Why Lapbooks?

Why so many lapbooks lately?

That’s a 2-part answer. 1) Munchkin has really fallen in love with using lapbooks as a means of learning. 2) I have more time to create the lapbooks now as we’re watching the Olympics. I don’t like just sitting and watching tv, but I really like watching the Olympics (as does Munchkin).

How do we use the lapbooks?

Usually, we use lapbooks as the core for a certain part of our curriculum (often science or history). We fill out the lapbooks as we go through the unit. I precut the booklets as Munchkin does not like cutting them out. After we do the reading for the day, I will give her the booklets to fill out. Once we are done with the unit, we’ll assemble the lapbook. Many times, she’ll do the layout, and I’ll do the actual assembly (she dislikes gluing as well).

Sometimes, we’ll use the lapbooks as a review for something that we’ve learned. In this case, I may assemble the lapbook ahead of time. She’ll fill in the lapbooks as a method of seeing how much she remembers.

There are also times that we’ll be working on something throughout the school year (such as the Presidents and States lapbook), so I assemble those ahead of time. She likes to have all of that information ahead of time. It also assures that we don’t misplace any of the booklets.

We’ll continue to do lapbooks as long as they continue to work for Munchkin’s learning style.