CM and notebooking?

Are you refering to notebooking or lapbooking?  Sometimes I think that those two terms are intertwined when I think that they are two seperate ideas.

From what I have seen, lapbooking is a pre-conceived layout of ideas and things that a child is supposed to learn from their assignment.  Instead of just writing the vocabulary in a notebook, it will have a child cut out a fun little book or shape for them to glue in the lapbook or folder for their vocabulary.  It can have many different subjects learned from the book – here is an example of lapbooking for Little House in the Big Woods: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/little_house_in_the_big_woods.php

“Notebooking is the coined term for what one may refer to as educational journaling or scrapbooking. Essentially, the idea is to create a compilation of what has been learned and experienced in any number of subjects or activities and organize it in a notebook (or binder).” – Debra Reed from Notebookingpages.com.  Notebooking is a page where a child records their assignment – but the page may have a border, or a picture, or space to put a picture.  It can have primary or regular lines.  It doesn’t usually have printing on it.  

Personally, I don’t particularly care if Charlotte Mason gave that exact terminology in her writings (I am still going through them myself). Her philosophy is there, and I am teaching my children, who love them and respond well to them.  I use them mainly for written or drawn narrations. I posted more details about using them with our different aged girls in a previous thread here:  

http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/notebooking-advice-for-a-6-year-old  

You have to store the written narrations one way or the other – whether it is in a lined spiral bound or composition book or whether you choose to have a page with borders or specific lines or a box for an illustration or whatever to be placed in a 3 ring binder.  My girls and I prefer to have a page with a pretty little border or a place to draw and write – it works for us.  Composition books work for Christie.  It’s still a record of what our children are doing and neither one is wrong.

I think that one can take CM ideas and fit them to your family and children’s needs.  Some people love notebooking and their children thrive.  Some people love lapbooking and their children thrive.  Some people use compostition notebooks and their children thrive.  Some people let their children type their narrations and their children thrive. As Sonya says – teach the child.  Plus, there aren’t any CM police to come hunt you down for expanding on her methods and ideas. (Thank goodness! lol)

However, your children are so young.  I would hold off on serious notebooking (except the nature journaling) until they can give a good solid verbal narration in any subject, unless you are writing their narrations and having them illustrate it.