If you have been in homeschooling circles for any length of time, then you are probably familiar with the term, “Lapbooking”. If not, now that you have heard the term, you will more than likely hear it again. Lapbooking is a wonderful learning activity that combines some of the methods of Dinah Zike with homeschooling, making learning easy, fun, and useful.
A Lapbook is made by taking a Manila Folder and opening it flat. Then you take both sides of the folder and fold them inwards until they meet in the middle. You then fill the Lapbook with all sorts of great learning materials. Here is a link to a wonderful site that includes photos of Lapbooks. Peakmore Academy
Since many homeschooling moms make great use of the Internet, Lapbooking is a wonderful way to store and save materials that have been printed off of the Internet. Worksheets, crossword puzzles, little crafts, vocabulary words, can all be included in the Lapbook.
One of the best things about creating a Lapbook is that there are no set rules. You can add pockets, compartments, and any types of worksheets that you like. We made a wonderful “Learning to Read” Lapbook. I tend to be very creative, and our Learning to Read Lapbook, literally unfolded as we made it. We strung some alphabet letters, (the kind you can purchase at Wal-Mart) on a sturdy piece of yarn, which I had attached through two small holes in the top back center of the Lapbook. When my daughter Rhema would open up the Lapbook, she could slide the letters across. We then had all of her Alphabet mini books, little printable Alphabet puzzles, and some stick puppets included in the Lapbook.
This is just one example of how we personalized our own Lapbook. My older children have made them as well and they are all well suited to be adapted to any subject, age level or material.
There are some wonderful Lapbooking groups that discuss different things such as clipart, papers, stamps, etc. that you can use to enhance your Lapbook. You really can be as elaborate as you want with your Lapbook, even taking it over to a “Scrapbooking” level if you desire.
One of the best things about Lapbooking is that after a subject is learned, your child has a tangible concrete record of everything they’ve learned. Reviewing subjects is a breeze, and finally, when making Lapbooks, you always have “something to show” if anyone is interested in seeing what your children are learning.