Kaya, An American Girl...

As some of you may know, RileyAnn is very into American Girl.  She's been through most of the books more than once, but wanted an opportunity to read them again and complete a lapbook for each girl's historical time period we study.  Therefore, I've tried to incorporate them whenever possible.  Last year, when we studied Colonial Williamsburg, I made Felicity part of our study. 

Because Kaya is part of the Nez Perce tribe in the northwest part of our nation, I decided to wait until this year and study her with Lewis & Clark, as they encountered the Nez Perce on their expedition.  We used the American Girl Lapbook Templates found here at Homeschool Share. 

Typically, I help her assemble the folders and she completes the rest on her own in her free time.   One of the beauties of homeschooling is being able to teach to your child's strengths and interests.  Each of our kids will tell you history is their favorite subject.  I contribute this to great living books and hands on projects that interest them.

Colonial Williamsburg...

Oh how we hope to travel to see the historic sites of the U.S. along the eastern sea board some day!  Williamsburg will be on our list.  The photo shows the books we used to study Colonial Williamsburg.  The girls produced Felicity lapbooks as instructed here.  They really enjoyed this study! 

History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations

I recently mentioned our use of History Pockets in another post.  This was a really fun way to make ancient history more alive for younger students.  RileyAnn spent two years using this book.  It fit nicely with our Bible/History study.  She completed What is History?; Ancient Mesopotamia; Ancient Egypt; and Ancient Greece in 1st grade when we read the Old Testament.  This past year, for 2nd grade, she completed Ancient Rome; Ancient China; and Ancient Aztec World when we read the New Testament and studied the middle ages.

I just finished binding her History Pocket book.  I used good old fashioned duck tape for reinforcement.

The duck tape seals up the inside of the pocket and provides reinforcement where the binding holes will be.  Once the pockets are all taped, then I hole punch each one as well as the cover.  

Then I used some of The Farmer's baler twine to tie it all together. 

I should also mention that before hole punching the cover, I laminated it with clear contact paper to make it sturdier.  Riley and I are both tickled with the way it turned out.  Riley's History Pocket book will serve as a great keepsake of her study of Ancient Civilizations.  

There are many different History Pocket books for various time periods. We will be incorporating them into our exploration and U.S. history study.  You can find out more about the other books in the series here.  

Cranberry Thanksgiving

Cranberry Thanksgiving is a very fun story about a little girl, Maggie, and her grandmother who live in New England on the edge of a cranberry bog.  Grandma has a secret recipe for making cranberry bread and the town's people are trying to steal it.  When Grandma and Maggie each invite a friend to celebrate Thanksgiving, a surprise adventure begins and in the end the bad guy saves the day.

You may recognize Cranberry Thanksgiving as a Five in a Row book.  We used it as part of our Galloping the Globe study.  We just finished studying Canada, Mexico, and the United States all as parts of North America.

Both RileyAnn and Ruben enjoyed Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin. The book gives the cranberry bread recipe so of course we tried it.

It was very yummy and delicious!  As you can see, it was half gone by the time I got the camera ready. 

 RileyAnn also created a Cranberry Thanksgiving lapbook from Homeschool Share .

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We recommend Cranberry Thanksgiving with two thumbs up!