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Lapbooks from Homeschool in the Woods


Jen in DE
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I ordered the great artists one. These are great products, and the instructions are easy to understand (and I am REALLY craft-impaired!). However, although *I* thought lapbooking would be fun (and it was!) my ds did not get into at all. It can be somewhat tedious to lapbook, but if you already know your children like this type of activity, her products are beautifully done.

HTH

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We are making the OT lapbook.

 

It's a lot of coloring and fill-in-the-blank stuff, plus several more everything-is-complete-you-just-assemble-it minibooks. Most of the artwork is provided (and corresponds with Amy Pak's timeline artwork, which is just magnificent), but you could easily replace it with your child's own handiwork.

 

For example, there are places where you can cut and paste in the Scripture verse, or have your child write the verse out. There are places where you are to cut and paste the provided artwork, but you could have your child draw their own picture. Other mini projects within the larger lapbook project aren't as adaptable -- you pretty much have to use them as-is, or use it as a template to create your own minibook in the same size/shape (so that it will all fit together in the end).

 

We are doing these minibooks as we go through the OT. It's going to take us a while to get it all done! :) As we read through a Bible story, we complete any relevant minibooks for that story. For example, a layered book on Creation, a spin-the-dial-for-info minibook on the Flood, a genealogy chart from Adam to Abraham, etc.

 

Since our Bible study corresponds to the History we are covering this year and next, it will be some time before we are through the Old Testament; therefore, it will be some time before our lapbook is complete.

 

I love Amy Pak's artwork, and this will be an attractive lapbook when we've finished everything. Most minibooks could easily be adapted in a way to allow more individual creativity shine through, if your child is wired that way. My DS10 is not (unbelievably, would rather scrub toilets than have to draw a picture!), but he can handle cutting and pasting, etc. He likes all the minibooks we've made so far, and they do help reinforce what he learns.

 

Overall, worth the money, IMHO. But, then again, we are new to lapbooking and notebooking, and trying to come up with something on my own was completely overwhelming to me right now, on top of everything else I was trying to figure out! :) And, yes, I own the Dinah Zike and Ultimate Laptop books! Having Amy put it all together for me, where she has already figured out the different styles of minibooks and how they should be arranged in the lapbook, etc., made it worth it for me.

 

BTW... I think we could easily stop right now and create a simple lapbook with just the projects from the Genesis portion! The lapbook assembly directions assume you've done ALL the minibooks on the CD, and show you how to lay those out accordingly. But, if you're experienced at lapbooking (and, if you've already made ONE, you're more experienced than me!), you could probably create 3-5 simpler lapbooks as you go along as opposed to one granddaddy lapbook at the end.

 

BONUS SECTION:

It also comes with pages for creating your own ancient Bible times "newspaper" (Bible stories). We printed those sheets on parchment paper to give it an "aged" look. They make great writing prompts, and there's not too much space to fill, so it's not overwhelming to the reluctant writer. When you've filled in all the pages of the Old Testament Tribune, you can assemble it like a scroll (directions provided).

 

For now, we keep ours in sheet protectors, so DS can share them with his dad and others. This activity (which is NOT part of the lapbook, but comes as a "bonus" project on the disk/download), offers many opportunities for your child to be creative. There are places to draw pictures, make "advertisements," etc., plus space to write short articles which could be funny and silly, or serious and fact-filled.

 

Again, overall, I believe this product is well worth the money! :thumbup1:

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I use them.

 

I don't necessarily do all the activities, nor do I do the "lapbooks" (my booklets are placed on 3-hole punched cardstock and put into binders, as they "move" better).

 

I'm working on the OT now (by myself) and my kids get mad at me everytime I pull it out to work on it.

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I did the Explorers. It is beautifully done and I've read posts from many families who love doing them. For us, it took so much time to put together the finished project that we fell way behind on our history schedule. My kids do not want to do it again, although they did want to finish their lapbooks because they are so nice.

 

I found it difficult to do all the prep work. I guess I'm just not the lapbooking kind of mom. I also found it difficult to bring meaning to the content, ie I had to get books to back up the various explorers and put them in context. The lapbook was about all New World Explorers regardless of their time in history. So, this threw off my chronological history plan.

 

In summary, if you want to do a lapbook, Amy's are so very beautiful. The projects are well thought out. For us, I think we are not the paper kind of family that really learns this way. We would more like to read a good book! I needed to do this project to find that out.

 

Penny

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The lapbook was about all New World Explorers regardless of their time in history. So, this threw off my chronological history plan.

 

Yes, this is another reason I put it on cardstock rather than doing the lapbook version. I can add the activities / mini-books when it fits in our timeline, rather than doing an entire unit like Explorers where the times are all "messed up".

 

Course, the downside to that is, I can never figure out what to do with the super fantastic looking covers. . .

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