The Curriculum Choice

One of our favorite educational tools is lapbooking. Whether we create the traditional lapbook in a file folder or put the pieces on cardstock in a notebook, we love recording the things we learn in a lapbook. We have created our own lapbooks, found free lapbooks online, and bought lapbook files from several companies.

The newest lapbook my eight year old, Makayla, has completed is the United States Symbols Mini-Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central. We chose this lapbook as a fun way to learn about some of our country’s symbols, and a possible jumping off point for more learning adventures. A Mini-Lapbook fits inside one folder.

I love the way these lapbooks are laid out. The included Study Guide is laid out in nice, large font and includes all the information about each symbol in simple paragraph style. There is a Student Instruction Guide that told my daughter which booklet to grab(they are numbered), the questions that she was to answer in the booklet, as well as how to assemble that booklet. There is even a Layout page that shows the student one way to fit all the booklets into the file folder.

Booklets in this mini-lapbook cover the following:

The White House
The Pledge of Allegiance
The U.S. Flag
The Statue of Liberty
The National Anthem
The Liberty Bell
The National Bird
and more!

It was neat to see my daughter mentally connect things we had learned in the past, as well as bring other questions to mind to explore. For example, after learning basic facts about Independence Hall she wanted to hear more about the Declaration of Independence and why the colonists felt they needed to write it. She remembered a favorite Schoolhouse Rock song, No More Kings, that tells some of the story, and off we were to listen to it again.

We both really enjoyed the United States Symbols Mini-Lapbook ($7.99) from Knowledge Box Central and can’t wait to start our next lapbook! If you want to learn more about things we have enjoyed using in our homeschool you can read my other Curriculum Choice reviews.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5 going on 6 children, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks. You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

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When this time of year rolls around, there’s one thing my kids ask for more than anything…”When are we going to plant our garden, Mom?” I have to admit, I’m just as excited to get my hands dirty as they are. There’s something about sticking a tiny plant or seed into the dirt and a couple months later, enjoying the best salad or handful of strawberries ever!

I decided to end out our school year with a unit on plants. I thought we could make our little garden into an even more educational experience this year by learning more about what’s going on underneath that dirt. We’ll take the next couple of weeks to learn about seeds, the parts of plants, and what they need to thrive. Then when it’s warm enough, we’ll put our knowledge to work and plant (hopefully) our best garden yet! If you are planning on doing a unit on plants, I found a great post over at The Homeschool Classroom. Melissa posts her lesson plan in detail, giving great ideas on projects and resources.

Over the years I’ve come across many great books on gardening with kids but I wanted to share with you two of them that I love.

{Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots}

This book by gardening guru, Sharon Lovejoy, is a great addition to your library! Besides the her beautiful illustrations, Sharon gives numerous project ideas, tips, and lists for the rookie or advanced gardener. Some of her projects include:

The Pizza Garden
Buckets, Boxes, & Boots: Container Gardens
Moon-Garden
Snacking & Sipping Garden

One of my favorites is her idea for a Pizza Garden. In the book, she shows how to plant this type of garden in a circular shape and section it off with rocks or pavers so it looks like a sliced pizza. Each section includes vegetables that you’d find on a pizza, such as:

Tomatoes
Eggplant
Bell Peppers
Oregano
Basil
Onions

She gives tons of great tips for gardening with kids, like all the tools you’ll need and a list of the Top 20 Plants for Kids. The thing I love most about Sharon Lovejoy is her absolute love for nature. Her love exudes from the pages of this book and it makes you want to spend more time outside. I’m totally in love with this book! If you’re looking for supplements to add to your plant units this Spring or just want a great book, I totally recommend it.

{Gardening with Kids}

This great gardening book written by Catherine Woram & Marlyn Cox is also a terrific addition to any mom’s library. This book includes over 30 projects you can do with your kids. Everything from growing cactus planters to playing games with water. Again, the introduction includes tips on equipment, maintaining a garden, and everything else you need to know. Gardening with Kids has a lot of information about the plants themselves and how choose the best ones for your climate. They provide lists of what to grow and what you should avoid.

There are 35 projects in this book to be exact, and we’ve completed many of them.
Here’s an idea of the projects you’ll find when you check out Gardening with Kids:

Herb Garden
Butterfly Baskets
Crystallizing Pansies
Terrarium in a Jar
Pressing Flowers
Nesting Box
Flower Chains
Burlap Tote Bag

Again, I highly recommend both of these fabulous books. I can say that both of them provide hours of fun for you and your kids…now go get your hands dirty!

Alicia can be found either blogging at La Famille or out in her garden

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There are a few curriculum choices that have and will remain consistent through all three of my children. One of those is the Get Ready for the Code series of workbooks. And as I’m planning ahead for my little guy who will probably jump into simple workbooks within the next year, Get Ready for the Code, Get Set for the Code and Go for the Code are on my list of phonics to-do’s.

Why do I like this early learning curriculum so much?

They’re simple for me to use.
They’re short and sweet for my preschooler. There’s only one type of activity per page, which keeps a preschooler’s attention much better than a busy page.
Each book focuses in-depth on only 6-8 lower-case consonants, giving my child lots of practice with each letter.
They cover letter recognition, letter formation, letter sounds, relating beginning sounds to pictures, left-right orientation, and using small motor skills.
They’re black and white. Yep, you heard right, I LIKE that they text and pictures are in black and white. With preschoolers, I feel like too much color can actually distract them from the task at hand.
Within each book, letter comparisons are made. In other words, after learning three letters, there will be a worksheet that asks the child to distinguish in some way between those letters.
And, maybe most importantly, my first two children found the workbooks to be fun. They never complained and actually liked having their own “school work” to do.

Once finished with all three books, a preschooler should be ready to dive into more formal phonics lessons such as those covered in the Explode the Code series which begins in Kindergarten. I like this series, too, but will save its review for another post.

There is one teacher’s guide available to cover all three of the Get Set for the Code books, but I’ve never seen it so I won’t give my opinion one way or another. I will tell you that I’ve never found a teacher’s guide necessary. Although, the description on their website says it gives additional teaching ideas and reinforcement activities which could prove to be helpful.

Honestly, you could probably find plenty of phonics workbooks for $1.00 at the local dollar store, but I really like the planned progression of these books. And for only $6.00-$7.00 each, it doesn’t put a large dent in my pocketbook.

I’d love to hear your early phonics favorites!

-Written by Cindy, an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and Shining Dawn Books.

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