Free Notebooking Templates To Use With Any Book

Published:
May 1, 2019

Bonnie Rose Hudson

Contributor:
Bonnie Rose Hudson

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What would you say the most versatile homeschool tool is? One of the most adaptable, use-it-anywhere tools has to be the notebooking page. This set of free notebooking templates is a great way to get started. Included is ten blank pages in various formats that you can use with different ages and different topics.

Free Notebooking Templates

Free Notebooking Templates

We’ve been homeschooling for 17 years now. It hasn’t always been fun though. When my oldest hit 4th grade, I wanted to quit homeschooling. Worksheets and tests had my daughter in tears. I knew she was bright, but why couldn’t my creative kid answer questions on worksheets?

Then I discovered homeschool notebooking. It completely transformed our homeschool! 

We were using The Mystery of History, and she loved it. I loved it. We ditched the worksheets and all the quizzes and tests and broke out some blank notebooking pages. I asked her to summarize what we had just read through written narration. Even just typing this out brings tears to my eyes!

She was able to thoroughly tell me what she had learned in her OWN words. I almost collapsed with thankfulness and exhaustion from trying SO HARD to make homeschooling work.

It turns out she WAS learning all she needed to know, but the worksheets and tests gave her anxiety and made her freeze up.

What is Notebooking?

You may be wondering, what is homeschool notebooking? Notebooking can be a blank notebook or a composition notebook, like we used at first. Notebooking can also be open-ended questions that prompt a written response. Notebooking can also be sketching and drawing, labeling, and diagramming – all on the same page!

Notebooking is PERFECT for a creative kid. It’s a great way to give them space to show what they know. 

Notebooking - A Creative Kid's Favorite Way to Homeschool

Notebooking for Homeschool Students

Notebooking works for young students as well as older children. Each child will end up with a personalized notebook that shows what they have learned in their own words. You can get started with our free notebooking pages and customizable templates found at the bottom of this post.

Using Notebooking for Multi-Subjects

I started making blank notebook templates for her to use with as many subjects as possible, basically everything but math and language arts. 

I eventually got a bit more creative and started customizing notebooking pages for individual books, adding in question prompts that gave my daughter space to write her responses and draw and sketch pictures from the books we read. 

This allowed me to turn ANY BOOK into a “curriculum.” When my youngest was obsessed with weather, I created our very first Notebook Companion for Master Books.

It was a huge hit – so they gave us permission to create and sell Notebook Companions for the entire Wonders of Creation science series.

Our oldest graduated our homeschool in 2018, but my love for notebooking has only grown. We’ve since partnered with several publishers to create Notebook Companions for popular books that homeschoolers love.

Notebook Companions for popular books

Notebook Companions for Homeschoolers

How to Use Blank Notebooking Pages:

Here are ten great ideas you can use try notebooking in your homeschool!

1.) Have your child write a final draft of a paper on them. Let them illustrate the boxes with drawings, magazine cut-outs, etc. on the notebooking pages.

2.) Attach samples from nature walks to the pages, write about the walk, and cover the page with a protective sleeve.

3.) Attach a swatch from a sewing project and write about the project or draw a picture of the finished piece. 

4.) Turn notebook pages into a newspaper-style project and have students write and illustrate articles on any number of topics. 

5.) Write a research question on the top of each notebooking page and have the child record what they discover. 

6.) Write vocabulary words on the top of the page. Have the student write the definitions beneath each word and then write several sentences using the words. 

7.) Have your child record the steps of a science experiment and attach a photo of each step. 

8.) Use the notebooking pages as a tool to help your child record key information about characters in a book or play. 

9.) Ask your student to record something they learn each day on a page, creating a keepsake of your homeschooling year. 

10.) Use the pages to create a detailed timeline of an event or period your student is studying in history. By recording a single date and fact per page, they can create a timeline notebook that takes them through the topic one fact at a time. 

Free Notebooking Templates

You can get started with notebooking by downloading our blank notebooking pages that you can use with any book. Our free printable notebooking pages can be printed as many times as you need and there are a variety of templates to choose from. You can add your notebook pages to a 3 ring binder and even customize a cover!

Thanks for signing up to access our free Free Notebooking Templates. Access more than 50 freebies in the subscriber library with the password: HSGSL922

We add new homeschool downloads to our subscriber library frequently, so be sure to check often. Scroll down to download the Free Notebooking Templates PDF.

blank notebooking pages

DOWNLOAD: Free Notebooking Templates

DOWNLOAD: Notebooking Templates with More Narrow Lines

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