Thrifty Notebook Art Assignment

I don't know about you, but I hate wasting school supplies. Living on one income has its disadvantages. My grandmother grew up during 'The Depression' and instilled a sense of stewardship in my mother... who in turn instilled that same stewardship with me (when it comes to food and supplies, that is). [I've had to learn money stewardship the hard way... but that is a topic for another post.]

I thought I would share this little nifty-thrifty notebook idea with you since it is what we did at the beginning of this school year to "save a tree". I actually am a 'tree-hugger' of sorts. I had a favorite tree in my yard growing up and hugged it off and on. [Of course, now that I type that in print, it sounds rather odd... hmmmm.] I enjoy doing what I can to save the environment from getting any worse than it is today [aside from giving up my gas-guzzling vehicle, that is - a woman has to have limits].

My kids write in journals a lot. They have prayer journals and school journals. Each day we do an assignment of some sort in each one. Every now and then, we don't finish a journal at the end of the school year and sometimes we have half a notebook left. Rather than leave the paper un-used and file it away in their memory boxes, we came up with this easy way to separate LAST YEAR from THIS YEAR so we can be less wasteful.

We made notebook collages (sort-of like cover pages) to separate the "2005-6 School Year" from the "2006-7 School Year". I let the kids pick through some National Geographic Kids magazines to find their artwork/photos for the project. I helped them to cut some of the things out and arrange them so that there was no empty (uncovered) space. The photo above is the end result of our careful placement and gluing. This saved me money and was a fun project that the children enjoyed. Now, they feel better knowing they did something for the planet and our pocketbook; and they had fun doing it!

Submitted by Spritteebee - I'm a Christian Homeschooling Mom who likes to spend free time thinking through my fingers on the keyboard. I update my blog site daily, so come on over and enjoy the buzz.