Anyone Know How to Cure Lapbook Fever?

Been lapbooking this week like a madwoman...got scissor calluses to prove it! Thought I'd share some with you. Been workin' on a humdinger for Jack, but am not going to reveal it until I am all finished. I have made him several file folder games , card games, and flashcards, so decided to make one big lapbook out of them all to cut down on space and to help keep up with them. When it's done it'll house file folder games, flash cards, memory games etc... covering patterns, letters, numbers, colors and shapes. This will allow me to sit down with him and he can have a choice of fun, brightly colored activities to learn with. I am excited to almost have it finished.

Well, it's all about addition for Lillie in math right now, so I've made her a couple of addition file folder games and will tape them together in a fashion similar to Jackson's and for the same purpose. Here's some pictures of the addition lapbook...

I got this one totally off Homeschool Share (check my link in the sidebar) which was nice cause I didn't have to hunt around, it was all there . This particular lapbook will teach her addition facts.

Hey! Like my flip flops? You can be honest! Just be thankful you can't see my toes!Oh, well, so much for not seeing my toes...sorry.This one is a dandy little file folder game where Lillie can work the problems using her counters and then check her answers by lifting the window. I got this off of Enchanted Learning and this is only one of two that they had for free!

Okay, this one is homemade and very simple. Just printed off a plus and equals sign and glued them onto a manilla file folder. Then found some number flash cards here and printed off several copies so that Lillie can invent and solve her own problem. Alrighty, now to school for today. Lillie did her reading off of the Starfall website, she sucessfully read three little books and I was so tickled. For writing, I made a worksheet of the Robert Frost poem "Gathering Leaves" She will trace the words over a three day period. I thought the poem was fitting as fall is falling all around us now. Math, we played the above game using counters and Lillie did very well. Today was our day to do History so we continued on with our Native American unit. Read from "Red Feather" today about some foods the Native Americans ate, how they secured their food and how they cooked it. Added a fan book to our lapbook, as well as some shutterfold books outlining the different tribes by region. Inside the book was listed the principle tribes and then I printed a little tiny US map and colored in the region.

We discussed in detail the Three Sisters. Corn, Beans, and Squash. These were three very important crops to the Native Americans and they planted them in a mound together. We call it companion planting. Here's a diagram:

One thing I have tried to bring out to Lillie in this study, is how the Indians took care of each other and they all pitched in and helped out. The women cooked the meals together, planted and harvested together, and the men hunted together. There was none of this "You go to your wigwam and I'll go to mine." They ate together and worked together. You just don't see that in our country anymore. Seems like everyone is out for just them. "My four and no more." you could say. The Three Sisters method of planting went right along with that mentality that everyone needed to work together to survive. The corn provided a sturdy place for the beans to grow. The beans provided necessary minerals and nutrients to help the squash and corn grow and the squash helped protect the plants. They all worked together to ensure survival. We could sure glean some lessons from the Native Americans, couldn't we?

Well here's what we added to our lapbooks which we are almost done with!

These are mini file folder books that I set up like a Jeporady question. On the inside is a picture of a famous Native American in history (in this case Sacagewea, Squanto, Sequoyah , and Pocahontas) and on the outside is a description of what they are famous for.

Gosh, this is a bad picture. Flash ruined it! But, hopefully you can see the little map of the US inside the shutterfold books.Fan book describing the food the Native Americans ate and some facts about how they were such good stewards of the resources they were given. Something else we could learn...but maybe another post...I got all these templates off the Homeschool Share site under free lapbook resources. There is a link in my sidebar. Okay, so that's it. I'm off to make up cookie dough to put in the fridge so I don't have to keep mixing up dough everytime somebody wants a treat! Have a great day.