Lapbooks we've done..

Unfortunately, I don't have a homemade pdf for you of all our lapbooks or even a "how-to" like some bloggers have done. (see here) BUT, I will tell you what we have done and some of the specific resources for each topic. I hope to eventually replace our missing digital camera and upload pics for everyone. I started out just wanting an "art" avenue and a place to store all the STUFF that accumulates with school and kids in general. We found legal sized folders for cheap at first, so our folds were different (for #1 and #3) and --the big plus-- they fit on our bookshelf for the kids, which regular lapbooks do not!!

1. Butterflies
There was a free unit study summer '08 that I downloaded from currclick.com. That, plus our regular Sonlight science, this and that found online, AND happening to find caterpillars to "raise" in a friend's garden, made our butterfly study complete.
[I have a bookmark under my "freebies" file for http://www.currclick.com/. I love their freebie selection.]
Homeschool Share--lapbook
Homeschool Helper--lapbook

2. Ancient Egypt
Following along MOH, volume 1, we researched a bit about Ancient history including Egypt, the Jews in Egypt, etc. There is a HUGE selection out there for this subject--here are some sights I gleaned from:
Ancient Egypt for Kids
Homeschool Helper--lapbook
Old Testament Bible Lessons

3. Flowers
We studied the parts of a flower in science and thought it would be an easy one to include the 3yo also. Yep--easy to find preschool lapbooks, not so easy to find for the 1st and 2nd graders.
Most of what we did we made up from various worksheets and free printables. They made flowers out of the letter F (green with sequins arranged for the petals)
Although I don't have all the pdfs in one file, you can search for your own, start with this or contact me for some of my files...
http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/Lapbooks.html

4. Fire Safety
I did practically no searching for these resources. It was a topic at our library's storytime and we came home with coloring and activity handouts that turned into a lapbook for my 6yo boy. We used letter and number stickers on the cover and learned about when to call 9-1-1. That was just a week he needed more stuff to do and actually WANTED to cut, color, and glue.
Letter "F" pages

5. Animal Classification


This study came after going through Usborne First Encyclopedia of Animals in our Sonlight Science 1. The lapbook came almost completely from HomeschoolShare. Basically, the kids just needed to cut and paste while learning.
I also got info from PBS-Animal Classes and Missouri Botanical Garden.
This was an incredible resource also.
I hope to do these animals for the 3yo and 19month old sometime soon--you know--whenever I get around to it and have the paper and ink! LOL


The best thing I've done and know I'll continue to do is to make a master notebook. I make 1 extra copy of anything we use, 3hole punch it and put it into a binder with dividers. I have one binder for our history, including all the worksheets, printables, lessons, etc. that I find to go along with MOH, V1. (We're only doing a quarter per semester).....this includes the Ancient Egypt Lapbook and another binder for all other lapbooks. If we do unit studies or notebooks, I'll make another master binder for those.
WHY a Master Notebook?!?!?!
Because I have MORE kids and many more years of school to teach. We will study all these things again and I have a start for what we'll do, at least for the younger set of kids.

Now--HOW I have organized on my computer...........
In my documents I have a folder for homeschool and a subfolder for lapbooks. When I decide to look for a certain subject to lapbook, I make another subfolder and name it. Then I search--just google what I want. When I find stuff I like, I "save target as" directly into that folder {I prefer pdf files, but if they aren't, then I create a Word doc and save a list of sites on that subject}. THEN when it comes time to DO the lapbook, I open that folder and look through everything to see what I want, then print it in duplicate (or triplicate if it's for 2 kids) and file it (or set it on my desk as a "to do" project--haha--I mean, let's be real!).

I'm a-learnin' and I hope this helps someone, even me being the newbie that I am
After all, it's JUST ME!