Archive for November, 2008:
Australia Lapbook
Elijah has been a diligent worker the past two weeks, and I am super-duper proud (and a wee bit worn out).
Big smile! Elijah chose the notebook size; I told him the larger the notebook, the harder he would have to work. He went for the ginormous one! I get these spiral bound books from Bare Books; they are quality and affordable.
These first two pages are lessons that went with The Pumpkin Runner (sheep, Australian sheep farmers, exercise, The Tortoise and the Hare, and vocabulary), a unit from Five in a Row Volume IV.
This is the pop-up book; Elijah wrote the moral of the story- "Slow and steady wins the race."
The next two pages are all about Australia.
Right side- books closed
Right side- books opened
Left Side
I had to use a few paperclips in the spiral to help books stay shut and to keep cards from flying everywhere.
We have a lot of wheels going on in this notebook! Here is our favorite; it shows the opposite seasons (learning about Northern/Southern Hemisphere was one of our co-op lessons).
Continents of the World
Marsupial Pages
Really mom, another picture?
Wheel #2! Remember to print your wheels on cardstock. Also, I’ve found that the mini-brads in the scrapbooking section are much nicer to use than the jumbo brads we used in this lapbook. 
More about Marsupials
Kangaroos!
Lifecycle Accordion
Elijah doesn’t always want to color every little thing, and that’s okay with me. Coloring isn’t the main goal. In fact, a beautiful lapbook isn’t the main goal. I have to remind myself that LEARNING is the main goal; the lapbook is just a byproduct!
This is another accordion. It is only two pieces long and it goes up and down instead of side to side. Mini books can be similar yet very different!
Wheel #3!
Wombats/Tasmanian Devils
This next book is the Tasmanian Devil tri-fold. Tri-folds are great (easy!) books to make. You can use them for three pieces of information (three inside segments) or you can use the extra flap (when you first open the book and have FOUR spaces for information. Elijah insisted on adding a map to this tri-fold, so we pasted it on the extra flap.
Here is the tri-fold completely opened.
One more maruspial! Koala
This is a koala facts matching game I made for Elijah. Yes, we played it. Yes, I lost.
Moving on to Monotremes- Platypus
Books closed (I spy wheel #4!)
Books opened
One more monotreme, Echina
and a bird, Emu
Books closed (Elijah helped design these! He insisted that we put Emu in his book.)
Books opened
Reading List (and a video!)
The Pumpkin Runner by Diane Arnold
What Came from Australia? by Ken Davis
What is a Marsupial? by Bobbie Kalman
Wombat Goes Walkabout by Michael Morpurgo
Australian Animals by Caroline Arnold
Kangaroo by Caroline Arnold
Destination Australia by Jonathan Grupper
The Lifecycle of the Koala by Bobbie Kalman
DK Encyclopedia of Animals
The Crocodile Hunter Wildest Home Videos
Resource List
We used bits and pieces from everywhere this time!
Homeschool Share- Marsupials Lapbook
Homeschool Share- Platypus Lapbook
Homeschool Share- Pumpkin Runner Lapbook
Enchanted Learning- Australian Animal Print-outs, Continent Map, Australia Territories Map
National Geographic Kids Website
Hands of a Child Kangaroo Project Pack (we only used a few minit books from this)
Evan-Moor October Theme Pockets (Koala Game)
Evan-Moor Giant Science Resource (Kangaroo Lifecycle, Common Marsupials)
Draw Write Now #7
Tea-Time ~ Alice in Wonderland Style
I just realized that it has been weeks (months!) since I posted a tea-time post.
Here are a few shots of our Alice in Wonderland Tea-Time complete with "drink me" juice, "eat me" cookies, and Lewis Carroll poetry.
Tea-time has been great for me and my boys. It stops the normal hubub and replaces it with something slower, something meaningful. It is a great relationship-builder and memory-maker.
Happy Tea-Times!
Lapbook Q&A
I received a question about my blog last night via email; I thought I would answer it publicly since others may be wondering the same thing–
Hi, I just stumbled across your site while researching lap books for use with my children. Wow! You have helped your son create some incredible lap books and learning memories. 
A question…approximately how long do you spend on each lapbook/subject?
Thanks for your kind words. :)
When my son was younger (kindergarten), we only spent one week on each lapbook or unit study that we did. We didn’t (and still don’t) lapbook every unit. This year we are extending some of our unit studies (and lapbooks) in to longer studies. My son wants to dig deep!
We don’t do daily subjects– history, science, spelling, grammar, etc. We don’t do a lot of traditional schooly type things. By ditching textbooks, workbooks, and other institutionalized methods, we are free to take full advantage of our time and energy.
Our basic breakdown looks like this
Math (RIghtstart Level B)
Unit Study
Seriously.
This allows us to really concentrate on our unit/lapbook spending 1-2 hours each day reading living books, doing experiments, and creating mini-books.
My son is a voracious reader, so reading instruction has become unneccessary. He does narrations for me of what he is reading. Our handwriting is included within our unit studies.
We do other bits & pieces once/week- Tea Time with poetry, Kinderbach, Nature Study
I try (key word is try) to do a 2-3 minute Artist Study each day. We just finished Van Gogh and are getting ready to start Picasso. I hope to have a post about this soon.
Hope that helps!
Code Names
Elijah is just dying to solve a real life mystery. I’m working on that. Really I am. In the meantime, he is teaching himself a new code language. It’s so cute; I can’t stand it, and it keeps him busy for large blocks of time.
Here are some samples (sorry the pictures aren’t very good), can you read Elijah’s secret code? Hint: most of the words are the same word!
