Harbor Light Academy

• Feb. 4, 2008 - Groundhog Day

We studied about Groundhog Day for the first time. At library time last week our librarian read us several books about Groundhog Day. Then we checked out a few more. I found that I had the Hands of A Child's old Research Pack for Groundhog Day. (note This has been updated as a Project Pack.) Since we had already done a lot of reading and I as hoping to create a fast project the research pack worked out for us this time. Hannah and Joshua finished up their projects today so here they are with their lapbooks. I also created a scrapbook page of Hannah checking the Groundhog's shadow. Follow the link to my Scrapbook Blog (see links on right side) for a look at my page.

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• Jul. 17, 2007 - The Iditarod

Posted in Lapbooking

Caleb decided this year to follow the Iditarod this year after having had a chance to ride a dog sled in Norway. He used HOAC's lapbook to record his experience. He chose to follow the trail of Robert Sorlie one of the Norwegian mushers. He placed in the top 15th. Caleb learned a lot and it was exciting to follow one racer through the race.

To embellish his lapbook he used a piece of paw print scrapbook paper and little dog print brads to hold his books together. He also made a book on Team Norway and created a title for that one as well.

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• Jul. 17, 2007 - Christmas Cheer

Posted in Lapbooking

Okay this should have been entered a long time ago but like I said I'm still catching up on pictures and entries. Joshua and Hannah completed the HOAC - Christmas Cheer lapbook. Each put their own unique spin on it. That is one of the things I just love about using lapbooks. Even when they are completed at the same time each person's is their own special project.

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• Jul. 17, 2007 - Katy and the Big Snow

Posted in Lapbooking

One of the first lapbooks we completed this year in preparation for our trip to Norway was Katy and the Big Snow from Hands of A Child. Even the boys enjoyed working on this lapbook and listening to the Katy book each day. Since none of us had ever seen snow before these seemed like a great book to start out with. Hayden and I did not complete our own books but assisted Josh and Hannah when they needed it.

As you can see Hannah is very proud of her work.

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• Jul. 17, 2007 - Roald Amundsen

Posted in Lapbooking

As it tied in with both Norway and Polar Habitats the boys completed many of the activities on Roald Amundsen lapbook from Hands of A Child. We didn't complete all the activities as it was time to leave for our trip and we just didn't seem to want to finish it up when we returned. I also started this lapbook too but I plan to finish mine and also complete the book on Scott as well. When I complete both of mine I will post my pictures.
Here is Hayden holding his book and the inside of his book.

Here is shot of Caleb holding his lapbook

I really found this study very interesting and is part of the reason I would like to finish. During the time we completed these books we also got to see the special on History Channel where they were recreating the race to pole. What was interesting was that they had to hold the event in Greenland because animals are no longer welcome on Antarctica.

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• Jul. 17, 2007 - Polar Habitats

Posted in Lapbooking

To prepare for our trip to Norway I order a custom lapbook on Polar Habitats. It also worked out that Hands of A Child offered this as one of their co-op units. So we were able to complete this lapbook with other families online. Hayden, Caleb and I each completed our own lapbooks. We learned both about the Arctic where we were headed and the Antarctic areas. Even though the younger two didn't actually complete their own lapbooks they did listen in on some of the discussions. And when we visited the aquarium in Bergen, Norway as soon as Hannah saw the penguin she pointed out that he was an Anarctic animal not an artic one.

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• Jul. 17, 2007 - Norway Lapbooks

Posted in Lapbooking

We used the Live and Learn Study a Country to do a lapbook on Norway to prepare for our trip. I helped Hannah with hers quite a bit but I she still enjoyed helping. They really helped us to prepare for our trip. We did not all complete all the little books for our folders so we didn't follow the layout that came with the download. We just placed the books where they worked the best.

And we had a wonderful to trip to Norway as well. All of us enjoyed our first taste of snow. Hannah especially didn't want to come home.

Hannah shows off her book

Joshua (as you can see each person's finished product came out unique.

Caleb

Hayden

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• Dec. 7, 2006 - Learning about Vikings

Posted in Lapbooking

Caleb, Hayden, and I just finished up our two week study of Vikings. We learned a lot of interesting information. We used Hands of A Child’s Viking Project Pack. We haven’t yet completed the Our Saga book because we intend to add our story to Norway as our saga. Each of us put our lapbooks together in our own ways and its interesting to see how everyone’s is unique even though we were using the same materials. I enjoyed this one right along with the boys. We will read a little more Viking information tomorrow and then start our next project on Monday.

Caleb and his lapbook. Caleb added two flap extensions so there is more under each middle section.

Hayden shows off his lapbook. He has one flap extension in the first folder.

Okay I decided to be brave and actually add the pictures of my lapbook. The first is my cover and the second is me holding my lapbook.

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• Nov. 28, 2006 - Getting Ready For the Farm

Posted in Lapbooking

Joshua and Hannah completed their lapbooks today on Farm Animals. The only items left undone are the Did You Know Trivia books. We have put them into the folders but left them blank. Joshua thought we could include new facts we learn on our field trip. This lapbook unit is from Live and Learn Press. We added two flip up extensions so we would have room to include pictures from our field trip. Also in addition to the books provided both children added the webpage of their field trip destination.
All four children were inspired to help provide farm animals for others through Heifer.org. Joshua bought a flock of chicks and included the fact sheet in his lapbook. Hannah bought a flock of duck and her big brothers each bought a share on a sheep. She included her information sheet and her boys information sheet in her lapbook.

Joshua also included a really cute email we got in response to our favorite farm animal survey. Here is a shot of one of Joshua's pages. Including the field trip webpage.

Joshua also illustrated his animal sayings. Here is his illustration for pearls before swine.

They had a lot of fun working on their books and I was impressed with how much they covered. One of the funny side notes was that Joshua only wanted to draw illustrations for every book and yet Hannah ask to spell words for many of hers.

I used clip out photos for the vocabulary and I think that worked out really well for both children. I printed several so they could choose different pictures for the words if they chose to. This is from Hannah's book.

For more shots of our lapbook follow the link for our slideshow.
Slideshow

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• Nov. 7, 2006 - Lapbook Fun

Posted in Lapbooking

Well we’ve been busy with our lapbooks for the last few weeks. The 3 youngest just completed their first full lapbook and we really had a lot of fun. We have completed Katy’s Big Snow from Hands of a Child. I got it primarily for my youngest but the boys had fun with them too. The boys especially enjoyed designing their own heavy equipment. It was funny to see what they came up with for what to do when you get snowed in since they’ve never even seen snow. (Of course I’ve seen it either.) The HOAC lapbook was so easy to use. I just printed it, cut it, and we were ready to go. We read Katy and the Big Snow each day as we worked on the unit.

Now the boys are working on HOAC’s Polar Habitats. We have been reading from books we found at the library but what is so nice with the project packs is that they have general information so it helps me make sure we’ve covered the information that will be covered in the books and fill in any gaps in what we’ve been reading. We’ve spent a week reading through the library material and will start writing in our books Thursday. I plan to make one along with the boys this time. One of the activities is a short report on a polar animal so each of them is picking a different animal. The oldest two have been having lots of fun doing their research. I can’t wait to see the finished project.