SOTW I Lapbooks for FREE!!!

My Haddon is a crafty sort of guy. He loves to color, cut, glue, and put it all together. Projects are his thing. He is always making journals and coming up with his own little creations. He cracks me up. Thatcher...not so much. He is a "just give me the facts" kinda kid! I lean more towards Thatcher's style. Poor Haddon. ;)

I have been thinking about how I will approach history with Haddon next year, as we will begin back with the Ancients, and I knew that what worked for Thatcher will not work as well for him. He will really benefit from hands-on projects. I contacted Peace Hill Press (publishers of SOTW) and asked if possibly there might be lapbooks in the works to go along with any volume of SOTW. Right about this same time I saw a post on a message board about this wonderful mom who has created fabulous lapbooks and is sharing them for free!! Yes, for free. They are amazing.

PHP got back to me and said that there were currently no plans for SOTW lapbooks but you know where they pointed me? The same blog! And she has SOTW II lapbooks in progress right now as well. Rush over to her blog, The Chronicle of the Earth, and download her zip file right away for Volume I lapbooks. Thank you so very much, Alia!

Lapbooks 101

Have you discovered lapbooks? I heard them mentioned on websites and homeschool message boards but had no clue what they were until just a few days ago. Wow! These are little golden nuggets. I am definitely going to find as many ways as possible to integrate these into our school next year. For classical homeschoolers, they are an alternative to notebooking for younger students. I think they will be a breath of fresh air now and again to keep things from getting stale; my little guy loves to change things up!

A lapbook is "an educational learning tool made from a folder and meant to take the place of worksheets." (from Literature Amidst Roses). You can buy pre-made kits from many sellers and simply cut and paste them together. I personally like the more "organic" feel of those that are homemade.

Basically, start by taking a file folder and fold the outside flaps into a "shutter fold" creating a booklet that opens up. On the inside creatively display all the information learned about a particular subject using mini-books, flaps, photos and any other means you can contrive. These little books are fun, and the idea is that they are so engaging children will want to go back to them time and again - thus reviewing the information over and over! How often do children pull out workbook pages to proudly show grandparents and neighbors? How often will they want to pull out a booklet they researched, cut, colored and glued? That's the idea!

Here are some of my favorite places to discover more for yourself:

• First, a wonderful YouTube video of a homeschool mom displaying her children's lapbooks.

• Next, you can check out Tobin's lab - the group trademarking the term "lap book" - for some great how-to books and CD's. I've been told that Tammy's DVD is wonderful.
  
• Literature Amidst Roses has some great information about exactly what lap books are and the difference between lapbooking and notebooking. One note: many of their links listed in the left-hand column are not current.
  
• Knowledge Quest is another source of great information.
  
• Creative Publishing has wonderful information including directions and print-outs for making lapbooks as well as mini-books to fill them up.
• Dinah Zike's Big Book of Books is described as a must-have almost everywhere you see lap books mentioned. Our library system does not have this title so I think I may need to buy this one!
  
• In the Hands of a Child has lots of pre-made lapbook kits you can purchase if you are in a hurry or, like me, new to the whole lapbooking world. This website is a great resource to see tons of examples as well. If you click on any of their kits it will show a photo of the finished product, and you can even download a sample on most. This website gave me tons of ideas to help get the creative juices flowing.
• Knowledge Box Central is another site to buy ready to assemble lapbooks. This company has even created specific lapbooks to go along with TOG.
  
• Live and Learn Press is yet another place for pre-made lapbooks including lapbooks to go along with Apologia Science. This company calls lapbooks "Learn 'N Folders".
  

I am looking forward to posting a picture of our first lapbook in the weeks to come!