LAPBOOKING and NOTEBOOKING

Posted on July 27, 2008
Filed Under Home Schooling, FREEBIES |

The internet has so enriched our home education. There is a vast array of websites that can help us to teach our children. From -blogs that show us how other home educating mums teach their children, to watching videos on your chosen topic of interest, to searching online bible tools.

Its all about balance though isn’t it? The Internet can enrich but it can very quickly frustrate and steal your time. I have to continually force myself to focus once I am sitting at the computer. What are my goals for this computer time? Do you catch yourself jumping on the computer quite often during the day, maybe with the excuse that you have to check the emails and then find yourself surfing for longer than you had anticpated? Hands up, that’s me!

How can we keep focused and still be able to use the internet to enrich our teaching? This is what I have had to do – keep a “Computer To Do List”. Whenever I think that I must check up about such and such, or I have to do that bank transfer, or I must write another blog entry, or I want to look up about our current topic etc - I write it down on my list. Then in the afternoon, after our table time and lunch are over, I am able to sit down and go through that list. Having a Computer To Do List keeps me focused. As soon as I start to wonder off onto something that is likely to just waste my time I pull back to ticking off my to-do’s on my list.

If I had to boil it down to ONE THING on the internet that has really impacted my home educating journey – it would have to be the ability to attend live online homeschool conferences. It is such an awesome opportunity to be able to listen to well known and respected homeschool veterans sharing live, from all over the world, what they have learnt while sitting in my own lounge room. Some of the conferences are free to listen in live. The only problem is that most of the sessions are in the middle of the night for us – but there is always the option to buy a ticket and you get access to a membership site where you can download the sessions’ audios and print out heaps of other stuff like articles and ebooks. Last term I was involved in speaking at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo (you can visit my website www.Rachel-Larkin.com to click on the link for more information) which was incredible! There were so many great home school mothers AND fathers who shared on all sorts of topics. The next homeschool online conference is happening in August – here is the link to find out more: http://cindyrushton.com/BackToSchoolBlast.html

The other main reason that I use the internet (ok I couldn’t leave it at ONE THING!) is to gather resources for our lapbooks or notebooks. Here are some great sites that I have personally used:
LAPBOOKING
What is lapbooking? Here is a site that has very helpful articles on lapbooking http://www.cindyrushton.com/Lapbooking.html

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking - More information on making lapbooks plus free templates

http://www.homeschoolshare.com This is an awesome site – I have only looked and used the free lapbooking resources. Check out the Olympic Lapbook – all for free!!!

http://www.currclick.com this is a great site – every month they have a free ebook to download, this month it is all about butterflies. Join their newsletter to get the heads up on any free or discounted ebooks.

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/ full of really cool ebooks for different lapbooks. They also have a freebie; this quarter is all about Zebras.

NOTEBOOKING
What is notebooking? Check out a blog entry on my website – there is a FREE 30 page+ ebook from Cindy Rushton on notebooking - http://rachel-larkin.com/2008/04/17/reluctant-writer/

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Notebook_Pages.php This is part of the same site that I listed in the lapbooking section above – heaps of FREE notebooking pages.

http://www.notebookingpages.com/ This is the best notebooking website ever – plus there are free resources available.

Enjoy!
Rachel Larkin