UmMusa Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've seen them on blogs and other websites. I've seen the end result. I just don't really 'get it' yet. They seem like an awful lot of work (and crafty stuff, too) for one topic. Can y'all shed some light on this subject for me? Maybe give me an idea on how to start one? One DD enjoyed her biography of George Washington and decided to make a poster about him. In my mind I was wondering if this were a good lapbook project. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisak Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 My younger daughter thrives on lapbooks. I generally use something ready to go. One of my favorites is Hands of a Child. They do not have a George Washington one for sale currently; it will be a few months as they have developed a new one available with a super membership. However, here are a couple of free ones: Homeschool Share -- this one is on several presidents: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/presidents_lapbook.php Lapbook Lessons: http://www.lapbooklessons.com/GeorgeWashingtonLapbook.html We have used their lapbooks previously for one of the Little House books. Their mini-books are well done. To address your original question about how-to and the craftiness...Yes, they are a bit crafty. My daughter often adds stickers to her lapbooks to make them even more crafty. I think you need to either like cutting and pasting or else willing to put up with it to get the job done. My daughter enjoys them in that she hates to write. A little mini-book makes her write but a small amount so she can tolerate that; she will never tolerate a notebook page and when we get to reports, a lot of help will be needed. On the how-to...they are basically a series of miniature booklets on a single topic. They are folded in various ways and then glued or taped to a folder or cardstock. Cardstock is used at my house currently where it is 3-hole punched to place into a 3-ring binder. These booklets are then opened, unfolded, etc. presenting the work the student did. There are many threads on this forum with better explanations and many posts. Hopefully someone else will jump in here and give a better explanation, as mine is lacking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowfall Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Depending on the age of the child, they can definitely be a LOT of work for the parent. We've done a few and by the end of each one my dd, who is pretty crafty, but only 6, has been very glad to just be finished already. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've seen them on blogs and other websites. I've seen the end result. I just don't really 'get it' yet. They seem like an awful lot of work (and crafty stuff, too) for one topic. Can y'all shed some light on this subject for me? Maybe give me an idea on how to start one? One DD enjoyed her biography of George Washington and decided to make a poster about him. In my mind I was wondering if this were a good lapbook project. :bigear: The closest we ever get to lapbooks around here is the History pockets books. I am not crafty for crafty sake, but I think that the idea of lapbooks look impressive. I am just not sure that the retention with a lapbook is worth the time invested. It would look neat for the Grandparents to see what we are doing though. :tongue_smilie: I have downloaded a few sources for materials, but everytime I think about actually getting it all cut out and ready to go, I change my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 We did quite a few our first year, but yes, they are tons of cutting and tons of work. My daughter learns things quickly, we don't need to make lapbooks for her to remember things. If she's interested in something, she'll write a book about it. Seriously, she writes a lot. They were fun when we did them, although it's not worth it for us to do anymore. Go ahead and make a President Lapbook from Hands of a Child or the other links a previous poster mentioned. Maybe your family would enjoy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 They are an excellent way to work on copywork and dictation. We also do ours on cardstock in 3 ring binders so that the dc can add to them if they like. They are easier to store on a bookshelf too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I tried a couple of lapbooks but found they were too much work and my kids, who are pretty young, didn't really get much out of them. For them it was basically just a coloring and gluing project. And they aren't that into coloring. I have done History Pockets and they were okay but it was more about the content rather than making cute little booklets. We arranged them on cardstock to put in a notebook rather than doing the pocket. I guess when we did the lapbooks the cutesy overcame the content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UmMusa Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Oh thank you so much! So it's pretty much as I suspected. Like a previous poster said, my DD (and DS) 'get' things quickly, and I can't think of many topics they'd spend a lot of time on. On the other hand, it sounds like a good way to expound on a subject they do actually enjoy. The cutting and pasting was one of my main concerns. From the few I've seen online it looked like a big messy project that didn't provide 'many happy returns' LOL Thank you for your help. I'll go check out those links (from the first poster, thank you) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lainey Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Ahhh, I miss those lapbook days. We really enjoyed them. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I think lapbooks have their place. I think if you are studying one topic it's a good and creative way to organize information. For example, we will be studying the solar system in science now. I'm planning on doing simple lapbook pages for each planet. In my opinion, that is a logical way of presenting the information. I don't think lapbooks are something I'd do a lot because they do look like a lot of work, but for my kids ages (1st & 2nd grade) it would be appropriate, I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudGrandma Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 we love lapbooks here. Yes, they are a lot of work, but we leave ours out in the livingroom in a box and my kids will often go back and read and look at them...and they do often. Right now I have 3 going at the same time. We are talking about animal habitiats in science and so each of my kids are working on an animal from a different habitiat. They like the change from just the normal science class. Usually we work together on one lapbook....when we study the huamn body next, we will be working on one lapbook together which is a lot less work. PLUS, you don't have to do all of the componets of a lapbook, just because it's there...make it as big or as small as you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I'm not crafty, but my kidlets are. We're working on our first lapbook, and the way it appears the ToG unit 1 lapbook is laid out, we're using 9 weeks worth of material so we're not isolated on one topic. It's basically hitting the highlights. So each week we are doing the "booklet/s" for that week and we'll assemble it at the end. Looks like each week has a minimum investment of time, and while they're doing it we discuss what we learned as a review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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