Here Ye, Here Ye, All herald the completion of Rebecca's first lapbook!

Rebecca did a great job on her report on Marco Polo. Next to the report is a list of all the books she read during this unit.

Notice the very cool Coat of Arms that Rebecca designed out of this book
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Your-Own-Coat-Arms/dp/048624993X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225452837&sr=8-1

I just have to pat myself on the back today. This is the first time in my homeschooling career that we have made it through an entire quarter on schedule. No sick days, no putting off assignments in favor of things that are more fun, no big house projects that de-rail school. Today is the last day of Unit 1, Year 2 of Tapestry of Grace. We had a great time with all the books. I have to say that I wasn't too excited about doing this Unit, the Middle Ages just are not my favorite time period to study. Tapestry made it so interesting and fun that I found myself learning a ton, right along with the kids.

The major highlight of this unit was watching Rebecca complete her lapbook. This was a 10 week project, completed bit by bit. It's hard for a kid to stick with a project that long, but she did it, and I absolutely love it. I told her that it's going in the "What to Grab In Case There is A Fire" box. If you haven't done a lapbook with your kids before, I highly encourage you to try. There are many available on a number of topics that you can just print out. The more creative among you might want to look into Diana Zike's materials. I also love the things that come from Hands of A Child. This particular lapbook was published on a CD from Tapestry, and all we had to do was print them out, cut out the little books, and paste them in. Every week there are directions on what to do. Rebecca wrote so much, of her accord! I am very proud of all she accomplished. I don't think I've ever completed a 10 week project on time in my life!

We plan on celebrating the end of our study on the Middle Ages with a Medieval Feast at our house tomorrow night. We plan on having a potluck buffet of easy medieval food, mostly found at http://www.gingergarrett.com/downloads/EveningTudors.pdf . We rented David McCauley's Castle video from Netflix to show, and will have a jousting match. Each Dad will carry their youngest child on their back. The child will have a pool noodle lance, with a water balloon attached to the end. The first one to break their ballon wins the match. It should be a hoot.