24. March 2009 by Shannon.

When it’s been a while since I’ve posted a real “how-to” notebook/lapbook post… but I was just so inspired by a “nothing” thing that my friend had lying around on her kitchen table.  I SNATCHED it up as fast as I could and BEGGED her to show me how she did it… and now I’m gonna show you!  (Yes, I asked her permission to share it, she laughed at me and said, “of course”.. the poor girl didn’t even know what she had sitting in front of her.. so simple, yet so brilliant! LOL!).  SO.. here, my dear Readers, is ONE MORE WAY to include those unit notebook pages into your lapbooks:

(in steps)

STEP ONE:  Take a LEGAL sized folder (it has to be LEGAL… I don’t do illegal around here.. *wink*)

 STEP 2:  Open the folder.

 STEP 3:  Fold up the bottom quarter till the side edges meet (see next picture before pressing that fold down!)

 MAKE SURE THE BOTTOM EDGE MATCHES THE ‘CURVE’ OF THE LABEL SECTION!  This is critical, and it also makes it much easier to have this little “guide” for your fold:

 STEP 4:  Resume normal lapbook folding - fold both flaps in to the middle seam.

 STEP 5:  Voilà!  A Notepack pocket to put those little notebook pages in.  NOW… before I get “comments” that the pages will just fall out, you can ALWAYS slip a little paper clip at the top of the folder to hold the tops of the pages in.  You can also stick all your minit books around it, behind it, on the flip up bottom, same as usual.  AND if you cut off a mere 3/4 inch off a letter-sized folder, it’ll stick side edge to side edge just right and you have yourself a double lapbook with notepack on one side.  PERFECT!

So there you have it… Enjoy!

OH… and if your fingers are just itchin’ to do a lapbook now, head on over to Currclick and check out this week’s FREEBIE!  Hands of a Child has been gracious enough to offer up their fantastic Amelia Earheart Project Pack as this week’s free download!  Don’t miss out, download it today (it’ll be changed to a new freebie on the 30th of March!).  Also, while you are there, be sure to sign up for the Currclick newsletter which keeps you up to date on the latest freebie being offered!

Blessings!

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, General Homeschool | Print | 1 Comment »

8. October 2008 by Shannon.

I was visiting my friend, Lia, the other day and of course, whenever homeschool moms get together there is the eventual, “So, how do YOU do it?”… of course I asked.  You see, my friend Lia has 9 children, all homeschooled from the start… she has graduated 2 or maybe 3 of them already into Post Secondary and right now one of them is actively pursueing a job as a fire-fighter!!!  (Personally, I don’t need any more white hairs, thank you very much!)

Okay, back to “how she does it”.  Well, the way she homeschools isn’t really what I want to write about… I want to just share one little nugget of gold that she practices that jumped out at me and I immediately had to go home and implement… and my kids are THRILLED!

Lia makes a binder full of pageprotectors (nothing special yet, eh?  hang on to your hats… there’s more!) and then she FILLS said page protectors with several copies of different layouts of templated notebooking pages.  There are so many amazing Homeschool Moms out there who have designed incredible notebooking pages; with spaces for pictures, maps, timelines even!  And of course… a written narration (summary) of that days/subjects lesson. 

So, her children do their school reading/research, then go over to the Master Binder, flip through and choose something that appeals to them that day, slips a page out of the page protector and go back and do their notebook page.  When finished they slip it into the last place in their own personal notebooks and have added to their “Personal History Book”.  It’s so simple an idea.  When they take out the last sheet, they inform Mom who then looks at the sheet they printed out, goes to the computer, prints out more copies of that particular sheet (and believe it or not, it’ll surprise you which ones your kids will “click” with!) and plops them back into the empty page protector … ready for the next lessons!

Now, as you all know, I’m all about the pictures, so here is a picture of a few pages from MY notebook page binder… and a picture of a page Kenzi did today on Madeleine de Verchères:

 So, my thought for today is….

THANK YOU LIA! :o)

 Blessings!

OH!  PS, here is my “creepy crawly of the month”… I found him crawling up my study window—>

 And here is my other little friend who is OBVIOUSLY not doing his job!

Sweet Dreams! *grin*

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

16. April 2008 by Shannon.

<pasted from a post I made in Lapbooking7up at Yahoogroups on why I love lapbooks so much> 

I love webdesign… and when I heard of lapbooks, gosh, 10 years ago… I totally “got it” because it was like a website. You “click” (life the flap) on thigns to get further information... like when y ou click a link on a website to learn more… it just seemed so intuitive… and prepatory for internet technology (really!). My kids totally “got” the net at a very young age, even down to how we don’t click just anything, because when the “flap is closed” we don’t know what’s behind it… so we are particular about what we “open”…. it was a natural connection for my kids… (not that we put scary things in our lapbooks.. grin!

I was thinking, after doing lapbooks, when thety feel like they are “outgrowing”the cutting and pasting stage (some do)… they could move on to learning html… maybe creating a “virtual” lapbook on their area of study…

<end of pasting>

<new pasting from same group>

… all you’d need to do is get them to put up a webpage, then add a little javascrip that would allow for small popup windows when people clicked on certain areas of the page… like on a picture or whatever, but instead of getting a whole new page (unless it was for a lot of information), thye’d get a “ballloon” popup, which has a small X to close it, and the main page is not lost…

<end of pasting>

I also have to add a little idea here that a new friend of mine, BJ (who can’t remember just yet where she got the idea from so I’ll add that info later or she can add it as a comment if she remembers, *wink*) did with a lapbook on Spain.  Here’s how she did it:

“Another way to make a fabric flag lapbook style: We used the lapbook flag of Spain which some nice person posted (on other site?) but he wanted his flag to be of fabric. What he did instead was cover the lapbook flag with 2 layers of a used dryer anti-static fleece sheet, traced over the flag & then coloured it with felt pen - sure did look like fabric to some people ”

OH!  And we came up with a good name for those Lapbooks IN Notebooks idea… we’re officially (with the help of my Lapbooking7up friends) calling them NotePacks.  *grin* … and to take it one step further (here I go spiralling inwards again, I’m definately part Fractal!)… notebook pages IN said NotePacks would of course be called LapNotes.   Alright, alright… I’ll stop being so silly! LOL!

I’m bubbling over with ideas for this now… expect more soon, now it’s a matter of making a mock up of each idea and taking pictures to put on here… I hope you are all liking these ideas as much as I am.  I’m all inspired now!

Blessings!

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

10. April 2008 by Shannon.

HAPPY SPRING!

(okay, I know that was technically last month, but up here in Canada we’re FINALLY seeing signs of spring - LOTS of MUCK!) 

Previously I posted a way to use duct tape to put lapbooks into your notebooks… but sometimes there are lapbook specific pages you’d like to include IN your lapbook (which is now IN your notebook… we’re spiralling inward now! *grin*).  I took pictures too..

As you can see, I’ve used brads to hold the notebook closed. It is secure and doesn’t slip open at all because it’s wrapped across twice. It also looks pretty *grin*  I would suggest (if you are going to add this to a notebook, though, that you put duct tape BEFORE you add the brads, as if you put it on after, then the brads will be rendered useless for helping keep the lapbook closed.  You might need to use a sharp edge to make “guides” for the brads to get through the duct tape too… that stuff is tough!). 

Opening up…

As you can see the page protector doesn’t pass the right side of the back of the lapbook, so it doesn’t interfere with closing the lapbook.

As you can see, the brads on the front cover become “duotang” type fasteners on the inside left cover which holds the edge of clear page protectors… as many as you see fit to add (obviously there is a limit or your lapbook won’t close easily - but still, it does let you add those special “unit related” pages to a lapbook - you can probably add about 10 or so, which gives you - double sided - 20 notebook pages to add to your lapbook).BTW, I used a “fake” lapbook to demonstrate, so no, this is not one of our real lapbooks - I just wanted to demonstrate my idea - but we will be adding pages this way in out next lapbook project “Art Appreciation” by Hands of a Child - this will be our very first HOAC Co-Op!  I’m so excited!  When we are done, we will be sure to post pictures!!

I hope you like my idea! Let me know how you find it works in YOUR homeschool!

Blessings!

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, General Homeschool | Print | 1 Comment »

19. March 2008 by Shannon.

I knew there had to be a way to bring Duct Tape into homeschooling! LOL!

My daughter loves to do “lapbooks” or “portfolders” or “lappacks”… basically a file folder refolded to make a portable viewing station housing a collection of little homemade folded booklets. It’s a great way to teach children to organize their thoughts… and we’ve been using it for years. THIS year however we decided to head in the direction of notebooking (keeping a binder full of page protectors in which we keep all our work each day)… now… Kenzi still wanted to do lapbooks… but how to put them into the binder to keep all her work together? Hmmmm…. Mom had to think about this a little.

Then it came to me! DUCT TAPE. Of course we all know that DUCT TAPE is the answer to all Life’s Questions… in fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find a striking resemblance between God and Red Green when the DAY comes…. (jk)

SO, I thought I would include some pictures, so you have an idea of what I’m talking about.

First, take an ordinary folder and refold it to make your project pack…

Second, measure a piece of duct tape just slightly smaller than the long folded edge of your folder.

Third, stick a (roughly) 1/4 inch section onto the folder. I do this while hanging the edge of the folder off the edge of the counter so the duct tape doesn’t stick to anything else (like my counter! LOL!)

Then flip the folder over carefully and folding carefully, stick the duct tape to the folder abotu 1/4 inch again to the other side, leaving about a 1/2 inch “tag” along the edge.

Be careful to stick it down straight, or you’ll end up with ridges and lumps in your duct tape!

Now… if you have a great three hole punch, go ahead and punch this like it is… I do not. And because it is tempermental, I decided the safest route was to go with my one hole punch and a piece of loose leaf to guide me.

Once the holes are punched… there you go! Slip it into your binder and move onto your next project!

Personally, I think this would be a neat thing to do to a bunch of folders in one session… it’s kinda sticky work, might as well get it over at once… so either hang on to the folders and insert them later, OR, you could make a bunch of folder packs up at once and duct tape them and THEN use them…. because the duct tape is so durable it won’t matter if it’s being handled.

Some examples of our lapbooks…. some of these are double (two folders attached together by one of the shorter edges… holds more mini books that way!

We love lapbooking! :o)  (okay, so these are just the outside covers…but honest, there are mini books inside… and maybe someday I might even get around to photographing them!  …. but then, that is what the notebook is for, isnt’t it?

Enjoy and I hope this has helped someone!

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, Kenzi, General Homeschool | Print | 14 Comments »