Friday, September 16, 2011

My newest favorite educational website....

I attended a parent certification course for homeschooling parents last week and at the meeting there was lots of information and resources shared. One thing they talked about was lapbooks...I saw an example and thought "wow, Karyl would love that!!!" One problem, I had no idea how to make one, or what to even put in one.

So I was browsing some of the websites they had referenced and decided to check out the one they had given us for free lapbook ideas....Homeschoolshare

We use Five In A Row as our Literature/English curriculum and it makes great books into Unit Studies that relate Social Studies, Art, Math, Science, Literature and many other subjects to the story you are reading. The website I mentioned above actually has lapbook resources for the Five In A Row curriculum!! I saw that and just about died...then I looked at the materials for Madeline, which we were reading at the time, and I think I might have actually died for a split second and gone to heaven!!! I printed out the goodies, put them in a file-folder-turned-lapbook and Karyl LOVED it!!! I have since make lapbooks for the other books we've already been through and started printing everything out for the rest of the books this semester.

For those of you thinking "what the heck is a lapbook, and what's the big deal" a lapbook is a folder of sorts with all kinds of pockets and fun activities that are glued into a "base" (we use file folders and staple/glue additional pages in if needed) so that they are all in one place for the kids to work on. The information is concise and you can really highlight the key points with the minit books and flash cards and pocket after pocket full of pictures and activities and facts and anything else you can dream up!!

Here is an example of a lapbook for "The Glorious Flight" that someone made as an example on the website...you could do this and save money on printing, but I like the neat and organized look of  having it printed out!!

 They even have lapbook resources for preschoolers and specific subjects like animals, weather, character development and traits, bible verses and other books that kids love to read!!

Even if you're not a homeschooler, these could be fun to introduce a new subject to your kids, or even to just keep them busy when you need some quiet time!!  That's right, you're welcome!!

So, head on over to Homeschoolshare and check out what they have to offer...oh, and make sure you have lots of paper and replacement ink cartridges for your printer - you have no idea how addictive this website can be!!!


Oh, and head over to Scholastics eBook website - Teacher Express and get 10 free eBooks!! Just enter the code 10THANKS at checkout in the coupon box!! They are having a $1 book Back To School Special and with the code above you get $10 worth of free merchandise...which, if you can't be bothered to do the math means you get 10 free eBooks!!! I went and got mine right away....I got lots of activity books to help with Word Wall ideas, crafts, patriotism, themed writing pages, math activities and much, much more!! You don't even have to enter payment information!! You can download each book 3 times....I'm hoping that I can download the books onto this computer and then save them on our external hard drive so I'll have them forever!!

I hope this information benefits someone that reads it...I loved getting these references and was excited to pass them on to all of you!!!


4 comments:

Katie said...

Hi! I was directed here by a friend. (I also homeschool.) I tried using the 10thanks code but it didn't work! Did it expire?

Thank you!

Greg and Diana said...

No, from what I can see it expires tomorrow on the 20th. Did you enter it in all caps (10THANKS), sometimes those codes are case sensitive...? Please try again with all caps and it should work, that was how I did it and I didn't have a problem. Make sure you also use the coupon code box at the bottom and choose the option of "no payment information needed." I hope it works for you and thank you for visiting my site...I love it when I find out someone has sent someone back here =)

Katie said...

Nope :( I've tried several different combinations and nothing's working.

It was a sweet deal while it lasted, though!

Greg and Diana said...

What a bummer!! I am so sorry it didn't work for you! I wonder why?? Whenever I hear about deals like this I will make sure and share them here, so hopefully there will be another great deal that you'll be able to take advantage of!! Even the eBooks for just a dollar was a great buy...I almost started buying more than the 10 free ones because they were so cheap =)