Notebooks or Binder for High School - Any BTDT advice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid starting high school in the fall.

One friend recommended 5 separate notebooks with folders for each subject. Another friend recommended a 5-subject notebook. School hasn't said anything.

How does your high schooler organize his/her stuff?

My kids use a 7-subject folder and one notebook.

[Anonymous]

OP- Choose what works well for your individual kids organization, toting, and studying. Very few HS teachers care what kids carry or how they set it up. And those that do will let’s the students know, plus it was likely always going to be different that what your kid was doing for others.

Generally smaller is better. So 1,3,or5 subject notebook. Or Smaller binders for each class. Or Smallish binder with dividers/diver folders. Or Individual folders. Or Individual fastener folders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest used a binder and loose leaf in HS. Freshman year, she had a course that required a separate binder with dividers. So that year, she had two.

My rising 11 girl has used folders and one 5 subject notebook. Nearly every handout has been digital.

My rising 11 boy has used folders and loose leaf. He’s gotten more hard copies.

Teachers usually provide hard copy handouts pre-hole punched so the binder hole punch was a waste of money for my oldest.

There is no additional cost to hole punching handouts on the copiers...

Yes, that’s why teachers pre-punch them and your kid probably won’t ever use the kind that are carried in a binder.

Not all teachers pre-punch.

Punching holes (and stapling pages) will often make the photocopiers break down.

So will copying double-sided, and yet most of us still do these things because it is best for the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until she goes to each class to see what the teachers want. My son's school requires a thin binder for each class set up a certain way. Maybe that's a private school thing but I'd wait. Just bring a folder, paper and pens, etc during the first week until the teachers give out the syllabus and go over it.

And, since this is MCPS, not private as you like to point out, how about telling us what happens in MCPS which is more relevant.

Sorry. I can't resist the urge to drop that my kid goes to private. It's one of my many compulsions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until she goes to each class to see what the teachers want. My son's school requires a thin binder for each class set up a certain way. Maybe that's a private school thing but I'd wait. Just bring a folder, paper and pens, etc during the first week until the teachers give out the syllabus and go over it.

And, since this is MCPS, not private as you like to point out, how about telling us what happens in MCPS which is more relevant.

Sorry. I can't resist the urge to drop that my kid goes to private. It's one of my many compulsions.

Good for you. We did a private school summer class. Waste of money. Unlicensed teacher who could not teach.

[Anonymous]

My dd has ADHD and in middle school, it really helped her to have one large binder containing a separate folder for each class. All of her papers were together in one place, but organized by class and she had a place to put handouts whether they were 3 hole punched or not. I’m hoping this will work for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of 3 here. Oldest 2 kids used a spiral and folder for each class. It worked great for both of them. It’s just much less cumbersome. Youngest is a rising freshman and insisting he wants a binder. He has never used a binder properly so I’m hoping he will embrace the folders/spirals but I’m letting him decide.

Meaning an individual spiral notebook for each class? That is what older students recommended at the orientation, but I wonder if a 5-subject would be easier than 5 separate notebooks!

As a girl who used the prior PP's system throughout high school and college (individual spiral and folder for each class), I never could get behind tbe 5-subject notebook. The rate at which the paper would get used in each class was different, and then what do you do when you reach the end of the section for one class but no where near for another class??!

+1. Yes, the paper is used at different rates by different subjects. These notebooks are not helpful.

[Anonymous]

My child had block scheduling so she did not have every class every day. She had two binders one for even and one for odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest used a binder and loose leaf in HS. Freshman year, she had a course that required a separate binder with dividers. So that year, she had two.

My rising 11 girl has used folders and one 5 subject notebook. Nearly every handout has been digital.

My rising 11 boy has used folders and loose leaf. He’s gotten more hard copies.

Teachers usually provide hard copy handouts pre-hole punched so the binder hole punch was a waste of money for my oldest.

There is no additional cost to hole punching handouts on the copiers...

Yes, that’s why teachers pre-punch them and your kid probably won’t ever use the kind that are carried in a binder.

Not all teachers pre-punch.

Punching holes (and stapling pages) will often make the photocopiers break down.

So will copying double-sided, and yet most of us still do these things because it is best for the students.

You all realize that you can buy pre-hole punched paper and that is most likely what most school printers are using. You all must have never worked in an office

To answer the OPs question, it's a personal preference. My HS kid prefers just one binder with dividers, and loose leaf college ruled paper for each subject to take notes (yes, they also come pre-hole punched, usually a pack of 150 or 175 sheets). My other kids prefers a spiral notebook to a binder. I agree that they never every use up a full notebook in any subject, so you end up with a bunch of half-empty notebooks at the end of each year, which is such a waste...