Last week, Kathryn and I finished creating our very first lapbook! We started on a composers lapbook first, but that one is still in process. This one, however, is all done — and very cool!
The projects and plan for this lapbook is part of our WinterPromise curriculum on early American history, but the New World Explorers CD is available for purchase from Homeschool in the Woods. With this CD, you can print all the masters for the lapbook, or you could do the projects to put in a notebook instead of a lapbook, if that’s more your style.
We took several weeks to work on this. The most creative project Kathryn did was creating a brochure to convince Europeans to want to come to the “New World.” It’s fabulous — and funny. I expected her to balk at doing it, but she took the idea and ran with it. I think she’ll have to be in charge of marketing and advertising for our business! 😉 (You can see the cover “Come Visit Virginia” in the photos below.)
Even the doubloons and pieces of eight we made go in this, in a pocket that looks like a treasure chest, which is what Kathryn is making here:
A couple of photos of our finished product…
So why didn’t we ever make a lapbook before? Honestly, it just seemed like too much trouble, especially if I had to come up with everything on my own. But with this, I didn’t. And it was fun! Kathryn enjoyed it, it was very hands-on and helped cement what she has been learning, and I love that we have such an easy-to-keep record of our studies. We’ve already started working on a new lapbook for our Colonial studies, and we’ll be working on it for the next few weeks. Of course, I’ll post about it, too!
Wife, mama, homeschooler, dog-wrangler. Introvert who finds joy in good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Fitness enthusiast and personal trainer. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand.
Great job! We just love lapbooks!!
Great Job! Love the cover. We really loved lapbooking, we seem to have moved more towards notebooking with the older boys, but I sure do still like lapbooks!
That’s awesome! Lapbooks always seem like something the teacher has to put a lot of time into and the students just basically record and paste information into it. But perhaps there is a way that the students can be the initiators in the process?
If so, I would love to find out how it is done that way. Kathryn certainly seemed like she was engaged in this process and I love the booklet that she made!
Awesome! Looks great! Both of my girls completed a lapbook last year and loved it. My oldest is begging to do a lapbook on horses. I need to get on that. My challenge with lapbooking is finding a pace that is neither to fast or two slow. 🙂
I’ve shared Michelle’s view of lapbooking, but maybe I need to take another look at the idea! My eldest daughter is definitely inclined toward artistic expression so I can see potential for her here. Thanks for sharing! ~K
I have had the same feelings as Michelle. Your lapbook turned out so great though, I might give it a try!
Lovely lapbook! I adore the products from Homeschool in the Woods. We’re big lapbookers at our house. I know, at least for my middle son, they REALLY help him remember the information. He has even commented that he remembers things better when he writes about it in a mini-book. My daughter is doing a lapbook style study guide for Biology which is really helping her study. Now that my children are older, I actually think lapbooking is even more fun with older children. It’s really just all about having a creative outlet for the information. Also, the graphic organizers that… Read more »
That looks wonderful! I shy away from lapbooks because I’m not craft-y and they seem like a lot of trouble and take up a lot of time. So we’ve done the History Pockets, which are lapbook-like. 🙂 But if they are not as labor and time-intensive as I fear, I *know* my girls would enjoy making them! Thanks for the info!
I love it. You/she did a great job on your first one. I will have to show my son. We are doing WP American Story 1 as well.
Wow! It turned out great!
What a wonderful job! I can tell she really had fun. We do a Tapestry lapbook all together as a family and they are such wonderful review and celebration of the unit. I like the pre-printed and then you just cut it out and fix it up kind.
Love lapbooks. We did one for Apologia Science and a literature one last year! Yours looks great!
This looks great! Congrats.
Your lapbook turned out great! We have not done one yet, but I am looking forward to it.
I have always wanted to get into lapbooking with my boys but I am not even sure were to start!! It all seems overwhelming and I have yet to find a website that just TELLS me what the heck I am supposed to do to get this thing started. LOL, I get that telling me what to do isn’t supposed to be the point but I could really use the assistance for the first go-round!
Great job on your lapbook Kathryn!!
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Oh, I love this so much I’m saving the link to show my son. I think I could use this with our history course, too!