In The Hands Of A Child World Governments Notepack

Whether we like government or not it is a necessary organization in our communities, country, and larger world. Governments provide structure and benefits to the people residing in their land. Some of the governments allow people more freedom, while others tightly control many aspects of people lives. While we are blessed to live under a government which gives citizens a voice and freedom to make many choices, many people in the world do not enjoy these same rights, responsibilities, and freedoms. It is vital for students (and adults) to learn the basic tenets and principles of other types of governments to function in the world and most importantly safeguard the rights and freedoms we have in out type of government. The World Governments notepack from In The Hands of A Child introduces students to many types of governments around the world.

The World Governments  Notepack  contains:

•  a brief overview of the notepack and suggestions on how to use it
• a table showing a suggested breakdown of topics for each of the 5 suggested  days
• a bibliography and related websites
• instructions for each of the activities and note pages
• study guide
• notebook page templates.

The World Governments project pack has a recommended grade level of 8-12.

Topics covered include:

• Role of Government
• Powers of Government
• Limited and Unlimited Government
• Types of Government
• Forms of Democracy
• Governments Based on Politics
• Comparing Democracies and Dictatorships
• Famous Dictators
• Types of Monarchies
• Types of Republics
• Governments Based on Economics
• International Organizations

Each of these topics is discussed in the research guide and then students fill out a notebook page with information which they learned about that topic. The notebook pages have headings, and the student fills them out according to the directions on the activities and instructions page.

Sample pages for the student to create their own country and government or International organization.








World map where students identify countries with each type of government.




The World Governments Project Pack is also available in a lapbook format with mini books in which to record information learned. The study guide and topics are identical to the one in the notepack format.


My Thoughts


I have used many Lapbook Project Packs from In The Hands Of A Child with my two children over our homeschooling years. However, as they have gotten older they have been more reluctant to use lapbooks to study and explore different topics. However, I think the idea of a short study guide to learn about a topic is great. So the notebook pages project pack is a great geared to older students. They still explore a topic using the same study guide, but have a different way to record their learning. I own one or two notebooking project packs, but had not tried one until I had the opportunity to try this World Governments set.

As my daughter is high school age and more becoming independent in her studies I gave her this pdf unit and had her work on it independently. (I printed the notebook pages/ organizers for her, since her printer access is more limited). I directed her to work through what she could on her own and let me know what she needed help on. She had some questions about the content in the study guide and we discussed some real world examples of what was written, but she essentially completed the project pack on her own. While it is bittersweet to let get of the teaching and working together, I was happy to see how well she did with this project pack on her own.

Vocabulary notepage organizer

My daughter liked the notepages format better than lapbook.  She thought is was not as labor intensive and more age appropriate for middle and high school than cut and glue lapbooks. I like the notepages, but the graphics aren't as fun or eye-catching as the lapbook templates.These notepages are a good way to help students organize their thoughts after writing and practice taking notes from a text. This skill will be invaluable to them in continuing education.


I really like the notepages vocabulary sheet. This organizer gives the student plenty of room to write the definition of words. There may also be room to use the word in a sentence or otherwise expand the definition.



This World Governments notepack would be a great way to start a World Government course by giving an overview of many topics to be covered in the course. It made a good segue from American Government to World Government. With the basic information learned here it will be easy to put together a World Governments semester course utilizing non textbooks and other resources. Otherwise I am not sure how to put it in to something where I could give high school credit for the work. (I am not trying to imply or suggest that everything done has to be done for credit, it is very nice to be able to do so).

Another way to utilize this project pack could be during a summer or other school break for a student to explore the topic and decide if they had enough interest in it to explore it further in a full fledged course.

Even though the lowest level listed is 8th grade it could probably also be used for 6th or 7th grade as well, especially if the student has an interest in these topics. As it is a brief introduction a younger student could probably get something out of it with out becoming tired of it as something that stretched out over a longer period of time.

One suggestion my daughter had was to have a note after the the sections in the text where a note page or organizer is to be filled out.

The biggest challenge with the notebook format of the project pack is coming up with a good way to save the completed notebook pages.  With a lapbook it is easy; all the mini books are fastened into a file folder or something similar. These notebook pages aren't quite as easy. I have thought about binding them, but I don't have a comb binder and I don't know if binding about 20 pages is efficient either.

After seeing and using this notebooking project pack I think this is a great alternative to lapbooks for older students. It provides a concise study which can be completed in a reasonable length of time which can be used to achieve many goals.


Has your child completed a notebooking unit? How did you sane the pages?



Disclaimer: ( I received a free digital copy of this Project pack for the purpose of this review. I have not been compensated in any other way. All thoughts are my own. I was not required to right a positive review. Photos, with the exception of the logo, are also my own.)

In the Hands of A Child Ecosystems Project Pack

The Ecosystems Project Pack from In The Hands of A Child is a great way to teach upper elementary,  junior high and high school students about how nature and the natural world works together. The suggested grade levels are 5-10.

Topics taught in Ecosystems include:

• Ecosystem cycles
• Energy cucle
• Carbon Cycle
• Nitrogen Cycle
• Oxygen Cycle
• Nitrogen Cycle
• Water Cycle
• Disturbance Cycle
• The Energy cycle
• The effects of disturbances of these cycles
• Food chains and webs
• Trophic Levels
• Omnivores
• Ecosystem Management
• Biomes
• Related Vocabulary

There are mini books for each of these topics which students write in after reading the corresponding section to show what they learned and know.

Wheel minibook

Clipboard minibook

There is also a bonus hands-on activity of creating a creating an ecosystem included in the project pack.  (There isn't a mini book for this activity).

The project pack includes:

• Text Study guide
• Vocabulary and Definition list
• Templates for all the minibooks
• Directions for how each minibook works and information to writein each
• Planning Guide with suggestions of what text to read, vocabulary words, and minibooks to complete each day
• List of related books and websites
• Directions for how to use the Project Pack as well as putting together the lapbook
• Full Color pictures of a completed lapbook

This Ecosytem Project Pack is laid out to be completed in 8 days, but that number could easily be changed by adjusting how many sections were studied each day.

My Thoughts


We found this to be a great way to learn about ecosytems. It is very complete and detailed, but doesn't get bogged down or boring. The text is concise and interesting. I really appreciate how the topic and vocabulary words are divided up; the amount of material to read and write about in the minibooks for each day is just right. Each days assigned reading and number of mini books to fill in is about equal so that is a great help is scheduling the amount of time it should take each day. The bonus activity of creating your own ecosystem is a fantastic way to make many of the concepts taught concrete. This was something my son was not able to complete at this time as all the components were not available at this time. I also appreciate having the list of related books and websites handy if my child wants to learn more after reading the study guide.

One of the features I thought was really cleaver was a side bar featuring a summary of the story "The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly".  In the story the lady swallows many different creatures which parents and older children will recognize are part of a food chain or ecosytem. This example is then used to show how the parts of an an aquatic ecosytem work together to complete a circle. What a great way to use something students are already familiar with to illustrate a new concept!

I like having the pictures of completed minibooks included in the project pack as it is helpful in the event that I don't understand from the written directions how a minibook is supposed to go together.

Completed Lapbook

Completed Lapbook

This was at a great level for my middle school aged son, I would probably add additional reading or research for the high school level.







Disclaimer: ( I received a free digital copy of this Project pack for the purpose of this review. I have not been compensated in any other way. All thoughts are my own. I was not required to right a positive review. Photos are also my own.)

Where Does the Time Go?

I realized tonight it has been over a month since I last wrote. I had no idea it had been that long. My how time flies.

Briefly (and the best I can remember) these are some of the things we have been up to.

In both November and December we went to the Homeschool class at our library. November was all about the election process. The children had the opportunity to make a button to wear proclaiming they are future voters, they made a lapbook and even had the opportunity to vote in a election for best dessert. Th elibrarian had chosen the two candidates; cookies and brownies earlier. The children were then given the opportunity to decide which one they wanted to campaign for. Then in small groups they had to come up with several reasons to vote for their candidate and share them with the whole group. As a special treat the children were given a brownie or cookie snack.

 
Decembers' theme was optical illusions. After a brief discussion defining optical illusions the children experimented with several illusions at various stations. Among the projects they experienced were making a flip book, arrows with the ends pointing the opposite direction to prove the center part is the same length, taking to similar pictures, cutting them into strips and reassembling them by interspersing the strips with each other. Then by tilting is sideways they would only see one picture at a time.


At home in December we  kept up or regular schedule for several weeks, then spent more time on Christmas themed activities. One of these was completing the Christmas Around the World lapbook. This project pack had a lot of information and activities in it, but we also read several books along with it. These are pictures of the completed lapbook.
 

I discovered several Little House on The Prairie Christmas Anthologies at our library so we enjoyed stories from them for a read aloud throughout the month.

December was also very busy with music. Both children had the opportunity to play Christmas piano music in public settings on several occasions throughout the month.  They each played several pieces as prelude music for our church's children's Christmas program. Daughter also had the honor and privilege of accompanying the children when they sang "Away in a Manger" during the program. Even though I am biased, I do have to say she did a good job.

Both of the children decorated these mini gingerbread houses from a kit. After I made the icing Daughter put the houses together herself before decorating them. She was generous and let her brother decorate two of them.

I guess that is about all the news from our house for this month. See you in 2013.

Hands of a Child Christmas Giveaway

For a few more days In the Hands of a Child is hosting their first Sprint of Christmas giveaway!!

So what does this mean?

If you help publicize this event, in various types of social media and leave a comment on their blog about what you did on, you are entered into their giveaway for $100 worth of their lapbooks and notebook sets. You even get to choose which ones you would like!

My children and I really enjoy the Hands of a Child lapbook project packs. Right now we are using their Christmas Around the World set. It is an interesting look at several Christmas customs from 8 different countries around the world.

We have completed a number of lapbooks but some of my children's other have been Multiplication Pizza Party, Operation English Grammar, Exploring Nearby Space and American Girls. It seems we always have at least one or two lapboks in progress. We use them to complement a topic already being studied, to explore an interest, briefly study a topic I feel in important at the time or just for fun.  I have plans for several more in the new year as well.

If you're interested in lapbooks, check out In the Hands of a Child.

Why Is A Super Membership Super?

 You may already be familiar with In the Hands Of A Child, a company which produces lapbook curriculum sets and notebooking pages.  But did you know they offer a special Membership program called Super Membership?

A Super Membership is a paid subscription type service in which a user receives 2 complete lapbook curricula in ebook format each month. These two lapbooks feature the same topic or general theme, but for different grade levels. Usually there is one for early elementary and another for upper elementary or junior high ages. They are available for download the middle of each month in a special members only section of the website where they remain available for two months from the time they were posted when they are replaced by new ones. After they are removed from the Super Member area, these lapbooks will be available for purchase sometime in the future. So Super Members essentially get a sneak peak at new project packs.

Another perk of a Super Membership are the Unit Extenders, which are also ebook format available for download. These are collections are additional activities which correlate with other lapbook which Hands of a Child has previously published.

What Do I Love about the Super Membership?

• Knowing I have at least one complete study each month that requires very little prep work on my part. Even though the mini books need to be cut, that is a much simpler task than preparing my own study.
• Having lapbooks written on two levels which cover a similar enough topic than I could use both of them at the same time with my children. I could check out books on the same topic at the library, have discussions, and do other activities relating to the topic and not have to do two separate topics for a subject.
• Access to additional exciting ideas for other project packs from Hands of a Child. If my children want to know more about a topic after we have finished a lapbook set I may be able to find additional resources on the topic with just a couple clicks. The tone and layout of the Unit Extenders is very similar to the original unit so they are easy to transition into. 
• The unit extenders also provide substitute ideas if I am trying to tweak an upper level project pack for my youngest. Age wise he falls at the top of the cutoff for the early elementary units, so sometimes unit extender ideas work to swap out a challenging concept of a higher level project pack for an easier one. 
• Unit extenders are also a great resource for simple "Mom, I want to know more about..." activities. Many of the activities in the unit extenders are active, not paper and pencil activities. Thus unit extender ideas are perfect for doing something different and hopefully fun. There are also a number of web links included which are a wonderful resource for integrating technology into your curriculum.
• The economic value of a Super Membership can't be beat. While the initial cost is more than the equivalent cost of one or two lapbooks,  after several months you will have received lapbook packs which have a value of more than what you paid.

 Most homeschool moms know the term 'curriculum junkie' refers to someone who loves to look at and often purchase new curriculum. While I don't deny I am one of them, I think I am also a 'lapbook junkie' as I can't wait to see,explore, and then guide my children through the new lapbooks each month from my Super Membership.

Disclaimer: I currently have a Super Membership at HOAC which I personally purchased. All opinions expressed in this piece are solely my own.  I have not been monetarily compensated for this piece, but maybe compensated with product.

Grammar Lapbook Makes Reviewing Grammar Fun

I was going through pictures on my computer the other day and found these. It has been a while since I wrote anything new here, so I decided I would write a short post and share the pictures.

Last fall my then 10 year old made a grammar lapbook.She had a pretty good grasp of the parts of speech and their usage and I really didn't want to bore her by going through them again, so I had her work through In the Hands of a Childs' Operation: English Grammar curriculum and lapbook. I simply wanted her to refresh her memory on them and at the same time introduce a couple new concepts

She generally enjoys lapbook projects, but I think she particularly enjoyed this one as the story line involves helping a fictional nation learn English. She also thought the story was partly a mystery because she needed to search for various clues and information and many of the mini books follow a detective theme.

The study guide and directions were simple enough that she was able to do most of the work and research on her own after I provided her with a couple of resources. In addition the hunt aspect made it interesting to her. This unique format also helped her to retain the new information she learned as well as provide another perspective on what she already knew.