Lapbooks

The tropical rainforest is a fascinating topic for a homeschool unit study! Just the botany and zoology alone could take weeks to cover. There are also the history of the rainforest, the indigenous peoples of the rainforest, and the economy of the rainforest. You can cater this topic to your youngest of students by focusing on the fascinating creatures such as toucans and leopards or raise the challenge by requiring older students to explore the political issues surrounding the use and misuse of this global treasure. Your options are almost as endless as the variety of life in the rainforest itself. This lens (or ... Read Full Story

We all have one! We use it every moment of every day-- your incredible human body! What a personal and relevant topic of study for any child! For the younger students, your study may focus primarily on anatomy, so you will explore the body's organs and body's systems. For older students you may extend the study into physiology and add in the functioning of the human body, including its systems, tissues, and cells. Browse the ideas and links here to plan your human body lapbook, notebook, or unit study. Photo credit Read Full Story

Lapbooking can be done by any learner-- from preschoolers to adults. With this educational method, you make mini-books covering details that you've studied. After making a variety of mini-books about a larger topic, all the books are put together in a large folder. The finished product is called a lapbook because it's large and covers your lap. The completed lapbook will serve as a review tool as your children refer to it over and over again. And if you have to keep a homeschool portfolio to document learning each year, lapbooks can be a very impressive addition. Read Full Story

Once you understand the basics of lapbooking, you can easily plan your own lapbook to match whatever topic you are studying. You don't need to buy a kit, so you save money. And you can custom design the lapbook to reflect your children's interests and educational needs. So grab a pad and a pen (or print my lapbook planner page), and let's start planning. Read Full Story

Finally we are studying chemistry for homeschool science! This year is going to be really fun! We will study the elements, learn about subatomic particles, read biographies of famous chemists, and the best part -- make lots of messy experiments! Besides all that, we'll record our learning in a lapbook or two. And we're sure to throw in some notebooking as well. So here are the free online goodies I found to supplement our Noeo Science curriculum. By the way, Noeo offers three levels of chemistry based on your child's reading level (or age). I love Noeo because it's a living books based curriculum ... Read Full Story