8 Creative Homeschool Uses for Spiral Notebooks
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The back-to-school clearance sales are enticing enough to stock up on those essential extra markers and crayons but don’t forget about one essential (and versatile!) supply – the simple spiral notebook.
For about $0.20 each, you can get set for the entire year on the cheap. We use a lot of spiral notebooks, and I pick them up whenever I see them. Just the plain ones. Nothing fancy. We don’t need any Austin and Ally notebooks. Just the plain yellow, red, purple, green, or black, thank you.
Wondering why you’d need so many? Hold on! I’m about to show you eight creative homeschool uses for spiral notebooks. You’ll probably come up with even more on your own – this is just a start.
1. Assignment Notebooks
About a year ago, I started using spiral notebooks to give my kids a “to-do” list every day. I fill in one page per day with all their assignments and chores for the day. Sometimes I include little notes or quotes about learning and working hard.
2. Student Journal
My kids also journal every single school day. We’ve done this from the very beginning, and it’s fantastic to go back and read what they’ve written. A spiral notebook is perfect for journaling because the book lays flat, which is easier to write in, and there’s lots of space to add a drawing if they want to as well.
3. Spelling Notebook
I love to use plain notebooks for spelling practice. Usually, I write the list in one column and fold the sheet in half to create columns for my kids to practice in the other column. We also can take the test in that notebook as well so it’s all together and I can easily find their scores when I need to.
4. Bullet Journal
So this one might be more for mama or an older child, but I had to add it anyway. A bullet journal is a planner/journal/calendar/to do list that you craft yourself out of a notebook. Draw in your calendar, add your meal plans, your goals, your to-do lists. It can all go in here.
5. Scratch Paper
I know, I know…why waste a perfectly good notebook on scratch paper, right? Well, for us, it’s because we never have scratch paper where we need it or when we need it. But if we have a spiral notebook that cost a whole $0.20 with our math text, I’m okay if we use it as a scratch pad.
6. Portfolios
We are always creating portfolios to go along with our science and history unit studies. Keeping a notebook is a great place to stash all the stuff you do with your study.
Have your student write notes or draw pictures and sketches of what you’re studying. Glue lapbook elements to the pages. Write essays or reports. Use the front and back covers to add pockets to keep other pieces of paper you want in the portfolio. Have your kids design some beautiful covers and use rubber cement to stick them onto the fronts.
7. Timeline Book
When I started homeschooling and really got into the Charlotte Mason method, I got totally hung up on the idea of a Century Notebook. I was picturing this big, elaborate keepsake that the kids would just pore over. I tried several ways, but it never looked like that for us.
Use notebooks for a timeline book! How great is that?! Use one per year and design a cover to tell what period it covers. Draw a horizontal line with a ruler across the center of each page and have your child either draw pictures of the person or event and mark with a summary and date.
Boom! Timeline book.
8. Sight Word Flip Book
There are many great phonics items out there, but sometimes you just need something perfectly tailored to your child. Flip a notebook on its side, fold in the covers to make it stand up like a triangle tent and write the exact words your child needs to practice.
Write down sight words, spelling words, vocabulary words, or even use it for foreign language practice like we’re doing.
Spiral notebooks are incredibly versatile!
Are you heading to the store to load your cart with them yet? Yeah, me too.
How do you use spiral notebooks in your homeschool?
Alicia is mom to four kiddos from toddler to teenager. She has been homeschooling for what seems like forever and loves to do it with loads of books and projects. You can read more at her blog www.learningwellcommunity.com
This is a great list. We also use them for gratitude journals, common place books, and a place for mom and daughter to write notes for each other.
I love that last idea! We use them for a lot of the things you suggested (quick, spot the other CM homeschoolers!) but I never thought of making a stand-up word book like that! Brilliant.
Ooohh I love the idea of the sight words flipbook! I’ll have to do that! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Great ideas! Never thought about using them for a timeline book. Maybe I could actually accomplish it that way.
Love all these ideas! Can’t wait for the BTS sales!
We use ours for scrap paper all the time. And I do my planning in one.
I love the spelling words idea! Definitely going to do that this year. Then all their words will be in one place to reference later if needed. Also like the timeline idea — I have been struggling with how to do that and not take up our whole wall. The notebook is perfect.
Seems so simple, & yet so brilliant!
Thanks for the reminder!!
Thank you for these ideas! I’m new to homeschooling so this will help!