"Scrapping" History: Creating a Scrapbook of our American History Studies

A quiet corner of inspiration

With June 5 as our deadline,  the date of our Thursday co-op's closing program, I have finally settled on a project to culminate Mei's American History studies. I toyed with several ideas. One that I really liked--but am back-burnering--is a website depicting the events in American history as seen through famous art. Our proximity to the Nation's Capital would allow us to view many of these great works in person, particularly those by John Trumball in the Rotunda of the Capitol building. But I decided there wasn't as much time to take on something that might need so much technical direction, and so will try that when we won't feel rushed. Next year?

I love the grapes crafted from hole-punched paper

Instead Mei is putting together a scrapbook of history as pertains to America from 1600-1800. (This really will cover the past two years of our schooling.) Although it will incorporate mini-books for the key information, I am encouraging her to "get scrappy" with all the ephemera that is associated with that hobby.  It really will be a lapbook on steroids. She is THRILLED! I gave her a budget to work within and even if she never finishes the project, just seeing her make careful buying decisions has been worth it!

Now there are tons of places to get the needed mini-books, but I'm tickled pink to have found TruthQuest History's "Binder-Builder" and "Map and Timeline" pdfs. They were affordable, around $15 for each packet, and cover all the major and lots of the minor points of the period. By the way, though the Binder-Builder and Map/Timeline packages can stand alone, the TruthQuest History books themselves look so fantastic, I am choosing them for our history curriculum for next year....and beyond! More in another post. Check them out!

So after choosing the topics I wanted to be sure were covered---the explorers who contributed to North American discoveries, the thirteen colonies, and key events of the American Revolution and westward movement-- I printed off about 50 sheets from the Binder-Builder and Map and Timeline books, including a timeline that will run across all the pages, and maps that correspond to the events.We are going with an antique-look, so the printing is being done on some parchment-looking paper that I had left over from Christmas letters of a few years ago. Off-white copy paper would give a similar effect especially if it's smudged up with a little brown stamp-pad ink or tea.

I'm also incorporating clip-art from Homeschool in the Woods timeline characters. Another source for mini-maps and factoid soundbites is Enchanted Learning.com. And of course NotebookingPages.com provides all sorts of printables for full-page reports. Here are some links to exciting-looking Squidoo lenses on lapbooking Colonial America.
Colonial Days Study
US Constitution Lapbook
George Washington Unit Study
Patriotic Music and Poetry Lesson
American History Extras (to go with" Winter Promise" AS1)

Pioneer 3-ring binder makes moving pages easy.

makes moving pages around easy
The perfectionist in me struggled for days and nights with settling on the best album type for Mei to use for this project. It needed to be easy to move the pages around should there be a late-comer. So a three-ring binder seemed best, but I THOUGHT that would limit me to 8.5x11.  Guess I've been outta the scrapbook world too long because there are PLENTY of 12x12 3-ring albums!!  We found our patriotic red leather one at Joann Fabric and Crafts when they were on sale 40% off. And don't forget they offer 15% off to teachers. Apply for that discount card N.O.W.  Just show 'em your some homeschool association I.D. This goes for lots of other stores too, like Barnes and Noble.

Vintage-y paper in a rainbow of colors at JoAnn

I supplied her with lots of my scrapping tools like border templates, fun scissors, markers, and colored pencils. A paper trimmer speeds things up and is fun to use. Additionally she purchased: a tape runner, a block of 12x12 background papers, and some stickers. Finding stickers for the theme was more challenging than I thought it would be. However, the travel sections had country-, state-, and city- related theme stickers (Massachusetts; Washington, DC; Spain; England)  And patriotic ones are in the holiday or seasonal groupings. We used our imaginations to stretch the ideas, too: we found one that said "Welcome to the World," presumably for a new baby, but it wasn't pastel-colored so it would be fun for the New World explorers! Just add in "New!"

Mei loves her paper doll collections, frequently cutting and assembling during read-alouds. Now she'll have a place to showcase them by creating pockets on her scrapbook pages. She also likes to trace over  them and create scenes, another great page element.

Elements from TruthQuest Binder-Builder, Enchanted Learning Maps, and Dover Colonial Paper Dolls

I set up a special scrapping table in a corner of the dining room where the materials could always be at the ready and I could be near-by for guidance. I corralled the supplies in a rolling crate and a couple of organizers. Scrapbookers are addicted to organizers.


The second day of the project I announced that from here on out we would be setting aside at least one hour a day for the scrapbook and held my breath to see if that would be appealing or a bummer. "Would you like that?" I asked with hesitation. "YES, PLEEEEAAASE!"

Check back for the results!

Got History Projects? Got Comments? Tell Mother All About It!

Bird's-Eye View of the Week: Co-ops, Red Tape, and Cicadas

We'll be seeing a LOT of these. Credit www.northjersey.com

The end is in sight! 

We've reached May. AND the sun has been shining as much as two whole days in a row! And I even have turned off the heat (most of the time)! This is sooooo un-Maryland. IOW, it's usually nicer, even hot at times. But, it HAS helped delay the emergence of the 17-Year Cicadas! So, I'll kwitmibitchen.


Some mile-markers this week! After the two straight days of rain and Dad out of town, putting on street clothes and heading to the orthodontist sounded like a party. And turns out, it kind of was! The doc put a 'hold' on rubber bands already after only a couple of months. (Doc: "Wow, her teeth are really responsive!" Me: "So do we get a rebate for less services required?" Doc: "Hahahaha.")

It's Official!

Bigger and better was Mei's American name being officially entered into the government record books. Changing her name was not something we just recently decided on; her American name was chosen before she came home 11 years ago. But just last year, through a fluke, we discovered that the INS never noted it when she arrived in the States, so as far as the US government was concerned, our daughter didn't exist, at least not by what we call her. Tell that to Social Security, however, who gladly issued her an ID card in 2002. Under the American name. Hmmm. Anyway, the event gave us an excuse to eat cake!


Our co-op days are winding down. The Thursday group is finished already and the Friday group has just one more week. On Thursdays, Mei participated in a good introductory writing course similar to IEW. After two years, she has gained a lot of confidence in her writing, but more importantly, in taking constructive criticism. For her, that is H-U-G-E! She will now be equipped to take on the next level offered on Fridays. Thursdays this year also offered art and speech. I was really impressed with how well the kids responded to the speech topic and was glad they had this exposure to something not normally taught to ones so young. Art was taught by yours truly and used the "Meet the Masters" program. I've been dying to write a review of it here; maybe when the chalkdust settles. For now I'll just say that all the kids gave it a thumbs up and so did this teacher!

Board games class for an only child. Perfect!

 Fridays have given Mei exposure to cake decorating, cooperative board games, health, and P.E. Mom has assisted in the cake class (:-D !! ), a sewing class, and her best hour of the week, Study Hall. ("SSShh! I'm trying to write a blog post!")

Both of these co-ops have enriched our studies, but more importantly, our interactions with other Christian parents and kids. It's been especially wonderful for our school-of-one, and I recommend it.

American History Scrapbook

For this final stretch, I've given Mei the option of creating an American History scrapbook to showcase all that she's covered in the last two years, 1600-1800. Basically, it's a ramped up lapbook. She is super-excited to work on it, and I'm going to give her all the time she wants. I was going to write about it here, but it was getting a little long, so I'm detailing that in a separate post.  I'll share my sources and stuff there. Take a look if you want some ideas! 

The end would be NOW if I went by counting school days alone. I was shocked to see we had completed 180 in APRIL! But when you don't take off for Rosh Hashanah, a week for Easter, or Staff Development Days, they stack up. Add in some school on weekends (educational trips), and woah! Nonetheless, we haven't met all our objectives yet, so I'll hide Mei's eyes from this post and keep the cat IN the bag (wink).

How about you?

Got the end in your sights? Done already? Or do you school year-round? Tell Mother All About It!

Linking up with other incredibly gifted and equally humble homeschool bloggers at Hammock Tracks "Homeschool Review", Homegrown Learners "Collage Friday,", iHomeschool Network's "The Homeschool Mother's Journal", and Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers "Weekly Wrap-up". Thanks for hosting, ladies!