Hi. I am going to talk a bit about lapbooks here. If you have not heard of lapbooking or notebooking yet, it is a great way to get your kids researching, writing, and thinking -- all while doing arts and crafts! In our homeschool I use lapbooks as a kind of mini unit-study, whenever I want to go more in-depth on a topic than just reading the textbook and discussing it. Over the years we have done several lapbooks. Usually we do them for history topics, but we have also done a couple for science topics. Sometimes lapbooks may be themed around a particular story or book and done similar to a book report. Any topic you wish your child to study in a little more depth can be turned into a lapbook study.
First, the basics. If you have never done a lapbook before, I highly recommend buying one from someplace such as Hands of a Child or Live and Learn. Both companies make great products and a pre-printed product makes it very easy for you. They come with instructions on how to make the various mini-books, and even contain an answer key for mom.
The whole premise of lapbooking and notebooking is to have your children document or journal what they learn about in a fun and interactive way. Largely this is done through making mini-books, which can come in a variety of formats, from simple books to accordion folds to more complex shape books. Some people also use Evan-Moor's "pocket" books for this (History Pockets, Literature Pockets, etc.) When my children were younger, we used some of the printables from Enchanted Learning in our lapbooks, especially the labeling diagrams.
A few places to get you started:
Last, a few photos of a lapbook we did on the American Revolution.
Revolutionary War Lapbook
First, the basics. If you have never done a lapbook before, I highly recommend buying one from someplace such as Hands of a Child or Live and Learn. Both companies make great products and a pre-printed product makes it very easy for you. They come with instructions on how to make the various mini-books, and even contain an answer key for mom.
The whole premise of lapbooking and notebooking is to have your children document or journal what they learn about in a fun and interactive way. Largely this is done through making mini-books, which can come in a variety of formats, from simple books to accordion folds to more complex shape books. Some people also use Evan-Moor's "pocket" books for this (History Pockets, Literature Pockets, etc.) When my children were younger, we used some of the printables from Enchanted Learning in our lapbooks, especially the labeling diagrams.
A few places to get you started:
- Lapbooking 101 blog - a page on book folds
- Homeschool Share list of lapbook blogs
- A squidoo post on lapbooking supplies
- Enchanted Learning
- CurrClick- (Note: CurrClick has lots of downloadable lapbooks, along with tons of other curricula. A great site to bookmark.)
Last, a few photos of a lapbook we did on the American Revolution.
Revolutionary War Lapbook