Posted in Science

Yestersday, I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Higher Up and Further In. Lindafay had a post on how she organized her daughters Apologia notebook that inspired me to change how we do ours. Check out her post and see if it inspires you!

Here is how we plan on doing ours:

~~How we are organizing our Apologia Notebooks~~

I am dividing a 3 ring binder into 4 sections, On Your Own questions, Study Guide, Tests, and Labs.

Vocabulary

 I am having Chantelle write up her vocabulary words on index cards instead this year. It is easier for her to take out her index card binder than a large regular binder to study her words. She tends to like to curl up in bed or on the sofa to study.

On Your Own questions

I have typed up all the questions and divided up the modules like in the book. I have placed the questions in the appropriate section of her binder in protective sleeves. Chantelle found it annoying to have to keep flipping pages to answer her questions andthen flipping back to see if her answer went with the question. So that is why I decided to type up all the questions. Anything to make her life, and ultimately mine, easier is a good thing.

Study Guide

I will be photo copying and adding these to the binder as we get to them. Because the material in the Physical Science book is harder than the General Science, the plan is to take two days to do and go over the guides.

For example: On day 1, Chantelle will do the study guide problems 1-12 and then we will go over them. On day 2, Chantelle will finish up the study guide questions 13-24 (most of the guides have many questions like this example) and we will go over them after together.

Tests

In the test section, we plan on puttingthe tests here only after they have been done and corrected. Nothing fancy here.

Labs

I have always been use to writing labs up ever since middle school. I have always loved science, so this came like second nature to me. I showed Chantelle how to write up a easy lab last year. Nothing fancy for now. I print up a lab report from Donna Young that goes with the Apologia books. (I also follow her lesson plans for the Apologia books for the most part. I do alter them a little to fit our needs).

I take pictures of Chantelle doing her experiments and put these pictures in a sheet protector behind the finished lab report that corresponds to it.