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Can you share what categories of things you are thinking you will bind? I think this is going to make things easier and I want to use it as many ways as I can. Just a disclaimer for this that have not done HOD does not generate huge paper trails. But I add things to it that does. I thought maybe we could share book ideas. I am hoping to find other ideas of how to combine things and what others are thinking they might do as well as other ideas of how to use the comb binder for school. I think most of mine I stole from Darci. But here is what I have so far. Please also share what you are doing with a laminator so we can get ideas.

Science Experiment and Nature book (This will probably not be our actual nature journal but will be things that stem from that or looking at things under the microscope and sketching type things. But not sure on that)

Art Book
Possibly may combine this with something but my kids do so much art stuff that we may need a separate book. I just would like to capture it all to save rather than having it all over the house.

Language Art Book
This will have copy work, Dictation, DITHR other LA things we do that I make copies of them for but not R&S because I like a bound composition book for that.

Spanish Book
I may include thing in LA but probably will have it separate.

History and Geography Book
I have geography trails and a state study to put in here plus HOD History and Geography notebooking

Bible and verse copywork
We do copy work on the HOD verses with Startwrite. Also in here would be the stuff we will be doing on Friday for Bible on our own that will be fun pages and I am thinking we may from time to time do a Bible creative writing paper to get more practice writing and deepen their understanding at the same time.

I think I might need to combine Art with Bible or Science and Spanish with LA and just put divider tabs there or a divider colored page to try to get it down to three to four books. Keeping in mind that for me every category gets multiplied by four or six for me. But I did think we could get some of those magazine file box holders and each kid could have their own on the shelf so that might help. This system would take up a lot less space than binders. I would love to hear what other HODies are doing!

ETA here is a econimical and sturdy magazine box that could be used to hold things that are comb bound plus they have really wide ones.
http://www.discountofficeitems.com/adva ... e&+=%C2%A0

I as well don't like binders because they don't sit/stack well, so of course I would comb bind the copywork and drawing pages. We use DWN with our studies and that would be comb-binded.

I also like that I could use any paper I want for copywork or drawing like the half draw/half write type and make my own, not what's available to buy. Seems the paper is blank or the lines are too big or not big enough or the drawing section of the paper isn't what I'd like.

I'd also comb-bind paper pads...all the excess paper I have I'd make into grocery paper lists! LOL!!!! Instead of tossing it out. My dd loves paper and could make her her own paper pads.

Of course I already own a laminator and we'd laminate the covers. All those little insurance cards that you get that aren't plastic anymore, I laminate them! You can also make a really neat window design by putting crayon shavings between the sheets and laminating it! Just becareful that they don't melt out the sides.

you guys are so funny! I don't think of myself as creative at all-so I'm here! thanks for the confidence boost!
(((my HOD buddies)))

I started my quest because I also hate binders! I like that we can arrange the pages, and add or subtract pages, but they sit so funny on the shelf. for several years we have used magazine holders for their workbooks and stray papers, and the binders don't fit in there. Hence they don't fit on the shelf designated for them, either! argh! So now the comb bound books fit in the magazine files on the shelf!

I used cardstock for the covers and the dividers, but one of the boys had a great idea! Use cereal boxes instead! So we took an empty box, cut the covers off, and made that a cover. so now the "frosted flakes" kid has all his notebooks one flavor, the "raisin bran" kid has all his notebooks raisin bran, and so forth. Or at least they WILL when I buy more cereal!

(As I type I am thinking it was just a ploy to get me to buy cereal...I usually reserve boxed cereal for a special treat... tricksters! )

The dividers I made out of regular cardstock (using up my scrapbook stash!) and then I had some tabs that I put on the edges to label the sections. If I could get my camera cable to work I'd put up some pics! I'll keep working at it...

Today it worked out really well-this was our "first day" back to school.

oh, yeah-the books we put together were these categories:
I only made books for my boys doing Bigger, ftr.
language Arts:
this one has divisions with copywork pages, vocabulary pages, spelling sheets, and the queen language arts book that I took out the pages and put into a book. This also has the DITHOR workbook for their level.

History:
this one has 3 sections: people, places, and events. I created or downloaded (or used what I had already bought!) a notebook page for each person and each event we will study. This will be put to use on friday's "notebooking day" (we are using Bigger) I added some extra blank pages, too. The places section has maps of the USA (without any state lines or labels) and maps of the world. the events section has the timeline we've been using as well as notebook pages for different events (I put "Poor Richard's Almanac" page in that section, for example)

Science:
this one is basically a nature journal. I printed off a ton of nature journal pages (front and back) and some science lab sheets. We have been doing our nature notebook work on nature journal pages instead of "just" a blank paper. But I did consider putting all blank pages in there, instead of nature pages. The ones we are using are basically a big box with some prompts at the bottom of the page.

Math:
The boys' math curriculum is workbook centered, so I took them apart and bound them into one book.


I'm trying to figure out a Bible book-I'm thinking a place to record prayers, verses read, memory work, and hymn learned. So much of our Bible is discussion in my house that I'm struggling to put it into a printed format!

6timeboymom wrote: you guys are so funny! I don't think of myself as creative at all-so I'm here! thanks for the confidence boost!
(((my HOD buddies)))

OK so you make an art and an organizational tool out of a cereal box and you call yourself not creative. Uh, I am thinking that is pretty creative. Thanks so much for the tips. I am sticking all the binders in the garage!

You ladies sound so industrious and organized! I could never hope to be that 'put together'! I am getting better, though. I am also having a problem with the binders fitting on the shelves funny, but I do love that we can add or subtract pages as needed, so I guess we'll keep them. I am not planning to buy a comb-binder or laminator...maybe some contact paper. But I do look forward to reading about all the fancy things that can be done with these gadgets! I expect I'll get some good organization tips just from reading...

"Math:
The boys' math curriculum is workbook centered, so I took them apart and bound them into one book. "


OOOOHHH! Great idea to comb bind all the books I don't like as well. Putting those together too is a fantastic idea!

I printed off a ton of nature journal pages (front and back) and some science lab sheets. We have been doing our nature notebook work on nature journal pages instead of "just" a blank paper.

Quick question about the nature journal pages! I've been looking online for some free nature journal pages or an inexpensive nature journal. May I ask where you got yours from or did you create them yourself? What do they look like? (I'm thinking of just creating some paper that is half lined/half blank, but since this is the first year we're going to try nature journaling, I guess I'm not sure of what the best format is.)
Thanks for any insight!

water2wine wrote:

6timeboymom wrote: you guys are so funny! I don't think of myself as creative at all-so I'm here! thanks for the confidence boost!
(((my HOD buddies)))

OK so you make an art and an organizational tool out of a cereal box and you call yourself not creative. Uh, I am thinking that is pretty creative. Thanks so much for the tips. I am sticking all the binders in the garage!

ok, ok, ok! I see your point!

dolphingirl wrote:

I printed off a ton of nature journal pages (front and back) and some science lab sheets. We have been doing our nature notebook work on nature journal pages instead of "just" a blank paper.

Quick question about the nature journal pages! I've been looking online for some free nature journal pages or an inexpensive nature journal. May I ask where you got yours from or did you create them yourself? What do they look like? (I'm thinking of just creating some paper that is half lined/half blank, but since this is the first year we're going to try nature journaling, I guess I'm not sure of what the best format is.)
Thanks for any insight!

I bought them, but I have also found a whole ton of free stuff online. Basically our page is about 3/4 of a blank page with lines at the bottom.
Some of our sheets have fancy borders, some have different prompts in the lined area, some of them have the lines for a beginning writer with the dashed line in the middle. I'm also notorious for creating my own forms!

dolphingirl check http://donnayoung.org/science/natj/natrjrnl.htm for printables.

Thank you very much Christy!!! The printables on the link you gave are EXACTLY what I've been looking for! Thanks again!
Kristin

Also check out http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.p ... -Resources for some more freebie nature journal papers. They have a lot of great stuff for free.

and notebookingnook.com is where I bought a lot of my pages-but she also has some great freebies.

[uel=http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/p ... oking.html]Our Los Banos[/url] has some really good notebooking pages, especially for the younger ones. Notebook Learning is also a good resource for Notebooking pages. Homeschool Helper Online another great resource.

HTH!!