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Lapbooking Resources

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Doing a quick round up of lapbooking resources, I am hoping you can use this list as a springboard to creating a lapbook that your children may be hankering to do.

You know sometimes it’s hard to find a lapbook that fits exactly on the topic your child is interested in doing.

At times, I just turn to my lists that I have bookmarked so that we can put one together even if that means using part of something we make and resources pulled from other places.

Lapbook resources to build your own lapbook

Here is a collection of things I like and have bookmarked and use at times.  Most are free and then I list some at the bottom that I have in my library, but they all give you a starting place.

  • Free General Clip art

Clicker.
WPClipart.
David Dailey Public Domain.
Karen’s Whimsey.
Old Book Art.

Wikimedia Commons.
Pics 4 Learning.
All Free Clip art.
Free Graphics.
Free Clip Art.

Photos sorted by color at Unprofound.  (cool uh?)

  • Clip art History and Science

USGS has thousands of free science images.
LIFE images 1860s to 1970s.
Science to History and other topics.
DK Images. All subjects.
U.S. History Images/Native Americans/Explorers.

Phillip Martin Clip art.
The famous Kings & Queens of England.
Visual dictionary.
Free Water Educational Posters that easily be adapted for a lapbook.
Printable diorama.

Free paper models of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World.

  • Free templates.

Then of course Homeschool Share has a large selection.But be sure to  check out their generic free templates that you can use for any topic.

Learn from the pop up pro, Robert Sabuda and make a cool pop up book.  You have to check out his 3D dimensional books too.

I used some of these books when teaching language arts to the boys.

Plus the books get the creative juices flowing for ideas for any language arts lapbook.  Guess what? I still have our pop up books.

It doesn’t matter what age you are, you can get lost in the beautiful intricate paper pop up books by Robert Sabuda especially when you start folding and moving the parts. These books are part of my “keeper” collection for our homeschool.

  •  Geography resources

Colouring Book of Flags.
Paper dolls around the world.
Free Maps at Worksheet Works.
Free Printable World Maps.

Mega Maps. Cool – Print maps one 1 page to 7 FEET across.

I hope this is a quick shot in the arm when you are trying to create a lapbook that is unique for your children.  I plan to add to this list and update it as I locate my resources on different bookmarks.

Hugs and love ya,

Also check out these other posts:

Free 27 Week American History Study through Lapbooking In Chronological Order.

Beware of the 3 C’s of Lapbooking

What is a Lapbook? Video

Homeschool Co-op Tracking Form–7 Step DIY Homeschool Planner

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Back when I did my 5 day series of a homeschooling co-op convert, I had written down some ideas for a homeschool co-op tracking form I wanted to create.  It joined my ever growing list of forms to create “soon”.

I have to admit to you that I don’t know why I am so hard on myself when it comes to crafting my forms, but I am.  I linger over every font, every color, every layout, every space, every font, every color, okay—you get the idea.  Sometimes I fuss so much over it that it can be stifling to get started on them because I have all the details whirling around in my head and want them to look just perfect so on paper.

Homeschool Co-op Tracking Form

Too, I always want my forms to cover a multiple range of possibilities and this form is no different.  When attending our homeschool co-op, I mull over many scenarios and details and then finally put it all down on paper.

Homeschool Co-op Tracking Form

It gets harder for me to decide which form to fuss over create first and focus on because I want them all right now.  So when I hear from you (like Haley who emailed me) and needed one now, I just love moving one form like the homeschool co-op tracking form to the top of the list when I can.  I am so excited today to show you the first form for using in your homeschool co-op.

Because a form can either plan or track, there is a difference you know, I have created the tracking form first because I think that a majority of you can use it this next year.

This is a tracking form which means you are recording or tracking what your children have covered or will be doing in a co-op.  Noting what they have learned, what they need to bring to the next class and generally putting down any details that you may want to remember would go on this form.  A planning form is totally different from this tracking form because that is something a homeschool co-op leader would use to plan for a co-op.

Look below at my picture as I explain the many uses of this one tracking form and about each section in a little more detail.

Homeschool Co-op Tracking Form

About the time period section.  Instead of using “July to June” which I use for most of my year round forms, I left the time period blank because homeschool co-op are all very different as to when they begin and end.

Your children may attend a co-op once a week, once a month or multiple times a week.  The time period “From____ to ____” is much more flexible and allows you to track the time period by months, semesters or weeks.

The page also has 8 boxes or sections on it which is enough either for a 7 day week or for about 2 months if attendance is monthly.

About 8 sections for the 7 day week.  Some homeschool co-op activities flow into the weekend even if your child attends only 5 days a week.  Especially at the high school level or when you are in a state or country where you need to track all the activities your children are doing, the 8 sections allows a place to jot down what they have covered during the 5 day week and as they do activities that flow into the 2 day weekend.

If you need to track actual hours, the box is big enough to pencil the time in too.  I am still on the fence about adding a box within the notes section for actual hours, but I know not everybody tracks that exacting.  Again, it’s big enough though if you do need to track that way.

About 8 sections for monthly co-ops.  Our co-op met monthly so I would use one sections to track each monthly meet up.  So one page would be enough for me to get about 2 months on it.

About Name{s} section.  I even left the name section very vague instead of putting “Student’s Name” on that part.  If all of your children attend the co-op, you may want to put their names in that box or in my case, our co-op had a name so I would put the co-op name in that area.  There was a time when we were attending parts of two co-ops also.  So I would have two forms going in my planner for that scenario, with the name of the co-op on each one.

Too, you can use one form per child and put each child’s name in that section and this is especially helpful if you have a teen in high school.  It allows you a way to track just his or her activities when you need a bit more record keeping for a young adult.  Sometimes each child is going to a different co-op and you may need one form per child.  Too, it may just be your preference that each child has his own form.

Like all my forms, you decide which forms to print and how many instead of me deciding for you by throwing one huge curriculum planner at one which is never my style.

About the date/s section.  As you can see from the sample above, it also is very flexible allowing you to fill it in and check each day for the week or just use it for one time a week.

All of these scenarios I keep in my head and too I only make forms to share with you of things I would love using.  So though it may take me a bit longer to construct each one, I am happier when I take time to stress over mind the details.

I am so over the top excited with the newest form and hope you like it too.  I hope the hardest part for you will be deciding how many to print.

When do you bind your planner?  I know some of you get anxious excited and bind it early, but I always do mine in late June because it gives me time to think about exactly what I want in my planner for the year.

Grab the  Homeschool Co-op Tracking Form Here.

{Thank you so much for sharing my hashtag #7stephomeschoolplanner when sharing about my planner on social media.}

Hugs and love ya,

 

Did you miss any of my other forms?

Ocean Unit Study Language Arts: Message in a Bottle

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am pulling out all the stops today or is that corks? Ha ha corny I know.  But I have set aside a few things for Tiny in doing our ocean unit study for language arts and one of them is preparing a message in a bottle.

Ocean Unit Study Message In a Bottle Language Arts
Ocean Unit Study Message in a Bottle 1

Too, I want to be sure I use up some of the “treasures” I keep in what I call my “Mary Poppins Bag”.  They are usually games, fun hands-on items, books or some other manipulative that I buy or collect, keep in my “reserve” or stash and don’t let the boys know about.  Then I bring them out to add a twist to our day, ramp up a lesson plan or to use with a unit study.

In this case, I wanted to give Tiny a writing assignment outside of the box and well inside the bottle and I can’t think of anything more fun than writing a message in a bottle.  So we used this message in a bottle kit I had purchased.

Ocean Unit Study Message in a Bottle 2

I probably could have found a bottle around here, made some cool map and writing page, but I had this nifty little purchase already in my house.  Keeping hands-on activities easy for me him, why not use up what I have already.

Since my house is emptying out nicely, craft items are getting harder to find too.  But I knew that and I planned ahead a bit by stocking up my “Mary Poppins Bag”.

Ocean Unit Study Message in a bottle 3

Actually this kit had a cool ocean current map so he can predict where his bottle may go.  He made some predictions from where we will be dropping it off.  It also came with a box or container so he can store his bottle in the container until we get ready to fly out of here.

Since we will be flying out of Florida when we move, we can drop it in the ocean there. That’s the plan anyway.

I can tell you this morning he is not having any trouble composing his first draft.  Ideas are overflowing.  Give kids a purpose to write, include a few hands-on items and they’ll be inspired to communicate.

Hugs and love ya,

Also See: Oceans Unit Study

How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If asked about 15 years ago if I would still be using the same history curriculum today that I started off with undoubtedly I would have answered yes.  Laughable uh?  Truth of it is, I had no idea what a history spine was {it sounded kind of painful to be honest} let alone how to use a history spine to build my study of history.

Having a passion for keeping history an action packed story in my home, I have used many history spines and am excited about giving you a comparison between them coming up in some summer posts. 

{Heads Up: I plan to blog as long as I can before I have to stop to move.  Realizing that moving overseas may interrupt my summer, I will share my posts about comparing history spines at my first opportunity.  I’m giving you the heads up now.}

How to Use History Spine To Build Your Study Of History

What I want to focus on today is to explain what is a history spine and how to use one to create a study for your homeschool

.Too, I want to share a few resources that I use and are timeless spanning any number of years that you homeschool.

What is a history spine? 

A simple definition would be that it would be an outline of a topic. 

The flexible thing about any type of outline is that it can be comprehensive with very specific details and cover a broad scope. 

On the other hand, they also can be very narrow with limited details and more in line like a scope and sequence. 

Beyond being an outline about history, a spine can be about any event in history or even about a person. 

Other than that, you have a whole host of options to choose from.

Look at my list of what a history spine can be:

  • History curriculum {an easy one}
  • Living Book
  • Biography
  • A primary resource
  • Textbook {you know not my favorite, but sometimes you need laid out}
  • Reference book
  • A unit study either providing just information or one laid out day by day
  • A history movie
  • Magazines

Right away you can see that some resources will be easier to use than others.  Something like The Story of the World which has a very helpful question and answer format along with activities makes learning about history fun. 

  Whereas something like a history magazine will only have information presented and then you have to decide how to divide that up into manageable teaching lessons each day.

One of my very favorite resources to use over the years by far other than reference books has been a  Guide to History Plus.

History Spine 1

I put a picture here above so that you can see some of the information it contains.  Though it has not been updated in a while, the references to the topics are timeless. 

For example, under American History: Westward Expansion 1750-1860 it gives ideas for artists, authors, expansion, frontiersmen, immigration, inventors, preachers and unorthodox religious movements. 

Ideas and topics for studying about a time period do not go out of date. You can see that Guides to History Plus is more like an outline than it is laying out each lesson day by day.

Then there is much more to consider too.  Some history curriculum like The Story of the World is light on Bible content. 

Some may see that as a negative because they may want Bible history folded in for them as they go along.  For others, it is a positive because they prefer to tie in their own Bible resources. 

Just me personally, I always preferred to tie in my own Bible studies and pick/choose which activities I wanted to study deeper on too instead of having it done for me.  So, I enjoyed The Story of the World when the boys were little.

Then at the very tip top of the list for history spines when using living books and ones we have read over again and still keep are all the books by Genevieve Foster.



Having history come alive through a story, Genevieve Foster folds in other key events and key characters about a time period. 

Fleshing out your history curriculum to study about those other topics makes history like the story it is and not a dry presentation of events.

History Spine Selections

Some years, I have used only reference books like The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, 3rd edition which was just updated in 2012.  I have the previous version and it is just fine too.

  Below is the picture for the newer version.

Too, when looking for reference books after you have added a general reference book about world history like The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, 3rd edition or even the The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History, then there are an abundance of other wonderful helps that help you to hone in on certain time periods too.

For Mr. Senior 2013 to feed his love of history and because I needed something about the history of Britain, I found a wonderful help by DK called History of Britain & Ireland that honed in on the different eras.

Some simple tips to building your own study of history is to think about these things,

  • How much hand holding do I want? Do I want my lesson plans laid out daily or do I want more of a scope and sequence?
  • Is it a must to cover Bible history?  If it is then the next question is do I want Bible history laid out in my curriculum or do I want to lay out my own Bible study course?
  • Do I feel comfortable adding in my hands-on activities or do I need some presented? Do my kids even care about hands on activities?
  • Does the history spine cover multiple ages of children?  In choosing a history spine, aim to satisfy the needs of the oldest or more advanced learner because it is easier to simplify information for your youngest child at times than it is to find meatier reference for your middle or high school children.

As I mentioned coming up during the summer, I will be sharing different history spines I have used and comparing them to each other.  Hopefully, they will help to narrow down some of what you want to use for this next year.

Other Resources and Books for History

Hugs and love ya,

Look at some of these other posts:

Finishing Strong – Homeschool Link Up Party {Homeschooling Middle & High School Years} #12. 05/21/2014

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Finishing Strong Homeschool Link Up Party

Thank you for joining us this week at Finishing Strong – the link-up that focuses on middle & high school students.

Finishing Strong Link Up Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Our favorite posts from last week:

Finishing Strong ~ Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years

Heidi from Starts at Eight enjoyed reading 5 Tips for Using Eight Grade as a High School Prep Year from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

The following quote really struck a chord with Heidi: “I really wish that I had tailored Brianna’s high school classes more to her interests instead of getting so boxed in with what would be expected from a traditional school setting. I lost sight of not following a broken model, which caused more frustration than there had to be for her high school years.”

As we are struggling through the end of our first child’s freshman year, I have to wonder if I am gong about it, or at least some of it wrong.

Besides this, Kris brings up some great points about things you can consider and be sure to have in order during your child’s 8th grade year.

Her other favorite post was How to Get Your Kids to Hate History from fellow co-host Education Possible.

Heidi shares, “I have loved so many in this series of posts that iHN members did. To take the angle of how to get your kids to hate something is both funny at times and eye opening as well.”

Megan reminds us all to step outside the textbook, step beyond all books as well and include hands on activites and related field trips, even watch a time period movie. These and many more great tips for teaching/learning/loving history are included in this post.

As Susan from Education Possible helps her son prepare for his first year of homeschool high school, she really enjoys reading all of the helpful posts in the Finishing Strong link-up.

Last week she loved the Measuring the Speed of Light with Chocolate from Tea Time with Annie Kate.

She said, “With fun and informative projects like this we look forward to continuing our “hands-on” approach as we begin homeschooling high school!”

She also enjoyed Teaching High School Subjects – You Have Options! from Sweetness and Light.

Susan shared that her son wants to include a variety of learning options for his first year of high school, including online, in-person, co-op and courses taught at home. She appreciated seeing that this is a plan that has worked well for other families too.

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Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus