to start fairly simple (just doing some stuff from the manual) and then build from there as I go along.

Here are my questions:

1. What kind of "notebook" do you use for notebooking. I've looked at some of your beautiful blogs (how do you find the time anyway???) and I couldn't figure out what type of notebook was commonly used. Are these notebooks better than just simply using a 3 ring binder and adding completed work in there? Please advise me as I was just planning on putting our work in 3 ring binders because we have a plethora of them around our house.

2. When planning a book how do you determine which "go -along" books you will use? Do you just look through the online catalog at your library? I really would like to use go-alongs because when we get into something around here, we really get into it!

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post! :)

[Heather W]

Hi Lindy,

First of all doing the manual is what FIAR is all about! Some folks add in things here and there that seem to suit their children. I pretty much stick with the original plans because they are so nice.

Notebooking is one way to display any work done from the manual at our house. Sometimes you'll see things splashed in there that I find that just really demonstrate some of the lessons.

You can use whatever you want as a notebook. I use a spiral 10x10 scrapbook from Walmart right now ( you can see them here (http://blogshewrote.blogspot.com/)). We've done the folded lapbooks before as well. I have not done a 3 ring notebook just because I figure the 10x10 will store easier.

Go for the 3 ring if you like the idea. Some families use sheet protectors to slide the pages into to protect them more and give them more sturdiness.

Any way you decide to do it will be fine.

Have fun!

[Lynna]

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_39.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZKxdm005YYUS) Hi Lindy

Well, I'm pretty new too but what I use is a sprial bound notebook with card stock pages. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for around $5. If you have 3 ring binders availbe, use them! Spend less money!!! What I have recently learned to do with the items I put in my notebook is 1) if an idea doesn't come to me quickly or a resource easly avaible, I don't stress over it. 2) You can teach while making the items to put in your notebook. Who says when being creative, silence is requiered.

As far as the go-alongs, when I go to my library with my list from the manuel, what the have I get! If they don't have much or any, I just do a search and find things to go-along.


Your friend
Lynna





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[KristenS]

I like using a three-ring binder for each child. It's easier to fix mistakes. :) We can add or take out whatever we like and be very flexible. I also try to get it into my head that the notebook belongs to the child, to review and play with, and if it's a bit tattered at the end of the year, that's fine. Others keep them as portfolios for assessment, which is cool too. Just depends on your needs. I do use cardstock, or reinforcers for the holes on regular paper. Or sheet protectors if it's a bulky thing.

As for go-alongs, I usually check my shelves first. I have a lot of books already, and it saves time at the library. But really you can use whatever you want .. or none at all. If you browse the archives here, you'll get more ideas than you could possibly ever use for that sort of thing.

[Holly S]

Hi Lindy,

We're just starting our K year and I'm putting DD's work into a binder with page protectors like Heather mentioned. I've also been putting notes in there of what we discuss so we can review later this year.

I haven't been using go-along books unless I have something in our home library that I'd like to add. There are some book suggestions in the archives located at the bottom of the main forums page if you choose to add them. I've found we have plenty to do by sticking to the lessons. Sometimes I add in a coloring page and/or a flag coloring page if I find an appropriate one. This has been plenty for DD.

I'm sure you'll figure out what works for your family. :)

[Suz MamaFrog]

Lindy,

1.) Start small, stick with the manual, and you'll do fine! We STILL usually only add one go-along and one "extra" like an activity, craft or recipe, to each title, and we've been doing this 5 years now! :lol:

2.) As to the notebooks, I think you'll probably find that most everybody uses or does something a bit different. Notebooks are the "THING" right now, and everybody seems to be doing them, and we all seem to do them in a way that "fits" us best. Personally, we use a big 3 ring binder and plain lined and unlined paper, with simple dividers for each subject. Some use spirals, some divide by FIAR title, some use fancy purchased or printed pages specially made for notebooking, and the list goes on and on......My suggestion - Experiment wth what you have on hand or can acquire quickly, easily and cheaply. If you find something that works, GREAT! If not, then and ONLY then try something new, different or fancy.

3.) The archives are a great place to start looking for extra ideas and go-along reading materials. Like I said, start small, only add one or two per title and ENJOY THE RIDE! ;) FIAR is as easy or as complicated as you want to make it, but I've found from personal experience with 4 different dc that the simpler it is, the more they seem to like it and remember what you've done. The joy can sometime get lost in the shuffle when you try to do too much, or cram too many things into one title.

HTH!
Blessings!
Suz

[Kendra AU]

For planning go-alongs, when I did, I'd use the resources from the archives on the FIAR boards. If I didn't find much and I had a topic I really wanted explore with the boys I'd just type it into the library online catalog and search through what it brought up.

Now that we're in Australia, most of the go-along books listed aren't available for us here. So when I stumble across something that I know would be excellent with a FIAR book I make a note of it so I can check it out down the road. Other then that I might scan through the kids and junior sections of the library.

Honestly though, I've found less is more. We still do a lot of fun things, and we do crafts and it seems that God blesses us with so many real life things that can easily relate to our lessons of the week that using what the FIAR manual and a bit from the archives really works for us.

At the same time, if someone lists a REALLY good go-along we occasionally purchase it, especially if I know it's a book that will get a LOT of use.

As for notebooks, the boys each have a "two ring" notebook (I haven't found a three ring notebook in Australia yet!!) and we have a FIAR notebook/scrapbook. It's a very large, very wide three ring book. When the boys do FIAR related work we let them paste it on the pages that fit in that book. They adore going back over it and sharing what they are learning with their relatives.

Oddly enough their Public School Teacher aunt loves what she sees, and thinks it's really neat how we use one book to build all our weekly lessons on, she really enjoyed pouring over the FIAR manuals. Their Aussie Nana doesn't always "get it", but really praises them when they show her their "busy work" :roflol:

Kendra