Rabbit lapbook (HOAC)

So what have we been up to this week? Not much really. I think we are slowing down and reserving energy ready for the christmas period ;o)

It's my eldest daughter's birthday this weekend so preparations are underway for that, such as cake baking and decorating it, present making and card making. We are looking forward to Chinese for tea. It's become a bit of a traditional in our house that on birthday's we visit the Chinese and we luurrvve it!

We have continued watching 'Little Dorrit' and 'Oceans'. This week in Science we've done about food webs, food chains and changing environments. No experiments were neccesary as my youngest remembered with a shudder, my son doing the 'woodlice environment' last year and trusted his results entirely!

My youngest has nearly finished her lapbook on Shakespeare, and read a great novel by Gary Blackwood, well 3 in 1 novels to be precise; she highly reccomends it.

My daughter also finished her HOAC Rabbit Lapbook this week; she did all the cutting out, sticking and fact finding herself and we're really pleased with the finished results. She has 2 pet rabbits so obviously knows quite abit about rabbits already but even she found out new facts about them from the lapbook.

Routine and digi lapbook

We seem to have naturally fallen into our own schedule recently. Mon, Wed and Fri = Maths, English, Science and Art, Tues and Thurs = Maths, History/Geography and helping at local Toddler group and going out. Dog walking and general exercise is a daily occurance!

Last week we explored writing non-fiction, continued with times tables, watched Twelth Night and Julius Caesar and started a Shakespeare lapbook. We took a break from Science last week as youngest wanted to look at WW1 after seeing her Grandpa in a parade marking the end of the war. We've also started watching a really good programme on oceans: http://www.bbc.co.uk/oceans/
We've been sculpting soap like Michaelangelo, well I don't think he used soap but we did ;o)

We played a few games of 'Smath' last week along with Cludeo, Guess Who and Boggle

My son has finished converting a lapbook into a digi-lapbook on The Normans: http://www.rkwebcreations.co.uk/digi/users/knxrb/The%20Normans.html just click on the coloured boxes for all to be revealed.

Maths and Cells Lapbooks

Half Term flew by in a flurry of planning and making this fabulous lapbook from Notebooking2learn. Heartfelt thanks go to Jessica as she's done all the hard work really, I've just copied them and stuck them together, but my daughter loves them!

I've always used lapbooks as a review of the topic studied, but this is to be used as a learning tool and so far so good; my daughter is asking to play the maths games and learning her tables, it's really great!

This side contains multiplication flashcards for 7-12 and a reminder for what factors and multiples are.

The middle section has domino multiplication (well worth the cutting out), dice multiplication game and Mingo (multiplication Bingo).

This is the first flap (for some reason I've put the photos up in the wrong order) it has the flashcards for 1-6.

This has been such a success at our house that I've also made a lapbook for Cells which my daughter has been working through over the last week. Below are the photos starting with the front cover which my youngest decorated with a plant cell.

This side has a matching game and flaps about the differences between plant and animal cells.

The middle flap has a microscope picture with a labelling game and different kinds of cells and their functions.

I used sticky back velcro on the right side so that my youngest could learn about 'Mrs Gren' Life Processes.

Also went to a fabulous firework display with the grandparents in Blyth, to the Cinema with Grace to see High School Musical 3, shoe shopping, painting window stickers, a lie down painting like Michaelangelo, making jewellery ready for Christmas and doing boxes for Romania as well as the usual activities at church, so all in all a good couple of weeks I think.

Book Launch

We met up with lots of home educators when we went to a fellow home educators book launch for walking with witches last week. It's a story based in Newcastle, set in 1600's about witches being burnt on the town moor.

We highly recommend the book not only because it's a good read (and written by a friend), but also because my youngest daughter is a character in it, along with lots of other home educated children.

Decisions, Decisions

After careful thought and consideration we have decided to stop using the Sonlight schedule. It just isn't us, we jump around too much for that :o) We love the books and are continuing to read them but at our pace. We all feel much happier about our home educating since we came to this decision.

Recently we have been studying the Tudors. Since we already have a lapbook here my youngest decided to make a costume instead, along with wax letter seals and a marzipan Tudor Rose. We've been reading from SOTW and Our Island Story, as well as a Tudor craft book below.

We have been studying Microbes in Science for the past two weeks which has involved lots of experiments - mainly leaving lots of food to rot in the kitchen...

We are continuing with Maths2XL and workbooks for English and each week we will be studying a different artist; last week was Botticelli, week before that was Duccio and Giotto, and Michaelangelo is this week.

One more thing: I'm going to try and write in here on a weekly basis. I thought if I put that in then I might achieve it :o)

Egyptians Lapbook

Youngest daughter finished her Egyptian mummies lapbook from Hands of a Child.

She used water colour pencils to add a little colour, and made mummy masks using Barbie's head as the model.

The Normans Lapbook

Well, my youngest finished this lapbook during the school hols (I think), but it's taken a while for me to upload them. I see this as a good start to October, long may it continue!!

I love the front of this one, as it is so colourful, but the photo just hasn't done it justice so you'll have to take my word for it.

This page focussed on the Battle of Hastings and vocabulary to learn.

This was about the various castles around during the Norman period and how best to attack them. I got the sheet from a history site on the internet.

A fold out booklet on the Feudal system.

There is a little writing about the three sons under each flap with a picture of King William in the centre.