I love reading and writing with notebooking!

Dialectical journals are a great way to incorporate notebooking, discussion, and narration for any age student.

I had started reading notebooks with my daughter a couple years ago and it rather fizzled, but I think she was too young then. We were using Ambleside Online and it worked – for a while.

I also did notebooking with my gifted 8th grade students years ago – when I taught public school. (They’re graduating from college and beginning their own lives now – wow!)

I plan to use a reader-writer notebook with my daughter now that she is in middle school. She needs something more with her reading. We use Tapestry of Grace and she reads lots with that, but I still feel like we’re missing some great literary analysis and she needs to learn how to critique it. Before, I’ve given her so much freedom with her reading. And that was good. She loves to read. Now she will love to analyze it. Yes, she will.

She may not love it, but she’s going to start notebooking with a classic novel or reading unit each month.

I plan to include Shakespeare, poetry, and later on, in about a year or so: To Kill A Mockingbird and The Diary of Anne Frank. I plan to let her choose some books too. She has great taste in reading and I think she’ll be thrilled that she has finally reached a stage where she can finally read some mature content. I can hardly wait to read some of my favorites, that I used to teach in my classes: Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451, A Separate Peace, and Orwell soon! And thankfully, our curriculum has many fine choices of living books and great classic literature too.

I have a binder set up with dividers.

5 dividers:

1. character analysis

2. narration/summary (by chapter or act or section)

3. vocabulary

4. literary analysis (mini-lessons we will do together)

5. reader response writing section

(I assign thinking questions based on reading and mini-lessons – these could turn into larger writing projects at the end of units.)

I plan to include notebooking pages in each section to make it fun and interesting. She already has a reading minioffice and we have reader response bookmarks. I have journal topics to assign too. I’m excited to get started on this!

We’ll have a Monday conference time to discuss expectations and schedules. We already do this with Tapestry of Grace work. I will check back in on Fridays or Saturdays to see the progress. I know it will take some hand-holding and organization and explanation in the beginning. She is very clingy with new things. After the first unit and the first month, I hope she gets the hang of it!

She chose to read Where The Red Fern Grows as her first book. Such a fun book to read! We both really enjoyed it.

The girls and I read Charlotte’s Web together and it’s delightful. Alex listened in many times too.

I am going back to my classical roots with my teaching methods. 

Resources for Reading and Writing Notebooks:

• Scholastic Reading Notebook
• Reader’s Notebook & Writer’s Notebook – with amazing printables!
• My ELA Pinterest board and Writing Pinterest board and Notebooking Pinterest board
• Priscilla’s great Reader Notebook Pinterest board
• Reader’s Notebook outline and plan
• Guide with a video!
• Busy Teachers Cafe resources
• Printables from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus (One of my favorite homeschooling sites!)

It’s always more fun to add color, shapes, and stickers!