One of the first notebooks my children made were booklets. In booklets they copied, illustrated, and narrated for me to write down all of the interesting information they knew about their current favorite interest. Booklet Making by Henry Turner Bailey takes this simple art/craft and turns it into a beautiful project for older students.
The making of a good booklet involves the vital correlation of several school topics and processes, presents many opportunities for sound instruction, gives a wide scope for individuality and furnishes genuine training of hand and eye. From such work the pupils derive more pleasure and more solid satisfaction than from any other school project yet discovered.
The book offers ten steps:
- Decide on the type of booklet.
- Decide on the subject.
- Determine the contents.
- Gather resources.
- Plan the layout of the booklet.
- Make a dummy or sketch sample.
- Write the text.
- Complete the design.
- Using the dummy as the design, make the booklet.
- Give it away.
Then using a booklet on the poet Longfellow as an example, the book walks you through each step. For example, when deciding on the type of booklet, take into account the level of the student, time available, and current courses of study.
There are extensive instructions when it comes to layout and design. The Longfellow example ends up being quite a beautiful piece of artwork!
Finally, regarding the last step:
From the first the children should be taught that service is the end of life.
The idea is that the booklet should be made for someone else. (And as is mentioned there are exceptions.) This is another part of notebooking our family has practiced. There IS joy in making that gift for another.
One note: This is a teacher-directed exercise.
One suggestion: Let the child do the work. The one doing the work is the one learning. You can (of course!) guide the process. But the student can decide (within the parameters set by you) what to make a booklet about and what to include. That is part of the beauty of notebooking.
One may rise to a higher level in many ways: the ancient “spiral” incline, the notched log, the ladder, stairs, and, in these days, the moving sidewalk, and the elevator, are all good lifts. These all have their correspondences in school work, and all have been efficient. This little book presents ten well-worn, fireproof steps which, if taken without haste, will land the aspirant safely on the floor above the present level of average school work.
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Notebooking
Some would classify homeschoolers as either consumers or producers. There are those who will measure their yearly progress by counting the number of workbooks they have consumed. Then there are those who will be trying to find another shelf to store the notebooks full of information their children have produced!
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