Vocabulary- which do you prefer- notebook or box?

[sharonb]

Before I buy the cards and box for vocabulary, I figured I'd think this over some more. Which do you prefer? A notebook with pages for each letter, or a box with cards? The main pro I can see with the box is that the cards can be completely alphabetized. With the notebook the words can be written on the right page, but won't be in alphabetical order within the letter. But the box is more bulky (and more likely to be bothered by the baby since it's obviously more fun than a notebook ; we'd have to make sure to keep them out of reach).

Opinions?

[Great2kids]

I used the notebook when we did BHFHG and like you mentioned it's under the right "letter" but not in alphabetical order. This year with PHFHG I chose the index cards because I felt my ds would benefit from more practice alphabetizing and it has worked great. I would say if he doesn't need the extra alphabetizing skills to just go with the notebook so it's easier to pull out and keep together.

[brenm37]

We use a notebook in Preparing this year, not alphabetized either, we just add to it weekly. I like the idea of the index cards and alphabetizing though!
Brenda

[basesloaded]

We started HOD with Preparing this year and we are using a 8 x 10 1/2 photo album with pages that you can just insert 4x6 photos. We simply put the cards in the pages and we have ABC tabs that I cut down to fit the album. We put the words in behind the appropriate letter tab but we don't alphabetize within the tabs. I wanted them to be able to look up their words easily when they needed to and they really like them, too.

[water2wine]

We do index cards in an index card binder with little tab dividers. I like that you can add to it but if you drop them they do not spill.

[my3good&perfectgifts]

Basesloaded, great idea! We use a notebook, but I have been thinking of changing to the box. I like your idea even better. It's the best of both worlds. Thanks.

[Heather]

We use index cards and boxes for our vocabulary work in Bigger. I have my boys write the word, the part of speech and the definition on the lined side. Then on the blank side they draw a picture and write a sentence using that word under the picture. My younger son doesn't have to add the sentence for his picture. I also picked up a set of A-Z cards to use in the box to organize the cards. That way they're getting alphabetizing practice and within each letter they have to alphabetize, too!

Heather

[mskogen]

We use a 3 ring binder. It allows us to put the words in abc order. I made a notebook page for them... place for unit, vocab word, defintion, sentence and picture. When they are finished they put it in order. The 3 ring binder is were we keep our science pages too. We have tabs for science, science experiments, history activities, art. etc This works great for us.

[inHistiming]

Hmmmm....we use a notebook and did for Bigger as well. I had not thought much about the alphabetical order, just in passing, but it would definitely be a big help for my dd and my second son when he gets to it. We won't change now, but maybe with the next guide we'll have to consider the index cards and file box. Thanks for the ideas, ladies!

[Benelli]

We use two hole punched index cards in an index card binder with alphabet tabs. I found them at Office Depot, I think. We love them because the cards can just be inserted into the right spot.

[ncmomof5]

Hello All,

We use a bound notebook. Half of it is for some other aspect of Language Arts and the other is for the vocabulary words. What we did about the ABC thing was to go through and make an A page, B page, C page, etc. so that they put all the "C" vocab words on the "C" pages. It's kind of like how a dictionary is set up.

I sure do like to hear how others are doing it. I've gotten some great ideas for some fun ways to organize it. Thanks for sharing everyone!

In His love,
RuthAnn

[my3sons]

We like the box, mainly because it is a defined area. Also, because it is easy to alphabetize, but either the notebook or the box work well.

In Christ,
Julie

[sharonb]

I like all the variations of how to do this! I really like being able to completely alphabetize, so we'll either do a box or a small index card binder. I'm leaning towards the binder so we don't have to worry about all the cards getting spilled! Does Wal-Mart sell index card binders? Or do I need to go to an Office Depot (or similar) store? We live in a very rural area so Wal-Mart is the only option locally. I can plan on going to Office Depot next time we travel to visit family though.

[stellar]

I punch a hole in the upper left hand corner and put them on a ring.