For those of you who don’t know what “notebooking” is, it’s simply a style of homeschooling. The kids make a notebook page on the various things we learn and keep them in a 3-ring binder. If we learn about Robert E. Lee, then they make a short biography page on him, draw a picture and place it in their notebook.
This year, we are going to be studying the time period from about the 1830’s through the 20th century. Prime time for learning about their ancestors. (I couldn’t exactly fit them into our Ancient Egypt studies a couple of years ago).
I have created a generic “My Ancestor” page for them to fill out when they learn about an ancestor who lived in the time period we are studying. I am so thankful that we have such a diverse family tree and that I’ll be able to incorporate so many of their ancestors into our studies this year!
The kids have ancestors who (among many other things):
- fought on both sides of the Civil War
- owned slaves
- were abolitionists
- were Quakers who settled in Iowa
- took part in the revolution in Germany and had to leave the country
- left Ireland during the potato famine
- witnessed “Bleeding Kansas” firsthand and testified about the faulty elections
- were Mormons who lived in Nauvoo and moved along the Mormon Trail, stopping near Council Bluffs
- worked on the railroad
- were Methodist ministers
- were New Jersey glassblowers
- immigrated from Norway in the 1880’s
- immigrated from Sweden and went through Ellis Island
- worked as servants in Boston
- fought in WWI in France
- fought in WWII in the Pacific
It’s going to be a fun year! I wanted to share the “Ancestor Notebooking Page” which I created for our studies. You are free to use it for your children or grandchildren as you wish. Just don’t sell it. 🙂
Download it in Word or PDF versions. Enjoy!
If you didn’t catch the other posts in this series, check out the Cemetery Scavenger Hunt and the Family Tree Notebooking Page.
