From Cindy's Heart

Our Quick Notebooking Shopping List… by Cindy Rushton

Our Quick Notebooking Shopping List…

By Cindy Rushton

©      ONE Notebook Per Child… Our favorite notebooks are the 3-ring vinyl notebooks that have the clear pockets on the outside so the children can design their own covers.  We usually choose the white notebooks (Either 1 or 1 ½ inches thick, although some of the more beloved studies have required larger notebooks.) and fill it full of plastic sheet protectors.  Then, all our children have to do is add their work each day. 

©      Plastic Sheet Protectors…Plastic Sheet Protectors are absolute MUSTS!  They work great at protecting your child’s work from spills, rips, and smudges.  They work great if you are using 3-ring binders. Especially for preserving pressed specimens. We use the 8 ½ by 11-inch sheet protectors. We buy them by the box at Sam’s (the best price at the writing of this book).  I choose the NON-GLARE type, because they are more durable.  They do not scratch easily and they are not as brittle as the shiny ones.

©      Paper!!!  You can find bright colored, often acid-free cardstock paper at your local office supply store for VERY reasonable.  We choose a wide variety of paper depending on what we need…

o    110 pound white…for art (great for watercolors and markers and glue projects) and timeline notebooks.

o    110 pound colored…for notebook covers… for sturdy pages… for mounting specimens… for mounting pictures.

o    Any pound…any color!  Great for adding a touch of color to any page!

o    Plain lined paper…use paper for their level of handwriting.

o    Printer paper…for printing off of the computer and Internet.

©      Staplers… We keep the regular staplers AND the heavy-duty booklet staplers.  These are especially great for making booklets!

©      Camera… Yes, you can use those disposable cameras if that is your only option.  However, this year I found something that is simply priceless…digital cameras!  Not only do you save money on film processing, but you can also paste-and-clip all of your pictures into documents that your children are writing.  Printing is as easy as the click of a button.  NOW…if you have a nice camera, you can still have your film processed in most locations so that you can request a disc with the pictures on it. Those pictures can be used as clip-and-paste into your documents as well. This unleashes those children who are hands-on into a whole new world of writing. If they are your children who are constantly building, cooking, creating, or tinkering; they can document what they are learning through Scrapbooking the process.  Yes, Scrapbooking in a BINDER!!  Get those cameras out! Turn those little ones loose!

©      Other “Essentials”… You are sure to already have lots of these. Just round them up and keep them accessible for your children.  What “essentials” am I talking about?  Different kinds of scissors, hole punchers, highlighters, pens, pencils, markers, watercolor pencils, sketch pencils, mounting tapes, mounting corners, glue stick, stickers, rubber stamps, paper cutters, colors, paints, and of course, Scrapbooking books and magazines!                                         

About Cindy Rushton…

Cindy Rushton is the wife her very best friend, Harold Rushton, and the mother of Matthew (17) and Elisabeth (13 1/2) who have always been homeschooled. Cindy lives in the beautiful mountains of North Alabama in her dream cedar cabin. Cindy is the author of over 75 books, Bible studies and homeschool resources. She edits and publishes two magazines, Time for Tea and Homeschooling The Easy Way. She has become a beloved and favored speaker for homeschool conventions and retreats across our country. Want MORE help with Notebooking? Check out Cindy’s NEWLY UPDATED website (with TONS of printable pages perfect for your notebooks!): www.CindyRushton.com; email her at Cindy@CindyRushton.com; or call Rushton Family Ministries at 1-256-381-2529 or 1-888-HSBOOKS.