Half a Hundred Acre Wood

Christian homeschooling integrating Classical and Charlotte Mason principles

I receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please see our full disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for supporting Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood through your purchases.

As we’ve taken baby steps toward a more classical approach to learning, our breakfast notebook has transformed into a tool that contains the core of our grammar work. The advantage of a notebook is the routine and simplicity it provides. Routine establishes discipline and predictability. The notebook is also a beautiful portfolio of a child’s own original work.

Before anyone starts thinking of grandiose visions of what a homeschool should like, I will be first to admit that things do not always go as planned!  We will likely not be able to do this every day!  When all else fails, there’s recitation, which is quick and simple and requires nothing but our voices.

If you wish to save on time and money, sure to check out our post Notebooking on a Shoestring & Scheduling Simplified!

 Our notebooks are divided into the following:

  • Bible & Hymns
  • Calendar
  • Geography
  • English & Latin Charts or Copywork
  • Science
  • Math
  • Timeline
  • Fine Arts

You can either make a separate notebook for each subject (or multiple subjects), or place all in the same notebook with dividers for each subject. Our timeline notebook is separate from the rest. To see what the notebook looks like, click here.  Where you see an asterisk:  *Place in page protector (or laminate) and use dry erase marker.

Bible

This is where we place our Grapevine Studies Bible work, scripture memory work pages (blank illustration pages) [when we are not doing a Grapevine Study], daily prayer pages, and thankfulness journal.

Calendar, Address & Name-Writing Pages

This is where we keep our daily practice pages:  blank calendars, weather charts, address and phone number practice, and (for our youngest) name-writing practice pages. You can create address* and name practice pages* using the free Amazing Handwriting Worksheet Maker (if ever this website is down, you can instead try downloading the following fonts on Fontspace: KG Primary Dots Lined (print) and Learning Curve Dashed Pro (cursive) – along with several others: http://www.fontspace.com/category/kindergarten or from FontPark at http://www.fontspace.com/richard-douglas/penmanship-print.  Then, unzip the folder and copy the .ttf files into your Fonts folder on your PC or Mac.)

Note: We do not do all of these pages!  We primarily work on the calendar page, the address page, and a name page for our youngest.

Geography

This is where we keep our Geography Continental Blob Maps and other maps. We use maps from our missions curriculum for “show me” and “tell me” recitation exercises and to trace the details of each continent. For mapping the continents on a blank sheet of paper, our youngest two children use our continental blob mapping templates. When our oldest was age 10, he was able to draw the world map (along with all the major circles of latitude) freehand.

For U.S. Geography:  
Download Numbered U.S. Map here.
Download National Geographic map of United States here 
Download simple outline map of United States here.
Download maps of each state here.

English

Blank copywork pages. Use blank copywork pages to copy definitions or lists of prepositions, helping verbs, linking verbs, etc.

Blank charts for learning pronouns. We’re using the tables in our Pronoun File Folder Game because our children write big when using dry erase markers.  We simply slipped the empty tables into page protectors inside their notebooks, and they write out their conjugations and pronouns once or twice per week.

If you prefer a smaller table for older children, you can download the following Pronouns table here.

Blank chart for writing verb principal parts. Download the Irregular Verbs Principal Forms Chart

Latin

Latin Declensions
Latin Interactive Cut-and Paste Worksheets for declensions and conjugations 
For other Latin resources for declensions, visit our Free Latin Resources Post.

Latin Conjugations
Blank charts for our Latin memory work. We are using the tables in our Latin Conjugation File Folder Game. Again, we simply slipped the empty tables into page protectors inside their notebooks, and they write out their conjugations and pronouns once or twice per week.

If you prefer a smaller table for older children, you can download the following Latin Conjugation table here.

John 1: 1-7
John 1 Print and Cursive Copywork in English and Latin

History

Blank illustration notebook pages to use for copywork and/or dictation.  Write and illustrate a history sentence, or a sentence or paragraph from Story of the World or another source. For instructions on how to use copywork and dictation, click here.  For younger children, you can use the free Amazing Handwriting Worksheet Maker for traceable text or handwriting practice.

To seamlessly incorporate poetry, and art study with copywork, we now use the Script-n-Scribe cursive program.

Download illustration page  – title

Science

Blank illustration notebook pages to use for copywork and/or dictation.  Write and illustrate a science fact, a nature study experience, or a sentence or paragraph from a science book or other resource.  Click here for more about how we use blank illustration pages for notebooking.

Download blank illustration page – no title
Download illustration page  – title

Math

Multiplication Drills, Skip Counting Sheets, Skip Counting Circle-and-Write Pages, Skip Counting Mazes.

Visit PrintNPractice to download multiplication drills* and exponents drills.* Click here to download the packet (scroll down to #6) for multiplication drill sheets through 15×15! (And be sure to check the rest of the page in case there’s another format you would like to practice!)

For multiplication, choose from one (or more) of the options below:

For skip counting, you can choose one (or more) of the options below:

We work on two math fact sets per day – not necessarily the ones for that week, but rather the ones they need to practice the most!

Use blank pages (blank cardstock inserted into page protector) for unit conversions, geometry, and algebraic laws.

Timeline

Blank timeline pages.  Draw an image and label with timeline card label.  (If it’s overwhelming to do all the timeline events each week, start with just adding one per week for the history sentence.)  These can be used as regular notebook pages or taped together as an accordion timeline.  For instructions on how to make this into an accordion notebook (along with photos), click here. [Update:  Our Timeline notebook is separate from the rest of our notebook.  Click here to see what it looks like.]

Fine Arts

Notebooking pages to assist with Music Theory, Great Artists, and Composers. (Drawing is practiced in the History & Science illustration notebook pages.)

Other

Our preschooler’s notebook is different from his brothers’ notebooks!  His notebooking pages include the Bible pages, geography continental blob and maps, Skip Counting Mazes, Calendar Pages, a practice-my-name page, and A-Z Number and Letter Writing Worksheets.  Visit Preschool Notebooking Pages for more information. You can also use cardstock and print free lapbooking templates to record history sentences, science facts, or other memory work as shown on this post.

A suggested method of approach

Daily pages:  Bible, Calendar, Geography, and Math Pages

Choose one to two subjects per day for other subjects:  History & Timeline, Science, Fine Arts, Latin & English Grammar.  This will allow you to complete one notebooking page per subject per week.  (More if your child is willing and able!)  I have included approximate times, but it will depend on the student’s ability.  Allocate about 40-50 minutes total for notebook time, which can be in one sitting or split up into smaller sessions. But modify this notebook and/or schedule to best fit you and your student’s needs!  

Daily Activities

Add to Prayer Page (1 min.)

Add to Thankfulness Page (1 min.)

{Illustration Page:  Daily Scripture} (5 min.)

Calendar & Weather Page (add today’s information, until no longer needed) (1 min.)

Address Page, Name Page, etc. (practice until no longer needed) (5 min.)

Geography Blob Map Practice and show me/tell me exercise (5-10 min.)

Math Drill – Select one to two skip count or multiplication drills to practice (5 min.)

Latin or English Chart (up to current week’s memory work) (5 min.)

{Recitation and Review Games/Songs}

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

History Copywork & Illustration Page (10 min.)

Science Copywork & Illustration Page (10 min.)

Add Timeline Events to Book of Centuries (10-15 min.)

Fine Arts Pages (optional) (5-15 min. or longer depending on depth of study)

Visit our Beginner’s Guide for how to use these sheets for copywork, dictation, and narration.

Keep in mind that this notebook can be split up into multiple notebooks as needed. (Our timeline is actually separate from the other subjects, especially because we have an ultra-expanded version.)

*Place in page protector (or laminate) and use dry erase marker.

Adding Illustrations

For step-by-step instructions for drawing, we use Draw Write Now and Draw and Write Through History (for older students).

Free step-by-step drawing guides may be found at the following links:
Art for Kids Step-by-Step Drawing Lessons
The Drawbot’s Free Drawing Pages
What to Draw and How to Draw It by E. G. Lutz

Our drawing resources page contains a more exhaustive list of drawing resources, along with lesson plans for six weeks of drawing instruction.

Our Tin Whistle and Music Theory plans include links to great Treble-clef and note writing pages, as well as a plethora of review games!