Lapbooking in Home Schooling

It has been on my mind to share a little piece of our learning this year with you. A few years ago, a close friend of mine shared information about lapbooking with me. We were doing notebooking, unit studies and making books (Binding Books Beautifully) as part of our school at that time, therefore I did not pursue the information then. However, I came to realize that many of the book projects we had made in our studies where projects that lapbooking uses as well - The Big Book of Books by Dinah Zike was a well-used resource for us. We have continued to do those mentioned methods of learning to date, however THIS school year we DID venture down the road of lapbooking and what fun it has been!

Our first lapbook study was over the summer. We invited a friend of the boys' to join us. Our study was on the Art of Fencing - further enhanced with fencing classes through Adult Education. I purchased "Fencing: Ancient to Modern" from the Hands of a Child lapbooking curriculum company http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/ and we got started. The boys (not big on writing BTW) really enjoyed and looked forward to our classes...I think I taught the class over three or four sessions.

After we began school in August, I decided to host a co-op class in our home using the lapbooking method. Our topic - Christian Missionaries to Know - also purchased from the Hands of a Child. In order not to exclude younger siblings and to make it easier on families (like my own) with multiple ages, I separated K-2 from 3rd and above, utilizing a different lesson plan I developed for the younger students...which did include some of the lapbook projects from the curriculum I purchased. This class was taught over a 9 week class period, 2 hours per session. We focused on 4 different missionaries, allowing two weeks per missionary and the first week was a class on missions. Our children thoroughly enjoyed the time of learning with friends. The curriculum gave me a base to work from, while I added to the curriculum by including documentary viewing time, playing missions related games, included in-class biography/lecture time and an oral report assignment for each country of the highlighted missionary - totaling 4 - (although it would be fine to use the curriculum exclusively if you choose).

Picture 1 = front cover (designed to look like a missionary's suitcase)

Picture 2 = inside of the double folder - front section open (Missions, Gladys Aylward - then inside right section is David Livingstone, Amy Carmichael and some of George Mueller)


Picture 3 = larger picture of inside right section

Picture 4 = the two half folds from front and back folders (vocab book & remaining George Mueller)

Picture 5 = back cover (a picture of the world with Scripture verses: Matt. 28:19, Romans 12:9 & Romans 10:17)

The next co-op we hosted in our home was a lapbooking class on Weather. This, too, was for K-2nd and 3rd -8th. This class was completed over one day per week for 6 weeks, 2 hours each class. We had a larger group this time. Our study was completed by compiling all the mini project books into a Weather lapbook, then listening to each student give an oral presentation of research they completed on a selected topic related to weather. As an extra enhancement, we toured the local Emergency Management Facility and learned about the different tasks this organization does during severe weather conditions.

In addition to the Fencing, Christian Missionaries to Know and Weather lapbooks, our children (boy 13, boy 9 and girl 6) have completed individual lapbooks. My 13 year old has done lapbooks on The United States Navy and Gardening. My 9 year old has completed a literature based one on the Little House in the Big Woods. Finally, our 6 year old made a Resurrection Day lapbook before Resurrection Sunday. The three of them are now currently working on a Memorial Day lapbook and we are planning to attend a special program next month, at our local library, called Veterans in the Classroom as a conclusion to our study.

There are many websites out there for getting ideas and examples of lapbook studies. Free studies are available at http://www.lapbooklessons.com/index.html and http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php if you want to try one without investing in 'curriculum'. You can also check used curriculum sites for lapbook studies to purchase at a reduced rate. Some of the websites you might want to search are: http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/default.asp , http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/default.asp and of course, http://www.ebay.com/ . For more information about what lapbooking is check out http://lapbooking.wordpress.com/ .

I will include more pictures later of each of their books - so check back soon.

To God be the Glory and at the center of all learning!