Learning Journal

After deciding that we were going to homeschool our daughter who will be a kindergartner this year, I immediately started researching curriculums and materials. I found so many great resources but quickly realized that there could potentially be a lot of printing involved. Not only is that expensive but I imagine papers everywhere! After more searching, I stumbled on the idea of learning journals on Instagram. At first I thought it sounded like a lot of work, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed to line up with what we were looking for.

As a Montessori mom, I want to tailor my child’s learning towards the things that she loves, not the things that I (or the school district) want her to love. We came up with a list of different topics or units that she wants us to study this year. The great part about the learning journal is that it allows me to create all kinds of different work for my daughter related to those topics!

It also saves money! Ink and paper are SO expensive and it can add up really quickly. Purchasing different curriculums can also add up really fast. I purchased two notebooks, both from Erin Condren. These notebooks are a bit pricier than normal notebooks but they are heavy duty. I wanted something that could hold up with daily usage. Her learning journal is a sketchbook style notebook and her writing journal is called a handwriting story notebook. There are so many great resources that you can purchase and print online and on Etsy but I am choosing to save money and create worksheets myself!

With just a little bit of scrolling through Pinterest, Etsy or Instagram you can easily find inspiration for your child’s learning journal. When we first started testing it out I was worried that it was going to take me forever to create these worksheets. But as my vision for what school looks like for us and what direction we are taking becomes more clear I am getting quicker and quicker! First, I plan out what exactly I want her to focus on for that week and then I do some searching for inspiration (I also screenshot pictures that I come across throughout the week) or I come up with my own! Then after the girls go to bed one night I put together her pages for the whole week.

Here are some examples of pages I have created for my Kindergartener….