Creating a Love of Learning Notebook

I've spent a lot of time trying different ideas and methods of teaching in my homeschool. Some of them have worked, at least for a while. And others haven't really caught on. As my son is starting to transition from Core phase to Love of Learning phase, I have been pondering about how to help facilitate this new phase, so that he can be a successful learner AND successfully learn to love learning.

I have been studying the TJEd books, and I have come to understand that in order for a child's education to truly be what it needs to be, it is parent-directed. Some may wonder at that! What about being child driven & "Inspire, not Require," you may ask. Here's the thing: a child can't possibly know what they need to learn!!! You don't know what you don't know! So the parent has to be the one that makes sure that all of the curriculum/subject areas are covered. (They don't have to be covered in the same order and time frame as public school, but they need to be covered.) Being a little OCD, I just couldn't get my head wrapped around how to do this! What does it look like???!!!

I began trying to find the answer that made sense to me. As the Scripture says, "Seek and ye shall find!" I was reading in the Home Companion (pictured above) and Diann Jeppson wrote about a method that she uses in her home. Now, I've met Diann, and have been favorably impressed with her, so I paid attention to what she was saying. She described what she has done with all 4 of her girls, and it has been very successful for them. (Probably because Diann is really Wonder Woman in disguise! I can't ever be as awesome as she is, but at least she gave me some good ideas!) I read and re-read about her method, and pondered on it. I realized that what she gave me was a "jumping-off place." I was running around in circles, but now I had an idea of where to start!



Diann uses the Core Knowledge Series by E.D. Hirsch as the spine of her homeschool. That means that she uses the books to tell her the basic skills her children need to know, and a logical order for those skills to be introduced.
They are nifty little books! I believe that she teaches these lessons in her daily kidschool. Then, for additional concepts and skills that she would like her children to learn, she created a Adult Skills notebook. Genius! (See the Home Companion book, Chapter 11.) As I read and re-read this chapter, the ideas of what to do in my home just came pouring into my mind. It was so exciting!

My plan is this: to use the Core Knowledge series as our spine, like the Jeppsons. And we are going to have a notebook too. But ours is going to be a bit different than theirs. Ours is a Love of Learning notebook. My little guy is going full steam into Love of Learning phase in some areas, and in other areas, he is quite reluctant. He's not ready to love those areas yet. And that's OK. But I would like to inspire him to want to take a peek into those areas.

So in the notebook I am creating, each page has requirements to be completed. The requirements are based upon pieces of core knowledge that he needs to learn (which I get from the E.D. Hirsch books.) Upon completion, he gets to put a big sticker at the bottom of the page AND he gets to pick something out of our LOL Treasure box! It is full of things that he really likes. The things that he is constantly imploring me to buy every time we are at the store. So he has some real incentive to complete pages in his book. In fact, he keeps asking me to hurry and make more pages so that he can earn more treasures! WIN! And can you see? I am not requiring that he complete these pages, nor does he have to complete them in any order. For him, the reward is a sufficient inspiration, and yet I am still very much in control of his learning! "Inspire, not require" for the win!!

A few details, for the other OCD moms out there:
1. I don't put all the pages I have created in the notebook all at once. just a few at a time.
2. Our notebook is divided into three areas: In Progress, Up Next, & Completed.
3. I put a page or two for each subject area that I want him to work on. He chooses which ones he wants to do. And I never say anything. I want him to do it all, so any choice he makes is fine!
4. If he only seems to be choosing science pages (for example,) after a while, I may choose not to add any more science pages until he branches out into some other areas. But not so much that he gets frustrated!!!! I am trying to foster a LOVE of learning, so I want him to enjoy what he's doing.
5. I really wanted to make a super pretty cover for his binder, but I realized that it needs to be HIS notebook. He needs ownership. So I let him create his own cover. He loves it. I'll live.

I will have many posts in the future that go into detail about the pages I am putting in our notebook. I am creating them as we go, so I'll post about them as we get there!