Fall Lapbook

Last week I shared with you our very first Lapbook for this year about Pumpkins.  At teh end of that post  I promised to share our next lapbook about Fall.

Well, We STILL have not completed our Fall lapbook!  Don't get me wrong, we have been working on it.  We have most (actually everything but one) of the individual books and cards etc. completed.  Nothing is put together in the actual lapbook though.  Such is life.  We will put it together, it's just not happening today!


That doesn't mean I am not going to share our resources though!  I just don't have any nice pictures to go with this post.  To be perfectly honest, I probably will not ever get to posting them either.  Let's face it, it's already time to move on to the next project so this one will be soon forgotten - until my daughter pulls it out to review, but by then "Fall" will be irrelevant. Just being honest!  :)

Anyhow, I will still let you know what things we did for this lapbook.  I'll let you know where I plan to place everything, but I'm sure you can figure out a layout if you choose to do a Fall lapbook with your little ones!

For the front cover I plan to attach a leaf collage we made together.  We live in Florida, so unfortunately,  we don't get to see many Fall colors in the leaves (By the way, I am originally from up North, and Fall is my FAVORITE season, so this is tough for me to deal with!), but we were able to find a few red, brown and yellow leaves.  We took the leaves and pressed them between two sheets of wax paper and ironed.  Pretty neat way to preserve the leaves!


On the inside left flap I will attach a small book about Fall.  For this book I copied a poem by Dianne Waggoner that I found in The Giant Encyclopedia of Theme Activities for Children 2 to 5 on page 146.  I assembled a small book from blank paper and wrote out the poem, one line per page leaving plenty of empty space below each sentence.  Then, I read the poem to Princess and she drew pictures for each page.  It's really cute!


Below the Fall Poem book, I plan to add the Leaf Shape Bingo game that I found in Toss and Learn Games Science pages 15-18.  You're supposed to attach the "call cards" to the sides of a rolling die, but we just mixed them up on the floor face down and played that way. I had my daughter practice some handwriting with this as well.  She had to look at the call cards, find the matches on the game cards, then write the name of the leaf below the picture.  I kept them all as cards so that we could place them into a pocket envelope in the lapbook.


In the center I plan to attach two pages.  One page is a maze (my daughter loves mazes - she's really good at them too!)  that I found at DLTK (♥ this site!!).  I printed out maze #4 in black and white.  Princess solved the maze (in about 20 seconds) and then colored it in.


The second page in the center of our Fall lapbook will be another Draw Write Now activity.  We used Draw Write Now Book 2, page 40.  I really love these books!  I like to use it for copy work in place of repetitive writing of A A A A A (you get the picture!) Plus, Princess loves to draw and this is a great way for her to learn a bit more.


On the right hand flap we will have Leaf matching cards in a pocket envelope.  I printed these from pages 8-10 of a free sample from the "Harvest Festival Project Pack" offered by Hands of a Child.  This is a similar to the Leaf Bingo we did, but oh well.


The lower right flap will have some new words we have learned along with their definitions.  I have laminated these so Princess can use a wipe-off marker to practice writing the words.  The definitions are on the back.  I chose the words mostly from books we read about Fall.


Some of the books we read were:

Why do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro

Let's Look at Fall by Sarah Schuette

I Know it's Autumn by Eileen Spinelli

How do you Know it's Fall? by Alan Fowler

It's Fall! by Linda Glaser

These are just a few of the books we read...there are much more!!

Even though we have not assembled this lapbook yet, we have actually already started our Thanksgiving Lapbook.  There is less than a week to go until Thanksgiving, so I'll be sharing our resources for this soon, but again we won't have it completed for me to show you  :(  Sorry about that!

We may be slow going getting these completed, but we are still enjoying making them!

But that is just one mom's opinion.

Have you made a lapbook about Fall with your kids this year?

Mind sharing with me??

Let me know your thoughts!

Pumpkin Lapbook

Last week I wrote about our new use of lapbooks for homeschooling.  Lapbooks are definitely not a new concept, not even for us.  This is the first time I am using them specifically for homeschooling.

Our first lapbook for this year was all about pumpkins.  My daughter is on a Kindergarten level so tried to find activities appropriate for her level.  Finding items to add to lapbooks can be a lot of work and research, but it is also fun to see all the possibilities.


Here is the lapbook I did with my daughter along with the resources used;

For the front cover, I had Princess write "My Pumpkin Lapbook" on a piece of pumpkin shaped lined paper.  Below her title she wrote her name and date. The pumpkin paper was from here. I printed the page out and Princess wrote  on it, colored it and then cut it out all on her own.

Front Cover

On the inside, we pasted on a pocket envelope to hold small cards that showed the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Princess colored all the stages of the life cycle and them cut them out.

Pumpkin Life Cycle

 She now can remove all the pieces and put them in order while she explains the different stages to me.  We used the sequence cards found here.

 However, there are also some great photos that you can use for this activity as well found here.   I used the black and white drawings mainly because it allowed more interaction through the coloring and cutting.

Below the life cycle pocket we did a simple sizing activity of five pumpkins.  Princess sorted them in order of smallest to largest and then pasted them onto the paper after coloring and cutting them out.

 In the middle of the lapbook,  Princess colored a picture of a pumpkin and practiced some writing from page 5 from this Pumpkin resource set.

There are tons of other pages at this same site for a Pumpkin Lapbook so look through all of them.

Under that page is a maze featuring Clifford found here.

 Below that is the poem "Five Little Pumpkins".  I printed that from page 9 and 10 found here.

As the site suggested, I laminated the page and the pumpkins, cut out the pumpkins and attached Velcro so Princess could remove and count them.

On the right hand side, Princess practiced her handwriting with some copy work and also learned to draw a pumpkin all on her own.  We used pages 34-35 of Draw Write Now book 2. 

Under that is an envelope with a Happy Pumpkin Puzzle.

This is a very simple puzzle for a Kindergartner, but I wanted to include it because it allowed Princess to work on her cutting skills.  She colored in the picture, then I laminated it and she cut out all the pieces.

On the very back, there is a spelling game.  I made a very crude envelope to store all the pieces.  This is Princesses' favorite part of the entire lapbook!  They are cute little pumpkins with pictures of simple CVC words.  The letters are cute little pumpkin seeds too! The printouts for this literacy game can be found here.

Looking back, I should have used cardstock for everything, not just the printouts!  I actually used construction paper for the envelope on the back as well as some of the background pages for hte activities to be glues on.  Through use over the last couple of weeks, these have begun to tear and fall out of the lapbook.  I need to use better quality stuff!!

When doing our lapbook, I actually placed one component of the lapbook into one of our workboxes each day.   So it took Princess about 9 days to complete all the activities.  On the 10th day, we constructed the actual lapbook.  Princess has reviewed this lapbook quite often since it's completion.

To accompany this lapbook we also read a few books about Pumpkins including:

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

and The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons

We are currently working on a Fall lapbook and I will share those resources with you soon!  I think that lapbooks will continue to be a much enjoyed addition to our curriculum!

But that is just one mom's opinion.

Do you use lapbooks with your children?
What are you currently working on?

Let me know your thoughts!

Lapbooks

I am always looking for new ways to make homeschooling fun for my kids.  I had heard, years ago, about lapbooks and had even made one or two, but had actually forgotten about them.  I recently found some things in our homeschool file cabinet from a while back and it renewed my interest.

Now that Princess is on a Kindergarten to First grade level, I think these lapbooks could be much more interesting and useful! So I began researching them all over again.

Not sure what lapbooks are?  Well, lapbooks are a fun, creative way to organize all the details of what you are learning.  You basically make a a bunch of mini books on the topic of your choice and then assemble all of those books into one larger book that is made up of file folders.  This completed book is a great review tool as well.  Children can look through them and remember what they've learned.

Although we do use a curriculum for phonics and math, lapbooks are a great way to reinforce what those lessons are teaching.  Also, since I don't follow a set curriculum for other subjects, this is a great way to integrate Science, Social Studies and Art into our routine.

The best way to really get a good grasp on lapbooks is to see them.  There is a Lapbooking Flickr Group that has an amazing amount of awesome lapbooks to look at.

So far this year, we have only completed one lapbook.  We focused on Pumpkins.  We are beginning a lapbook on Fall now ( I know, a little late) and should have it completed in two weeks or so, depending on my daughter's pace.

As soon as I get my pictures organized, I'll share our Pumpkin lapbooks with you - complete with all the resources I used to put them together.

I'm going to try my best to share all of our lapbooks and the resources so you can try it if you want.

There are lots of great things about lapbooks.

• They can be customized to suit any level since you choose the materials. 
• It's a great way to utilize scarpbooking supplies and skills and get creative.  
• It's an awesome review tool when it's completed.  
• It works great with the Workbox system we are already using
• It allows you to cover multiple subject areas in one place
• It's a great addition to our portfolio, which will have to be evaluated at the end of the year

I very much enjoyed the creation of our pumpkin lapbooks and can't wait to share them with you!  I am excited to get started on our next lapbook about Fall!

But that is just one mom's opinion.

Have you used lapbooks?
What are you currently working on? Have any pictures to share?

Let me know your thoughts!

Factore Tree ~ Customized Math Lessons ~ Get a TWO WEEK FREE TRIAL!

As a first year homeschooling mama, I always looking for resources to assist with my daughter's education.

I am fortunate enough that my daughter actually enjoys math, it's reading that she struggles with - but that's another story!

Even though she enjoys math, I feel there is always room to learn more and improve on her skills.

Factor Tree is an online tool for helping children in preschool to sixth grade supplement their math education.  The curriculum is focused on tailoring lessons to meet the needs of each individual child.  To achieve this, Factor Tree requires your student to take an assessment test.  The results of this test are then analyzed and a custom curriculum is created to target and improve weak areas, while accelerating progress in areas of strength.

Factor Tree is completely new to me and I have not used it before.  However, they are currently offering a FREE two week trial - NO credit card needed!!

Simply go the Factor Tree site and enter code:  "BzzAgent" to receive your two week free trial! 


I will be back to let you know what my daughter and I think! I'm hoping it will be a great addition to our studies!


But that is just one mom's opinion.


Have you tried Factor Tree?
Let me know your thoughts!

I learned about Factor tree through my membership with BzzAgent

Workboxes: Making Them Work For Us!

Previously, I wrote about the homeschool organization system of Workboxes.  I still have not purchased Sue Patrick's book (though I know I probably should), but I have seen the system in place on several different blogs.  I have seen how different families adapt the system to suit their needs, so I decided to alter it for my family as well.

I still do not have the system perfected for us, but I can tell you that I am loving it so far!  I certainly do not use workboxes as they were intended to be used though.  For starters, workboxes are mainly used to encourage independent work for the student, but I use them more for me; to keep me on track and organized.  Maybe next year I will use them as intended, but for this year, I think my daughter needs my direction.

Also, I have not implemented the number strip schedule, nor the removing and turning around of labels etc.  I have simplified the system to work for us....for now.

So here is what I have done.

First of all, the original system calls for 12 boxes per child.  We are only using 6 per child and some days do not even fill all 6.  I numbered the boxes using some "room decorations" I found at the dollar store.  My daughter choose stars for herself and my son chose apples.  I do not remove the numbers every day as the system suggests.  Our numbers stay attached to the boxes.

Another difference in our system is that  I do not use a wire cart to hold our boxes.  Our space is very limited at the moment since we are not currently in our own home.  So, our boxes are actually on top of my son's dresser.

For my daughter, each of the boxes gets filled with the worksheets, manipulatives, supplies etc. for each subject that we plan to complete that day.  We use a rotating schedule throughout the week for our work.  Every day we do phonics, handwriting, math and some sort of craft.  Monday we do science, Tuesday we do social studies, Wednesday we do Bible and Thursday we do art or readiness skills.  Friday's we usually do not do any work at home, but go on a some sort of field trip - usually a trip to the library or to our local theme park where we have passes.  Sometimes our "field trip" day changes if there is a special activity at the library or somewhere else that we want to attend on another day.   If that happens we just switch our days around.

For my son, the boxes are filled with hands-on, mainly Montessori type activities.  He has transferring activities using a spoon or tongs, pouring exercises, sandpaper letters, lacing beads, blocks to stack etc.

I hand my son a new box as soon as he gets bored with the last.  My daughter follows a picture schedule to know what comes next in our day.  As I said, her boxes contain all the items she needs to complete the work for our main subjects, however that is not all we do in a day.

I found some great daily scheduling cards on a blog, Homeschool Creations.    On her blog, Jolanthe has a PDF download of these cards as well as a download of her weekly workbox  grid.  There are some great pictures there that show how she uses the system for her family.

I downloaded, printed and laminated the schedule cards and the weekly workbox grids for our use.  However, unlike Jolanthe, I do not attach cards in advance to each workbox grid for every day of the week, I only set up one at a time the night before.   I also do not require my daughter to flip them over when a task is completed - mainly because I do not have the velcro necessary to do that, but I think I may do that soon.

Each morning I hand my daughter the schedule grid for that day.  When a task is completed from the grid she simply removes the card and places it into an empty workbox.  In this way she still is able to see her workload disappearing as the day progresses.   Here is what our grid looks like:

The way we use the grid and the boxes is what makes our system different from the original.  Where as , I believe, most people will use one of their 12 boxes to hold a card that says " it's time for lunch", I simply put that card on our daily grid.  We use cards on the grid to show snack time, lunch time, exercise time, computer play, etc.  Boxes are reserved for tasks that actually involve supplies that need to be held together to complete the work.  I will show some pictures of what goes into our workboxes next time.

We follow the same basic schedule every day (predictability is important for ADHD kids), but the visual of work disappearing has eliminated the "are we done yet" questions!

This is the way we have made workboxes work for us.  I'm sure the system will be tweaked a few more times, but it's going well so far and I plan to continue with some version of workboxes for quite a while!

But that is just one mom's opinion.

Have you altered the workbox system for your family?
What changes did you make?

Let me know your thoughts!

Workboxes

With this being our first official year of homeschooling, I have been doing tons of research on the best ways to go about teaching my children.  I have always taught my children.  In fact, I began showing my daughter Montessori activities at the age of two.  Back then though, it was just me teaching my child because she wanted to learn.  Now, even though she still wants to learn, I have to be sure she progresses appropriately as she will be tested at the end of the year by the state.

So I have done my best to assess not only my daughter's learning style, but also my teaching style.  I am trying to find the best balance between us to make the experience as fruitful as possible.

I am not sure what personality type I qualify as, but I do recognize some of my strengths and weaknesses.  I am the type of person that needs everything ready and available at my fingertips or I will be setting myself up for failure. This means I need to be organized or I could end up spending hours just staring at the television.  This is not an exaggeration, sadly, it has happened before!  If my day is not scheduled out with meaningful tasks, I will get lost.  The down side of my need for organization, is that when I do prepare things in advance, I can lose myself in the set up!  I can literally spends hours, even weeks, planning and organizing.

Knowing this, I have been using a curriculum that has daily lesson plans for Phonics, Handwriting and Math.  This has worked great.  Mainly because I know we need to do school and it's easy enough to just open up a book and do as it says. Still, even with the lessons set up, I still have to gather materials, find worksheets. manipulatives etc. and I often scramble for those things while I give my daughter busy work.

Unfortunately, I do not want to follow the daily lessons from this curriculum for other subjects and this is where I am falling short.  I prefer to have hands on, creative lessons for things like Science, Bible Studies, Foreign Language etc. 

I have dozens of books piled next to my bed as well as a notebook filled with great ideas for lesson plans.  But they are not organized enough for me to actually use them and I can't seem to find the time to do that. So I end up lugging the huge pile of books over to where we are doing school, then I browse through them blankly and end up doing nothing.

I need a system.  Something that once it is in place, it is easy to change out for new lessons and activities daily.  I need something so that everything I need for a lesson is easily accessible - this includes any worksheets, manipulative etc. Most importantly, I need something that I can adapt for my toddler's use as well.  My son is nearly 22 months old.  He is undoubtedly very smart.  However, he has some speech delays.  Due to his speech delays, I can tell he will not be in the same place at two years old that his big sister was at that age.  This is fine as every child is different, but I still want to be sure that I am taking advantage of this crucial time to implement a love of learning.  So I want to utilize a system that will keep him engaged in something beneficial while I am teaching his big sister.

When discussing these concerns with a friend, she mentioned the use of workboxes.  She had just begun researching them herself, but already loved the concept.  So of course, I began to research them for myself.


Workboxes are an organizational system that can be used in conjunction with any curriculum.  The purpose is to have a successful, structured school day while helping your children gain independent work habits. This system was developed by Sue Patrick, a homeschool mom from North Carolina.  She has a published book that details the system called, Sue Patrick's Workbox System User's Guide 

I have not read the book, but basically from what I've seen from other homeschoolers, the way this works is like this; you use several containers, like plastic shoebox containers for instance. Each box is numbered and filled with a different lesson/activity.  Your child works through the boxes one by one, in order,  until they are all completed.  There are many more details to the system, but as I've said, I have not read through the book!

I can see myself spending hours setting this up initially.  I'm sure I would want my boxes to be cute and then I need to find the perfect spot to place them etc.  However, I think once it is set up, changing out the contents of the boxes will be not as time consuming - I hope!  I'm fully expecting to lose myself in the set-up, but I am also expecting that the day to day change after the initial work will be quick and easy.

As I previously mentioned, I mostly want to use these for my son. I can imagine filling the boxes with lots of hands-on, Montessori type activities for him.

Here are some of things I would like to include for him:

Items to enhance fine motor-skills:  Lacing beads, Lacing Cards, Puzzles, Clothes pin games, Play dough, Transferring activities using tongs, tweezers, spoons etc., Pouting activities using rice, dried beans etc., Sorting games using colored pom-poms, foam blocks etc.

Sensory Activities: Textured blocks, Smelling bottles, Sandpaper letters, etc.

Art projects: Finger Painting, Activities using glue, Stickers, Crayons, Colored Chalk etc.

Literature: Worksheets of Letters to color, Letter magnets, Picture Board Books etc.

Pre-Math Skills: Counting blocks, Big and Little comparisons, Pattern Blocks etc.

I still need to read more about this, find some boxes to use (hopefully I can re-purpose something for this), figure out where I can place them etc.

As for my daughter, she needs my assistance still with lessons -she is not quite ready for independent study.  the ADHD makes it difficult for her to stay on track without my guidance.  Still, I think this would be great for her because she will be able to actually see her day's workload diminishing as the boxes empty. Hopefully that will translate to less frequent, "are we done with school yet" questions!

I hope to be able to update you on my progress in about two weeks.  This is the deadline I have set for myself to get this into daily use.  I am going to need a lot of patience and a lot of persistence, but I think it will be worth it in the end!

But that is just one mom's opinion.

Have you used, or do you currently use, workboxes?
What do you like or dislike about this system? Any tips for getting started?

Let me know your thoughts!