Jeeves Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Well, we finally decided to change next year to TOG after using SOTW and VP since 1st grade with our oldest! One main reason for switching is that it has become apparent that my 2nd and 3rd children need/want some hands-on activities in order to learn and remember well. However, I am NOT that mom—I don’t enjoy coming up with crafts or doing them (never did the activities with SOTW!). So, I am hoping that the lapbooks for TOG will provide the needed outlet for these children, as well as provide a tool for review. AND, since it’s all laid out for me already, I’ll actually do it! So my questions are: Have you tried the lapbooks? Are they worth the money? Do they satisfy those children? ;) Are they helpful? And for those other uncrafty moms, what else do you do for those children who would benefit from hands-on activities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caro Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 My daughter loved lapbooks at that age! Ds hated anything to do pencils, scissors, or glue! They always enjoyed making food to go with the time period we were studying. That was something that seemed to go over well with both the crafter and the complainer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Well, I am soooo not crafty, that I will not even spend the money on the lapbooks. :glare: But TOG has enough other easier activities to satisfy us. My dd is already drooling :drool: over next year's activity books that have recently arrived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 My crafty kids don't like lapbooks. But TOG does have lots of other ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SewLittleTime Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 My kids love the crafty things when we do them, but really don't ask much for that. As a result, that's usually the first thing to go when our week gets busy. This is sad, but I've found for us, I do just as many hands-on activities as I did with other curricula that I supplemented and came up with myself. We did the lapbooks for one unit. They liked it, but were so ready to finish it by the end of the unit that I opted not to do one the next unit and try something else. I probably could do one now, and they'd love it. Variety seems to be the spice of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenangelcat Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 I hate doing crafts so what I'm doing pre-gathering all the parts in ziplocs. All the ziplocs go in a box and when I'm filling up workboxes, in goes a bag and glue and/or scissor to complete the craft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 I hate doing crafts so what I'm doing pre-gathering all the parts in ziplocs. All the ziplocs go in a box and when I'm filling up workboxes, in goes a bag and glue and/or scissor to complete the craft. that's a brilliant idea! I am not a crafty mom, but I don't mind doing lapbooks. Both my kids love doing them, and at first I was a bit stuffy about doing prepared lap books, but I did get it for my DD 6 (who will be in LG 2 next year) and she is thrilled. She doesn't care if it's already planned out for her. We did other activities that we really enjoyed this year, despite me being the I HATE CRAFTS person, because I did not feel they were useless things that we would eventually throw away. We did a fair amount of sewing, which my kids loved! We made "Possibles bags" as they would have carried on the Oregon trail, and a couple of costumes, an Indian diorama (we would have never done this alone, but we did it with our co-op) and some various other little things. My ds10 did a lovely lap book for unit 1. I will add that having a group of people to do things with really helped with the hands-on aspect of the curriculum. There was much more motivation to do it. Even if you have one other family to get together with on occasion for such things, it makes things come alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Well, I am soooo not crafty, that I will not even spend the money on the lapbooks. :glare: But TOG has enough other easier activities to satisfy us. My dd is already drooling :drool: over next year's activity books that have recently arrived. That's me. I went through a picked an activity for each week already, one that I wont' mind *terribly* but he'll still think is great fun. I don't want him going through and picking the messiest, most involved one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeves Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 Thank you all for the input! I think I will get the lapbook templates and we'll see if we like them! But I definitely think I will not base all my hopes on them (which is what I wanted to do before reading these ideas!), and maybe pick out a few other activities from the TOG package that I can "handle" and that help with retaining the information. Thank you for the encouragement! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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