My ds just got done with his Ahoy, Matey! Lapbook (from In the Hands of a Child). This is quite an accomplishment because with everything we've had going on...it's taken us almost a YEAR to get it done. (Yes, you read that right.) But I think this is the lapbook he's loved the most. He has had it open at least 3 times a day since he finished it. He even showed it to his dad the minute he walked in the door the day we glued all the booklets in. Here are some pictures...
I found the image for the front cover of the lapbook here...but you can also find a .png here. I inserted it into a Word .doc and resized it to fit the page, then added "Ahoy, Matey!" in a "Pirates-of-the-Caribbean"-looking font. I printed it out on off white paper to make it look "aged."
(And I'll admit, this is where I got to enjoy part of making the lapbook...) I burned the edges of the cover page (accidentally dripped wax on a part...which turned out to be very cool...) and took a cotton ball that I sponged on a dark brown stamp pad and rubbed it on the edges (heavy) and lightly on rest of the page (trying to miss the picture and letters b/c I wasn't sure if the moisture from the ink would make the pictures "run"). This made it look "old" and worn. OK..so sue me for having a little fun with my son's lapbook. He didn't mind...he actually likes it and I got some of my creative juices going...AND it is the next best thing to scrapbooking when I haven't had time to pull out all my supplies in well over a year.
I also found some gold buttons which look like gold nuggets in my sewing stash (that I bought well over 15 years ago and never used)...and you KNOW that every pirate needs a little bit of treasure...so with a little cotton yarn/string they became our closures.
Here are a few additional images that we used in addition to the HOAC lapbook...
Pirate Coloring Pages This is where I found the big pirate inside (next to the treasure chest mini-book).
More fun pages that we used but didn't add to our lapbook..
I just uploaded my new Covered Bridges Mini-Lapbook to HomeSchool Treasure Trove (link in the Right sidebar). It is just a fun little project for your kids. Most information to complete the lapbook can be found online (Wikipedia, etc.)
I've just uploaded a new lapbook to my group, Homeschool Treasure Trove. It is a Thanksgiving-themed lapbook for early or non-readers.
It appears a bit on the plain side, but we're going to "decorate" ours with some clipart and images we've found on the internet. You can do what you like with it, but I will give you some ideas of what we did (are doing) to make it a bit more visually interesting. For each letter of the alphabet, I found a picture that describes the word associated with the letter. For example, for "C is for Corn", we pasted a few pictures of corn inside the booklet. (We found some great images of Indian corn.)
I also found a number of Thanksgiving-themed pictures to "dress up" the blank spots on the lapbook (in between mini-books. I'm going to have my ds paste some fall leaves and pumpkins, turkeys and corn sheaves to make it more "fun."
I found our images by doing a google image search based on the word (occasionally adding "pilgrim" or "plymouth" to narrow the results). You may also like to let your child draw pictures of the associated word. This is a great link for Pilgrim coloring pages... http://home.surewest.net/moseley/colorbook/colorindex.html
To download the lapbook, just follow the link in the right sidebar, or click here. Happy Lapbooking!!
I just finished my nemesis...the Rocks & Minerals Lapbook.
OK, maybe it's not my nemesis, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Definitely not for your kindergartener...maybe not for your senior in high school. LOL Just kidding. Up until last week, I didn't realize there was a difference between rocks and minerals. I thought they were the same....which is why I was NOT a geology major in college. You can download the lapbook at the Homeschool Treasure Trove Group. (Click link to join at right if you're not a member already.)
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Since a number of people have asked where to find the answers for some of the booklets, I thought I'd add where I found some of the information to complete the lapbook. I used a number of books and online resources for this lapbook. The Geology Book by John D. Morris and The DK Smithsonian Handbook: Rocks & Minerals were two books I utilized most. For the online resources, go to another of my blog posts to see some great websites about geology. Don't forget to check Wikipedia for biographies of famous geologists. (For younger children, parents/adults may want to skim the Wikipedia entries for important information about these men and relate that to your child. It can get a bit "heavy" for young children.)
I just attended a Lapbook workshop recently (OK...yes, I have created a few and done a number of lapbooks that have been created by others...but I still like seeing and hearing how someone else does lapbooking...AND I'm feeling the need to venture into "uncharted territory" at least in my home..so.....) One of the things I picked up (that I didn't already know) is lapbooking "without a plan." Basically you study a subject, make mini-books along the way, store them all, then when your kids get sick of the subject, put them all into a lapbook. What a novel concept!! And so, now I am off to discover this wonderful world of what I call "Lapbooking Without a Plan"...or "Child-Directed Lapbooking"...boldly going where no one (in my house) has gone before. This should be fun...and possibly freeing to me. I'm obsessive when it comes to making sure that the kids are "prepared" for their schoolwork. I usually end up doing more than they do per subject. I've always worked with a picture of the finished product, or finished a product then fit the booklets into a book. It ought to be fun to see what my kids can come up with on their own....while I sip my Cherry Coke, and read those warm fuzzy homeschool mom encouragement books I've always wanted to read.
This is what I took away from the workshop...
Ziploc bags are great for storing mini-books.
Let you child do their own books. It's their efforts that will help them remember, not yours.
Don't ask the child to redo his/her work if it is "messy." It discourages the child from doing more if they think they're going to have to redo future work. (Ouch...I made my 12yos redo one booklet because he wrote something on it in the wrong direction...I've since apologized to him. )
Choose a topic for a mini-book...THEN choose a type of book that fits the number of "bits of info" that corresponds to what your child comes up with
For example, you're child wants to do a mini-book on the number of days in a month. First, they divide the months into groups, 30-day months, 31-day months, and 28/29-day months. That's 3 groups. You might choose a 3-flap Q&A booklet. Then they remember a poem that you say to teach them the number of days in a month. They would write each of the stanzas on a flap ("Thirty days hath..."). Under the flap they would write the names of all the months that have that many days.
You don't have to cover all the information available...just the information important for your child to know...or the information that they remember...even if it is not ALL the information.
Some other booklets and the "amount" of info they hold
2 bits of info ~ shutter fold, 2-flap Q& A,
3 bits of info ~ tri-fold, 3-flap Q & A
4 bits of info ~ quilt/envelope template, square petal booklet,
Single subjects/bits of info ~ matchbooks
Multi-flap booklets (shutter, tri-fold, Q& A, etc.) can be adapted for as much information as needed.
Shape booklets that are stapled may be used for as many bits of information as needed (although you may not want to make it many Bits of info since you'll have to cut out the intricate shape many times)
Petal booklets - correspond bits of info to number of petals.
etc...
Pockets are useful for items that cannot easily be attached OR booklets or sets of cards (memory work) that you want to remove on a regular basis for review.
When the subject is "done" according to the kids, open your ziploc and start arranging your booklets into a lapbook, being sure to create extensions as necessary.
E xtensions...
Attaching a second file folder to the first
Cutting a file folder in half and using one or both of the pieces to create "flaps" attached at the top and bottom of interior of your folder.
Adding pieces of cardstock attached to your file folder with heavy/durable tape.
I saw a lapbook at the workshop that was a normal "book"-style (opened on the right side rather than a "shutter-fold". Extensions were added to both the "front" and "back" of the inside pages that folded down(vertical) and out (horizontal) from each section that folded down. It was a beautiful book that I kept going back to and "ogleing." If she'd have let me take it home, I would have in a heartbeat.
Wow! How easy can that be?!?! I think I've heard most of what was presented...and probably have been doing most of it without realizing. I'm just a very auditory-visual learner. I need to have someone tell me AND show me at the same time...even if it's just to affirm that what I'm doing is "right." LOL
There are a number of places to find blank templates for mini-books to put into your lapbooks. Here are a few links...
We're off..... [imagine William Tell Overture playing in the background here]
We just started our Prince Caspian lapbook. I have uploaded the mini-books from chapters 1 & 2 to my group (Homeschool Treasure Trove). I also uploaded an "Overview" file which has some mini-books that encompass the whole book (Vocabulary, memory verses, "book report" newspaper minibook ~this one was my favorite so far~). We'll be working on Narnia all week, so hopefully I'll have a few more chapters uploaded throughout the week.
Just to let you know...the booklets are more of a partial unit study INSPIRED by the book, not an actual literature study/book report. I do not have full unit study links and directions. I've pulled a few things from each chapter that I used as a springboard to learn more about science, history, Bible, and hopefully a few other subjects. The Newspaper/book-report booklet and vocabulary are the only things so far that are "story-based." A friend of mine (Heather) is writing a unit study for Prince Caspian...I have not seen what she's written so far, but I know it's in the works. There is also a Narnia Unit study available called Further Up, Furher In that is really good too. It covers all 7 books of the Narnia Series. I have this unit study and my kids have really enjoyed it. Some of the mini-books I have created are similar to the activities in this unit study, but I've been trying to pull my own ideas from the book as well.
So far there are too many mini-books just from the first 2 chapters and overview for me to even have a "pipe dream" that it will fit into a lapbook (file folder), even if you attach 10 of them...which is not practical...so I have started putting them into a "notebook" (you can use cardstock and put it into a 3 ring binder...I bound mine with my ProClick.) I can't wait to get it all done.
If you'd prefer a "book report" or literature/story-based lapbook, Hands of a Child has a Prince Caspian Lapbook available.
Check back here for more updates on this lapbook...
My 7yod and 5yos completed their first lapbooks last week!! I am so excited. I'm not sure they're as excited, but they had fun doing them. You can find the mini-books at Homeschool Helper in the Bible section on the Lapbook Page.
This is the inside of my 5yos's...and, yes, that is Jonah in the fish's belly...
And 2 pics of my 7yod's...Jonah is in the fish's belly here too...
And with some of the booklets open...
That is a map of the Mediterranean area...apparently it started to close up and I didn't notice it when I took the picture, but you can find it HERE.
I drew the big fish that is on the edge of the flap. I forgot to figure out a way to keep it closed before I glued the cover art on...so I drew the fish and glued it inside as an "extender" to put a velcro dot on. Worked pretty well for being a "boo-boo fixer". LOL
I have just uploaded my very first lapbook to my Yahoo group. (See Homeschool Treasure Trove link on menu to right.) I'm actually kind of giddy....well, not really..but it was kind of exciting to see how much "easier" it was to do than I thought it would be. My girls have been working on it today and hopefully they'll get it done in a reasonable amount of time and I can upload the pictures.
Welcome to my blog...Why "gidget"? Well...my husband tried to teach me how to surf before we were married. I was lousy at it, but he called me his "gidget" and the name stuck.
Why "Treasure Trove"? I love sharing about my sweet little "treasures"...and God has blessed me beyond measure....and no, I didn't mean that to rhyme.
He didn't mind...he actually likes it and I got some of my creative juices going...AND it is the next best thing to scrapbooking when I haven't had time to pull out all my supplies in well over a year. 
LOL Just kidding. Up until last week, I didn't realize there was a difference between rocks and minerals. I thought they were the same....which is why I was NOT a geology major in college. You can download the lapbook at the 
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