Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Jane (PlainJane) and I am the blessed and happy wife to Jeff and doubly blessed mama of two perfectly wonderful daughters. Please join me as I share our Lifestyle of Learning through Christian homeschooling and homesteading on our little hobby farm with our prairie girls.
Amber (Bookworm) is our dd15/10th grader.
Our perfectionist and over-achiever. She loves reading, playing violin, all things vintage, riding her Paint horse, and being a farm girl.
Anna (Ladybug)
is our dd12/7th grader.
Our "girls just want to have fun" girl. She loves to play and has a great sense of humor, but also enjoys cooking, music, and riding her QH pony.
Last week we also put together our Colonial America lapbooks that we have been working on. Ladybug & Bookworm each made their own - the photos are of Bookworm's lapbook.
All the material for this lapbook is from the Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers history studies. I just love all the neat things we did in this unit!!! Not only did we do the lapbook, but we also did a notebook and other various crafts and a fun board game that are included. If you want a better idea of all we did, just click on the above link for more pictures and free sample pages too. I do have to say though, this lapbook was on Colonial "life", not necessary on an indebth study of names, places, and dates. So since our girls are a bit older, we did supplement with other books I already had for a little more actual history.
The cover was even fun because tucked under one side of the yellow banner is some velcro to fasten it shut.
All the creative folds made learning very fun.
The clothing of the Colonists was done on several layers of vellum so we could see the layers. I wish I could open all the inserts so you can see everything inside, but that would be a lot of photos. The house styles were pop-up books and the dye chart was 2 pages where we dyed several different fabrics in various types of natural dye as the Colonists would have done - tea, beet, and the like.
Last week we put together two lapbooks that the girls have been working on...
Early America and Colonial America (each daughter made their own lapbooks, so we have 4, I'll just show you Bookworm's lapbooks here).
First, I will show you our Early America Lapbook.
Actually, we first started working on the inserts of this lapbook way back and we hung on to them thinking we would combine the Early America with the Colonial America in one lapbook, but found out we had more than enough to justify two separate lapbooks. Our Early America lapbook covers the Reformation - which really lead to the Separatist and Pilgrims and it covers a little of exploration prior to that. We used a combination of material from the History Pockets, In the Hands of A Child ~ Pilgrims lapbook material, and my own creations.
First we started with exploration, but didn't spend a lot of time on that since; one, it's not my favorite subject :), and two, who really knows who was the first to discover America - you read five different books, and they all say something different. I perfer the good ole days then I was taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America - period. lol
Then we moved on to Native Americans. Just to much to show everything here.
Opps, I didn't open the flaps quite right for you to see all the Native American stuff together, anyways, the back of the far left flap is about Pocahontas, then this shows the one side of the middle top flap on the Mayflower and the right side is on the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving.
On the back of the Mayflower flap we have more about those going to the New World. The center focuses on on the Puritans vs. Separatists and what a Pilgrim is; and the bottom/inside flap tells about the great Reformers and how they lead to the desire for religious freedom.
Lastly, the back of the Reformers flap tells more of the new settlers and what life was like the first couple of years in the New World.
This ended up being a big lapbook (and could have easily done more), using up front and back of four separate flaps plus the file folder flaps. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to get er done. We covered a lot of material from a lot of books - probably spent way too much time on this time in history, but there was just way too much good stuff that we didn't want to miss.
(I'll show our Colonial America Lapbook in the next post)
THANK YOU to all of you who commented on my last post on lapbooking. Some of you that have not yet had the oppoturnity to try lapbooking had a few questions, so I thought I would try to address them here....
1. It sounds complicated! I felt that way to when I first heard of Lapbooking too; but really with the right tools, you too can amaze and astonish your children and friends. :)
Some of my favorite tools are:
Dinah Zike's Big Book of Books (I have this one, it taught me all the folds I used in our lapbook and more).
The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook (on my wish-list)
Tammy teaches Lap Books dvd, by Tammy Duby of Tobin's Lab (I highly recommend this dvd! It will inspire & teach you about lapbooking - well worth the money as you will watch it over & over. Between my lapbook & showing this dvd to our Co-op, our group really got turned on to Lapbooking - so much so that at our last Arts & Academics Fair, I don't think there was a single table without at least one Lapbook. :)
Note: I have a few Lapbook sites you can view on my sidebar and I think I will be adding a special Lapbook section this week. The word "Lapbook" is a trademark from Tammy Duby of Tobin's Lab, the origianl creator of this form of "doing something with what you've learned". You can also find similar projects under various names, like portfolios, sutter books, pocket books, scrap folders, graphic organizers, desktop projects, etc.. Practically anything you find that is for notebooking or scrapbooking, can be adapted for Lapbooking - and visa versa.
2. How long does it take? That depends entirely up to you and what you are doing? With younger children, like with everything else, they will need more help; and depending on the child, if they are a meticulous, perfectionist, they will be slower - whereas others may just hurry through it. You may have to remind the child that they should always do their best work. It does take some mommy prep time to decide what the child will be doing and how you want it to look. Perhaps some pre-cutting or folding or buying of cardstock and embelishments. I do recommend to just do one, or at the very most two Lapbooks at a time - not a Lapbook for every subject. Also, narrow the subject matter so you can reach closure. Perhaps do a Lapbook on Chocolate (not on all food), or a Lapbook on the Revolutionary War (not on "American History"). It is better to do several smaller Lapbooks than one huge Lapbook that never ends. Each project (insert to Lapbook) is done as you go, perhaps taking a half-hour or less. You save up these projects and then at the end of your study (when you are "done" studying chocolate or the American Revolution, etc. - then, and only then, is when you decide where/how you will glue in your projects in the Lapbook. Then is when you take it all out to the garage or yard and use the spray adhesive. Things go very quickly in this stage. But make sure, if you are going to do this and display it for a fair or something, that you get it done in advance so you can air them out from the glue or paint odors.
Each child has their own 2 gallon ziplock bag to store their projects in with their name on the bag.
Cut a little hole in each bag and hang them on a 3M hook high in your classroom closet for safe keeping.
3. Explain the order that it is done. Yes, we are not doing projects for project's sake. This is mostly to aid in retention of learning - to "do something with what you have (already) learnt" - a pillar in the Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach. If you are using a book that has comprehension questions at the end of each chapter or unit, that makes it easy to decide on what to Lapbook about. For example, when we were going through the Astonomy book, we took 4 days to read through a chapter, commenting as we went. Then on the 5th day, at the end of the chapter & week, instead of drilling the girls on the comprehension questions (which hits the highlights of the chapter and gave the answers in the back), I would use them to help me determine what kind of Lapbook project we would do. They had already gone over the material, so this was just reinforcing what they knew. We would then add any vocabulary words from that chapter to the on-going vocabulary book; I would have them copy down what I had written on the white board of facts about, say "Mars", for that week's study for their layered look book. By the way, always have the child do the writing/copy work - they will get more out of it and take more pride in it if they do it themselves - not moms. Also as a side note, use cardstock instead of construction paper. Construction paper fades & tears.
4. Lapbooking may not be for everyone! Anyone can do a Lapbook, but for some, this may not be their highest and best way of retaining information. I recommend that everyone try it, but if your child is one that gets too invovled in getting the project/craft part just right and is clueless on the material inside; or if your child is a strictly "bottom line" kind of person, they may not appreciate Lapbooking to Learn.
Whatever you study, make sure you "do something with what you learn" to help your child retain the material; but it's up to you, your child, and God of course, on how you do that. Figure out your child's learning style and bent and run with it. For they are fearfully and wonderfully made!!!
May God Bless you as you seek His Will in training and teaching your child(ren)!
Since Ladybug is still not feeling great (thankfull the fever is gone) and we have been quite at home all week; and since I didn't think you wanted to see all the ironing I have gotten done, I thought I would show you our first Lapbook.
We had decided to study astronomy for science during the 2005-06 school year and so we chose the very excellent book: Exploring Creation with Astronomy, by Jeannie Fulbright/Apologia. We started strong, read 2 or 3 chapters and did a little review, but for some reason, was interrupted in our studies. When we returned a bit later, I realized not only had the girls forgotten all the great information we had "learned", but so had I. AUGH! So, I decided to start again, but do our first Lapbook with it. This proved to be just the ticket. We/I learnt sooo much and we had a great display for our year-end Arts & Academic Fair at Co-op.
The book has 14 chapters, in which we covered a chapter a week and made our Lapbook projects for each chapter at the end of the corresponding week.
First we spray painted the file folders for the black outerspace. I found some clipart on the web. Each girl got a photo of her face that she taped in their space helmet (this is Bookworm's). We then glued a sting lifeline that wrapped to the back of the Lapbook...
...to the Space Suttle flying over the moon. The book is a mini-copy of our Apologia book.
Here you see it opened up all the way, using 2 file folders and 2 additional pieces of 8.5 x 11 cardstock for flaps. Flaps are tape/hinged on with clear mailing tape. All items are glued in using 3M Spray Adhesive (the best, but messy). Folders were spray painted (not recommeded - they still stink after over a year). Make sure to do all spray adhesiving & painting outside!
Back/Main Page gives vocabulary terms, Bible verses, and a fun thing we learned about "Diamond Rain" that we put in a miniture matchbook fold.
Below flap contained the Categorizing of Stars (Hot/Cold; Bright/Dim; Big/Small) and fun facts about what a black hole is (I though this was sooo neat, but my husband got a little tired of me sharing my new-found knowledge lol). I used the Patch Work Quilt Square fold for the black hole insert.
We did a Layered-Look Book of the planets on the top flap - with a mnemonic phrase to help remember which order the planets come in. Then on the back side of the top flap...
contained facts about Space Rocks using an Envelope Fold.
Right side had the layers of the Earth; the Phases of the Moon; facts about stars; and information about the first man on the moon.
Lastly, this was my brainchild of how to show "revolve" and "rotate" with a few sun facts thrown in. (When we are doing Lapbooks, I often wake up in the middle of the night with such ideas). lol
Much of my inspiration comes from Tobin's Lab (the original Lapbook creators); and the Big Book of Books and Activites by Dinah Zike (available through Tobins Lab or many other suppliers).
We Love Lapbooking! It is such a fun way to retain what we learn and great keepsakes. We are currently working on our "Early American" History Lapbook and will be doing a "Weather" one this coming school year as well. You can Lapbook about ANYTHING!
If you would like to join us on "Show & Tell Friday", we would love to have you. Just post a photo(s) and tell about anything you wish. The only rules are to keep it wholesome; leave a link to Mary (who started Show & Tell Friday) and let Mary know your Show & Tell is up so she can link you back and we might all be able to visit you and comment.
All the creative folds made learning very fun.
The clothing of the Colonists was done on several layers of vellum so we could see the layers. I wish I could open all the inserts so you can see everything inside, but that would be a lot of photos. The house styles were pop-up books and the dye chart was 2 pages where we dyed several different fabrics in various types of natural dye as the Colonists would have done - tea, beet, and the like.
First we started with exploration, but didn't spend a lot of time on that since; one, it's not my favorite subject :), and two, who really knows who was the first to discover America - you read five different books, and they all say something different. I perfer the good ole days then I was taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America - period. lol
Opps, I didn't open the flaps quite right for you to see all the Native American stuff together, anyways, the back of the far left flap is about Pocahontas, then this shows the one side of the middle top flap on the Mayflower and the right side is on the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving.
Lastly, the back of the Reformers flap tells more of the new settlers and what life was like the first couple of years in the New World.
