The last lapbook we did took us several weeks.  We didn't work on it constantly or we could have finished sooner.  Whales was a subject that Cameron choose.

Cover:

Cameron like the blue paper with circles.  It came out of one his presents that he got for his birthday and said that it would go great in his Whale lapbook. LOL

Back cover:

It has

• "Books We Read About Whales" (I checked out every last book the library had about whales, or so it seemed.)
• "Words to Know" a vocabulary list of words pertaining to whales. 
• Baleen Whale "parts" that we got from Enchanted learning (Thanks Grandma!)

This is a double lapbook which means we took two file folders and glued them together for extra space.

On the inside flap:

We took a week to read through the book of Jonah and do this mini lesson.  We got the printouts from Homeschool Helper.  There were enough printouts here that we could have done an entire lapbook on just Jonah.

When you open the Jonah flap:

Along the right side are whale behavoirs.  He drew a picture of each, wrote what it was on the inside flap and we also glued a short description of each behavoir.

In the middle is "Whale sizes" a neat little booklet that we put together.  I cut out a bunch of paper blocks.  They were equivelant to 5 feet. 

Under that is our "Verses" game.  Did you know that a whale is not a fish?  Here is a game to help us understand the difference between the two and some characteristics that they share:

I got this from Enchanted Learning as well. It was a worksheet that you were supposed to take the list of characteristics and write them in proper spot.  Instead, I glued that paper to heavier card stock, cut them out, made a ittle matchbook, and voila, instant game.

To the left of Whale Sizes and Verses we find our "Extreme Whales"

We cut out little circles and folded them into triangles.  Each lip has the "question" and on the inside, Cameron write the answer.  We had things like, the biggest animal God ever made: Blue whale, the longest tooth: narwhal, deepest diver: sperm.

When you open up extreme whales, you find the whales that we studied a little more closely. 

He colored each whale and the map of where they can be found in the ocean. We got the pictures of the whales as well as the map from Enchanted Learning (thanks again Grandma!)

The coloring on the map to the right is very faint and is only areound the coast areas in the artic.

Beside our nine whales, we learned that there are two different types of whales.  Toothed whales and baleen whales.  Baleen whales do not have teeth but baleen that they use to strain their food.  All the baleen whales are BIG and eat very small food.

He wrote the different names of the whales on the "teeth" or "baleen"

Here, also, is a video of our lapbook.  

The other day, I was reading what was next over at Barb's Green Hour Challenge and saw that we were starting to incorporrate drawing.  I have started my own nature journal and am loving it but wanted Cameron to have something special for his own.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out! And it was so simple.

You could make these any size.  You can use poster board, heavy card stock, or file folder.  I used a file folder.  I cut the front 9.5 x 6 and decorated it with scrapbook paper.  The back I cut 11 x 6.  The back needs to be 1/2 inch longer than the front.  Your paper for the inside of your book should be 1/4 inch shorter all around.  (I actually had the paper first and made my covers 1/4-inch bigger all around)

Then fasten it together.  I used brads.

How simple was that?  Cameron LOVES his book. 

This week we did something different for Bible because we are finished with our scheduled reading.  I saw this Wordless Lapbook over at Just Call Me Jammin! and we did one of our own!  Cameron worked on cutting things out while we read our missionary story for the week and then we worked on a color a day.

I think he did a great job of tracing and cutting out the letters!

I took construction paper and cut out squares to make each color a booklet.  I put the pages for each booklet in and stapled it together.

He wrote what each color stood for on the first page:

Page 2 had a corresponding Bible verse and then I drew a visual reminder.  He was excited about finding out what each days picture was.  LOL  I'm glad he's impressed with my drawing.

Each day he copied part of a poem/song about the colors.  I would have had him copy it on his own but to make sure it all fit on the one paper, I typed it up on Word and put the font color as lightest gray so that he could trace.  I figured it was good practice and reminder of how to shape each of his letters.

Then  across the bottom we put the ABC's of Salvation

We took a lot of our ideas from Jammin' but one of the great things about lapbooking, you can change things around and make it your very own. 

But like Jammin' I will list what all we used.

Black

• Page 1:  BLACK  sin
• Page 2:  Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
• picture:  little stick figure standing on cliff.  God on opposite cliff.  This equals the great gulf that we cannot get over. 
• Page 3: Text taken from this site

Red

• Page 1: RED (in red font) blood
• Page 2: I John 1:7 ...the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
• picture: Jesus on the cross with red crayon for blood.
• Page 3

White

• Page 1: WHITE (in outlined font) clean heart
• Page 2: Psalm 51:7 ...wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow
• picture:  Stick-figure kneeling at the cross with a black heart over head.  Second frame has stick figure one other side of the cross with big smile and heart that has "Jesus" written on.
• Page 3

Gold (or yellow)

• Page 1: GOLD (in yellow font) Heaven
• Page 2: John 14:2 ...I go to prepare a place for you.
• picture: cliffs with stick figure and God again but added cross spanning the great wide gulf.
• Page 3

Green

• Page 1: GREEN (in green font) growing
• Page 2:  II Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
• picture: Stickfigure reading Bible and praying
• Page 3

"A" booklet

• Page 1: A:  ADMIT
• Page 2: Admit you are a sinner
• Page 3: Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.

"B" booklet

• Page 1: B: BELIEVE
• Page 2: Believe in Jesus.  Put your trust in Him as your oly hope of salvation
• Page 3: John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

"C" booklet

• Page 1: C: Confess
• Page 2: Confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord.
• Page 3:  Romans 10:9, 10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Poem: (It's also a song!)

My heart was black with sin,
Until the Savior came in.
His precious blood, I know
Will wash me whiter than snow.
And in God's Word I'm told,
I'll walk the streets of gold.
I'll read my Bible and pray,
And grow in him every day!

In our area, Lowe's has a kid's clinic twice a month.  Today's project, goofy golf.

Reading the blue prints.

His hammering has improved greatly over the past year.  I barely have to help him any more. 

Finished product.

We are studying whales for our current lapbook.  It was a topic that Cameron chose himself and he has been very interested in the things we are studying.  Today we read two books about blue whales.  It talked about how long a blue whale is. 

A baby blue whale is about 22 feet in length.  Here Cameron and I are 22 feet apart.

The average adult blue whale is around 85 feet.  They can grow up to 110 feet but it was freezing cold outside and we skipped the 110 feet.  Here we are 85 feet apart.

Can you see him WAY down there?

Our second lapbook did not take anywhere near as long as this one.  I think it helped that it was a kit.

We had fun working on the cover.  We did feet and handprints.

He was caught "red-handed"

Then we had a "foot washing ceremony"

We cut these out and pasted on his painted cover.  The title was made with fingerprints.

Front:

Back:

The inside:

Time Line:

My Family:

As an only child he doesn't have brothers and sisters so we did his uncle Adrian and then his two cousins.

Three Things About Me:

• #1: "I like to play soccer"
• #2: "Pinky Dinky Do is my Guinea pig"
• #3: "I have school at home" (with a picture of our house)

Importan Information:

My Body:

He was to decorate the paper doll to look like him. 

The four flap books:

• Things I can do with my head: "I can think"
• Things I can do with my hands and arms: "I can grab stuff"
• Things I like to feed my tummy: "Pizza, tomatoes, rice, and chocolate ice cream"
• Things I can do with my feet and legs: "I can walk, run and play soccer."

I have...

This was a little booklet for him to fill out about himself.

Favorite Things:

This little booklet had a few pages for him to fill out about his favorite foods, places, people, toys, games, books and movies.  I LOVED his picture for the movies.  His drawing is of Yoda and Darth Vadar from Star Wars!

We have not finished the poem.  I'm going to do this later.

We did it.  We finally finished our first lapbook.  Yes, it was about Thanksgiving but I was NOT going to give up and throw it by the way side.  Cameron was very excited to get it done.

The front cover:

The back cover:

All opened up:

On the left hand side there are two booklets: The Pilgrims, and The First Thanksgiving.

In the middle section there is a booklet of all the books we read, "I Am Thankful for.." booklet, pictures of the Mayflower and verses that talk about giving thanks.

On the left side is our Thanksgiving time line:

We've already started our next one but this one is a kit.  Which I think I need. 

A good friend of mine just passed on a science book to us.  We started it today.  The first chapter is about being a scientist and what they do.  The book has things for us to do and record in a science journal.

Today we had so much fun.  We were to take measurements of ourselves and record our data in our journal. We took measurements of our height, arm span, and our feet.  Then we worked together to convert the inches to feet and inches.  After that we discussed our observations. 

Our very interesting observation was that our arm spans were both an inch longer than our height!  The other interesting observation is that Cameron's foot is only 2 inches shorter than my foot!  That just doesn't seem to make sense that I am a 10 and he is a 13.  I guess width has a lot to do with it too?

This summer, we are planning on doing different projects and fun things.  Today we did one that I've been waiting a while to do.

In February, for his birthday, Babymakers and family gave Cameron two 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke and a box of Mentos.  Now if you know this family at, even from reading her blog, this is not a normal thing that they would even have in their house.  But they gave it to him so that we could perform an experiment.  Their family had fun doing this and thought we would enjoy it as well.

I have waited so long because things like this must be photo documented.  And I couldn't set up the experiment AND take the pictures. So, I have waited until I had the wonderful assistance of 12-year-old brother-in-law.  I thought he would enjoy things like this too.

To do this experiment yourself you only need the following ingredients:

• Diet Coke in a 2 liter bottle
• Any flavor of Mentos
• Young minds (or young at heart) to enjoy the violent chemical reaction.

To set up the experiment, you may need to fashion a contraption of sorts to help you in dropping the Mentos in all and once and quickly.  This is just a piece of paper rolled up and taped.  We used a card like a credit card to come between the open bottle and stack of four Mentos.

Slip the card out and get away! Fast!  Unless you don't mind being covered with sticky soda.  The chemical reaction is violent and immediate!

It went higher than this.

Check out the cool display of people that had way too much time on their hands at Eepy Bird.

Cameron and I both love maps.  We love looking at maps.  We love collecting maps. Cameron has them all hanging on his wall.  Mostly state road maps that you can get for free at welcome centers.  People know this about us and are very helpful in helping us in this pursuit.  Cameron even bought of a map of the United States with his own money. 

Someone recently bought us another US map to hang on the wall and that is when I got my bright idea.  I cut the map out into individual states.  I hope to get them laminated for extra durability.

I took my map/puzzle with me to Babymakers house because I was child minding.  Here are Savannah and Jacob working together to put the map together.

The finished project.

Cameron actually knows more states than I thought.  He found and put together TX, OK, LA,  PA, OH, WV, and FL and CA in their general spots.

I also sat with Babymaker's 5-year-old Rebekah.  This was something she really liked.  She loves puzzles and she and I worked on the puzzle for at least 20 minutes before we were interrupted.

We finally finished up our papier mache project this week.

Instructions:

1. Combine 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup cold water until smooth. (Ours was NOT smooth)
2. Pour in 1 cup boiling water.  Stir until whole mixture takes on a transparent look.
3. Thin the mixture until it has the consistency of heavy cream
4. Tear newspaper into strips 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide.
5. Hold strips by ends and drag through the paste until they are well covered.
6. Place on object you are covering and repeat. (we used balloons
7. Use enough paper strips that the layers of papier mache will be 1/8 to 1.4 inch thick.
8. Allow to dry completely
9. Paint

My 12-year-old BIL's school was cancelled and he spent the day with us.  He was more than glad to paint my balloon for me.

Yesterday we made papier mache and covered two balloons.  I thought this would be a fun and exciting project.  Cameron enjoyed the making the mixture and ripping the paper.  But the actual getting in there and getting messy was a whole other story.

I forgot about my son's aversion to having messy hands.  He hated his first birthday cake and ended up stabbing the thing to death rather than dig in like some kids are prone to do.  Once, someone made a hotdog for him that was just dripping with toppings.  My son had a melt down about the mess on his hands.  He finger paints for about 2 minutes and then calls it quit and asks to go wash his hands.

I wish I had gotten his picture doing this project but my hands were very goopy too because I was doing my own balloon.  His face would get all scrunched up and he would quietly exclaim, "Yuck."  This happened several times before it hit me that he was not enjoying the feel of the mixture.  But my little trooper did persevere, although he couldn't wait to wash his hands.

Our balloons are still drying and we will paint them later.  I will post pictures of our final project. 

One of the coolest presents Cameron got for Christmas was Pop Bottle Science.  A special pop bottle came with measuring cups and other accessories as well as a book, Pop Bottle Science by Lynn Brunelle.  It has "79 amazing experiments and science projects."

Our first experiment from our, I mean Cameron's new toy was the Raisin Water Ballet.  This was a very easy and fun experiment.  It had an easy concept that Cameron was able to grasp as well.

The ingredients:

Cameron filled the pop bottle, without the top, half way with water.  That was our very first fraction and he caught on to it quickly.  This would work also in a large mason jar. 

He added 4 tablespoons of white vinegar, 3 tablespoons of baking soda and about 10 raisins.

The vinegar and baking soda have a chemical reaction and produce carbon dioxide bubbles that lift the raisins up.  When the raisin reaches the surface of the water, the bubbles break, releasing CO2 into the air and dropping the raisin back to the bottom.

Cameron was able to tell me what was happening and the ballet was fun to watch.  You could see the huge bubbles attached to the raisins.

It also made the sink nice and shinny when I poured the solution down the drain.

Today's project was to make a life size Cameron.  We made two.

One for fun

And one that he modeled for and helped me to color.  (This one has startled me at least 6 times this evening.  And that isn't an exaggeration. LOL)

He did a great job of coloring.  Especially the eyes.

And then he did a self-portrait of himself that had us both laughing.  Notice the  missing teeth.

First we talked about what a chemical reaction was; when two elements do not get along with each other something happens.  We poured just a little vinegar in a cup and added a little baking soda. It instantly fizzes and bubbles up.  Those bubbles are gases trying to escape.  The gasses were released into the air.  They had somewhere to go.

I asked Cameron what he thought would happen if the gas didn't have anywhere to go.  He was able to make a good prediction of what would happen.

Our ingredients:

First we took a cut piece of paper towel in a 5x5 square and added 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of Baking Soda.  This makes our time-release packet.

Then we put 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/4 cup of warm water in a zip locking sandwich bag.  After this, we headed outside.  You could do this in a sink or the tub if the weather isn't good.

Next it is time to put in the time-release packet and quickly close the bag.  Here I am holding the packet away from the vinegar while Cameron zips the bag closed.

Now, you let your time-release packet drop into the vinegar and give it a violent shake. The bag expands as the gasses try to escape and you end up with a pop and an exploded bag.

We had so much fun doing this experiment.  We did it again and we have plans to do it yet again with a stronger, heavy-duty freezer Ziploc bag and see if we can't get a louder pop.

We found this experiment on Science Explorer  They have a bunch of experiments that we are going to try out.