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I'm finally getting around to planning for our start in Preparing and gathering school supplies for the year while they are on sale. I was wondering for those of you who have done Preparing what you used for the Common Place Book. I was thinking of trying to make it more special than just a usual composition book perhaps getting a leather bound journal. Do you continue to use the same Common Place book from year to year or do you get a new one each year?

I was also wondering if anyone had an idea of how many page protectors we would need for the Independent History notebook. I was thinking of using a binder for this with page protectors but I wasn't for sure what size of binder and how many page protectors we would need. I can figure out the size I needed for the Science Binder since it seems consistent from week to week (one notebook page, one lab sheet, and one questions page) but I wasn't for sure about the History notebook. Thanks for your help!

Listening in as I am in the same boat....

Hi! I am also getting ready for Preparing... I will also listen to see what everyone says! I just thought though that would share what I have so far from searching the board and my Teacher Guide.

History Notebook- (prob 2in.) 1-notebooking, 1-project (seems like art), 1-independent study pg, 1-written narration
Science Notebook-(prob 2in.) 1-notebooking, 1-science lab/experiment, 1-answers to questions
Composition book or spiral for Rod and Staff, math, dictation, and poetry copywork
Folder for DITHOR (i put their projects in here) and for poetry ( i put the copies for them in page protectors)
Vocabulary box with index cards (with alphabet tabs)
Common Place book (this is a journal i let them pick)

I know I have seen where Julie gets her common place books at Master Books online. I think the number of page protectors is kinda funny this time because there are 35 weeks... I think i have decided to do 72 pg protector for history (18 for each of the 4 sections) and 54(again 18 for each section) for science. we will see how that works... I think this is all right, i was in a hurry figuring everything out yesterday though, so it could be all crazzzy. Sorry if it does not make any sense!

That's helpful Brandi! Thank you. I hadn't even thought about including the written narrations and history projects in the history notebook. I had totally forgotten about them. It looks like a lot of the projects won't fit in a binder, but some probably will so that will be a good thing to include there and definitely the narrations belong in there.

Last year we tried to combine everything into one binder and that was too crowded so this year we'll do 3 separate binders, one for history, one for science, and one for everything else. I think I we'll stick with a binder with tabs for our grammar, math, poetry, and misc. We usually like this better than individual composition books. I'm thinking this will need to be a larger binder than the other two.

I wonder are most people going to start a new dictation notebook or continue using the one that you used last year? We still have plenty of room in ours since we did more than one passage per page so I was thinking of using the same dictation notebook again this year. I feel a little bad about this though since it is a new year and I always feel like everything should be fresh and new. I tell myself that I shouldn't be a cheapskate. After all I can get those composition notebooks for .40 now, but I was raised not to waste anything and those empty pages in last year's dictation composition book bother me.

I was blessed with a trade with another crafty momma who created a monogrammed hand-bound book for my son's common place book. I wanted it to be something special so that he would take pride and care in what he entered into its pages.

Oooooo, a misc. tab sounds wonderful!!! I remember this year that there were things that I wanted to keep and wasn't sure where to put them! And you are right about some of the projects possibly not fitting into the notebook, I had not even considered that. So we wouldn't necessarily need some many page protectors for that section... but i was thinking I had read where Julie took pictures of the projects that didn't fit and placed them in the notebook (maybe glued on a sheet of paper)? I could have just made this up, though it sounds like a great idea to me!

Oh and I would not feel bad about using the same dictation book ( i also have a hard time wasting), but in this case I really do not think it would hurt anything to just use the same one until it is finished! Thats just my 2 cents though

beverett wrote:I know I have seen where Julie gets her common place books at Master Books online.

Can somebody elaborate on this? I searched Master Books which led me to New Leaf something or other. I can't find any Common Place Books.... I'd like to find something special for my son as well.

So what I did was googled master books new leaf press, then choose the new leaf publishing-master books. Then in the quick find i typed journal. Then I chose the teen journal and it shows three or four journal options.... I think this is where Julie was talking about. HTH

We have started Preparing and I use the following:

For his "Common Place Book", he found a leather bound notebook at Target that says: "Trust in the Lord'! It's duo-tone brown.

2" binder-Independent History/Storable History (ART) Projects
2" binder-Independent Science
2" binder-DITHOR
Composition Notebook-Narration
Composition Notebook (In the same one)-English and Creative Writing
Composition Notebook-Dictation

I guess you could put the science and history together and add the narration in there as well.
You are in for a treat with Preparing. The book selection is totally amazing and it is meaty and it will surely teach your child to learn to think on a higher level especially if they are on the younger side and it is not their bend. We are doing half pace at least until he is 9.
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