Many famous people who kept journals were trained to think critically through writing in a notebook. Is notebooking right for your child? Find out!
The Reason We Notebook
When I was in school, I hated worksheets. Hated them. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy learning, or that I had a terrible work habit. No, I just found them mind-numbingly boring, repetitious and lacking in creativity.
I can remember — at the age of 7 — telling my mom, “These are busy-work. There is no other function for these. I should be reading a book!” (I’ve always been opinionated.)
When we decided to homeschool, I knew I wanted to avoid worksheets. After all, why subject my kids to something I resented so much?
But… writing about a subject increases retention. It helps us think through what we’ve read and process our thoughts.
That’s one of the reasons I included a notebooking section in the Bible Road Trip™ program.
I decided we would try keeping notebooks on each subject. There were no mindless fill-in-the-blank spaces, and there was plenty of room for sketching, note-taking, brainstorming, and dreaming. Blank notebooks created some tension for the boys, and I found that lined pages formatted for their age level were helpful.
At first, I would read aloud for a few paragraphs, then stop and help the boys decipher what information was important enough to write about.
As they’ve aged, the boys have learned to keep their own notebooks without much input from me on what to record. One thing they still enjoy is having structured pages. That’s why I created the Bible Road Trip™ Notebooking Journals to go along with the curriculum.
How to Notebook (and What is Notebooking?)
Notebooking Resources for Your Kids!
Bible Road Trip™ Year One Notebooking JournalsBuy HereBible Road Trip™ Year Two Notebooking JournalsBuy HereBible Road Trip™ Year Three Notebooking JournalsBuy HereMy Timeline NotebookBuy HereMy Book LogBuy HereMy Field Trip and Travel JournalBuy HereMy Sermon NotebookBuy HereCobblestone Path™ Church History Research JournalsBuy Here
Famous People Who Kept Journals
There are a lot of fads in education. However, notebooking has existed for a long time and been used by many successful, creative adults.
There are dozens and dozens of famous “notebookers”, but I picked just a few for your consideration:
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Journal
(Illustration: Anatomy of the Neck, Da Vinci, Public Domain)
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
Da Vinci was a incredible artist, mathematician, scientist, and writer. He is perhaps best known for his painting The Last Supper, as well as his journal entry displaying The Vitruvian Man. Da Vinci’s notebooks are full of findings in the fields of anatomy, optics, engineering, and hydrodynamics. In fact, he diagrammed machines akin to modern-day items such as: helicopters, airplanes, an adding machine, and a tank.
Beatrix Potter’s Journals
(Photograph: by Jack1956, CC 1.0 by Public Domain)
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)
Potter is famous for her wonderful children’s books, like The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Her notebooking began early in life with watercolor sketches of animals and drawings of nature and archeological finds. Because she explored the reproduction of fungal spores through illustrations and research, Potter was know not just as an author and illustrator, but as a natural scientist as well.
Grab your FREE Bible Study Tool Kit–over 130 pages of Bible resources for your family!
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
Edison invented so many items (with 1,093 patents), that it’s difficult to chose just a few. However, among his best known inventions are the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera. An inventor’s notebook can be vital not only to keep track of thoughts and ideas, and failed or successful processes, but also to create a establish a patent claim. (Pages should be dated and signed by a witness.)
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
Dostoyevsky was a writer. His books, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, have been translated into more than 170 languages.
Dostoyevsky’s Journals
(Illustration: Notes for Chapter 5 of The Brothers Karamozov, Public Domain)
More Famous People Who Kept Journals
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Primary image: Beethoven, Joseph Carl Stieler, 1819/20, Public Domain
- Thomas Jefferson
- Nikola Tesla
- John Adams
- John Quincy Adams
- Louisa May Alcott
- Lewis Carroll
- Madeline L’Engle
Notebooking is a great way for children to learn! Not only that, it’s an important creative tool that will serve them a lifetime once they learn the discipline.
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible
You want your kids to learn and love the Bible.
You want to teach the Bible…
As parents, we deeply desire the best for our kids. We look for the right schools, we make them eat right and exercise, and we get them involved in extracurricular activities. We take our job as parents seriously.
But are we also putting our time and energy into
teaching them the Bible? Giving them the life-changing, soul-nourishing words of Scripture is not only doable, it’s an essential part of parenting kids for Jesus. And the good news is, studying God’s Word as a family doesn’t have to be difficult!
2 Timothy 2:15, ESV, says:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Our job, as parents who love Jesus, is to help our kids become approved workers, unashamed and rightly handling the word of truth.
The good news? Teaching the Bible isn’t hard. Your family can learn the Bible together.
…and you can!
A Crash Course in Teaching the Bible to Your Kids
Danika Cooley’s book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, will give you the tools and confidence to study the Bible as a family. It will help you identify and overcome your objections and fears, give you a crash course in what the Bible is all about and how to teach it, and provide the guidance you need to set up a family Bible study habit.
You will finish this book feeling encouraged and empowered to initiate and strengthen your child’s relationship with the Lord through His Word.
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible will equip you with everything you need to know to teach the Bible to your kids!
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