I finally got to Staples yesterday and bought the notebooks we decided to make.  Tyler will have a Language Arts notebook, a History notebook and a Science notebook.  He already has a math notebook where he keeps his notes.  He is decorating the covers and seems to like it.  I am hoping this will give him more incentive to take some pride in his work.  If it goes into the notebook to save and show people maybe he will care more about how it looks.  

     His first project to go into his history notebook is a report on Christopher Columbus.  Last year he studied history by reading the textbook, taking notes, answering questions and taking a test.  It was boring.  This year we do use a textbook, but only for a general idea of the event we are learning about.  Then we use what are known as "living books" to do a more in-depth study.  For instance, we read a historical novel called Pedro's Journal that told the story of the Columbus voyage to the Americas through the eyes of a boy on the Santa Maria.  Now Tyler will write a couple of paragraphs summing up the important parts of this, add graphics and pictures to his report, and we will put it in his notebook.  Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to make him like the writing.  He hates writing.  Hopefully, as he gets better at it he will enjoy it more.