Why was this so difficult?

I don't know why this has been so difficult for me.  For a long time I've felt like I needed to have some sort of written "proof" that we studied something.  For lots of inane reasons, probably, but also so we could go back and reference it for review.  Much of what we do in our literature based studies is converse based on books we read.  That's a great fit for us! but it assumes the student will remember a conversation without any reinforcement or review.  And that has always been a hang up of mine.  Mostly because this is a way that is very effective for Jacob to learn.

Lapbooking does not seem to be for Jacob... too much cutting, pasting and putting together.  Not enough "just the facts" please.  And in the end, stacks of stuff waiting to be put together into a finished product.  (I have no doubt it will be right up Mattie's alley, but she'll actually want to do the crafting part of it!)

Worksheets are more what I was looking for, but were sometimes a lot of information that wasn't important or wasn't what we studied.

Self created worksheets would have worked as they would have been customized, but I didn't always think of the questions at one time and really didn't want to waste the time at the computer formatting and making it look pretty, so I never did that either.  I needed something I could produce on the spot.

But I had a revelation of sorts.  I cold actually just use a pen and create my own worksheet!  I could add one question at a time, choose questions relevant to the information I wanted Jacob to remember, draw relevant diagrams to label, make questions in whichever format I preferred at any given moment!   

Why in the world did it take me 3 years to think of this?!??!??!

Thankfully, at least I thought of it now. 

*I create the questions as I think of them and he completes them usually several at a time. 
*If he has to look up the information, I put a page number as a hint to the left so he knows where to look.  *They are different colors, as we are traveling Around the World for now.  Each color is for a continent.
*Every now and then, we'll do a review week.  During that week, we'll cut the questions from the pages (b/c there are things I've scribbled out that I messed up) and put them on 3 hold punched cardstock with pictures we colored or photos of activities we did.  But I still know if we never get to that, I still have an organized place where he can keep his work.  (His notebook has music/art and science sections too.)

Here are three of the "worksheets" Jacob has in his notebook.  There are some spelling errors, but he's such a perfectionist that I don't always go back and correct those things after he's finished.  He's hard enough on himself!

You've probably noticed recently I'mposting a lot about our home school and what's working for us.  It seems like we've found a groove this year, and I'm really thankful for it!