to lapbook or not to lapbook….

We have done more than 50 lapbooks. Not kidding in the least. We started lapbooking with my oldest in K (she’s now 6th)and have done some with a few of my other children as well. Here are my widely varied thoughts on what we loved, what didn’t work, and why we don’t lapbook a lot now.

– Loved that it was contained in one place, that there was a crafty/cut out/decorate component, and that she really learned from and looked at them later. She loved to look back through them, read and remember our unit studies (this was begun in our pre-CM days), and share them with anyone who would look.

– What didn’t work as well was lapbooking with non-crafty children. My second child was scissors phobic for a long time and hated the whole idea. While he did a few lapbooks on subjects he was passionate about, it was not something he asked to do much at all. So we didn’t. If they don’t love it I don’t want to drag them through it. Child #3 enjoyed lapbooks more than him and she’s done several happily, though not nearly the number oldest did.

– Why we don’t lapbook much now – nobody asks to and I’m all about simplifying with so many little ones in the house. We do notebooking pages and narration and that works for us. However when a child asks to do a lapbook I open up my folder full of topics on the computer and turn them loose to pick what they want to do. Or I hand them blank templates and they make one on a topic I don’t own.

We don’t do them. I think they sound great, and could be an asset. But I’m just not creative and I think my kids would rather have free time than add something else on:)  We just read, narrate, do a history timeline once a week, some notebooking during Bible time, fill out maps for geography…that’s about it:)  

I am totally not into them myself.  I looked into them a lot a couple of years ago before we got full swing into CM.  In my opinion, from what I have read, seen, and heard about them, they tend to make the connections for the kids.  Especially pre-made ones.  And CM is all about letting the child make the connections for him/herself.  Maybe I have misunderstood them, but that is the impression I get.  Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

We have done some lapbooking in the past (way past) and just haven’t gotten to them again.  My oldest would not be interested at all; he barely enjoys journaling, written narrations on nice paper, keeping a notebook, etc. (he’s just not into making things look nice or the nicer the paper seems a waste of ink/time/money).  He’s into spiral notebooks/composition books/simple binders: the simpler, the better.

Now my middle dc would like lapbooking.  But….he would expect me to help him or do it w/ him and I  just don’t have the time. When we do our notebooking/written narrations/BOC, he already needs so much encouragement/direction (not because he really *needs* it or isn’t creative, but because he likes me to sit and watch everything he does, or always asks me questions). As independent as he is, he doesn’t seem to like to do anything on his own. If he wanted to do a lapbook and I gave him one on one condition, that he do it on his own, that wouldn’t last long.  He would constantly tell me he doesn’t know what to do, etc.  It would just add more to my day than we already have. 

With that said, I needed something to do w/ my youngest dc and decided on some unit studies for science (I needed something to do w/ the picture books we already have) to get us through the end of our school year.  I decided to do a simple lapbook w/ him and will allow his br. to join us.  I can do this with the idea that it is to get us through the end of the year and I know my dc will like them (not the oldest, of course). 

I used to really like them, but that was before CM/narrations, etc.,  AND, that our family has so much going on already.  I did browse the currclick site and decided on a few things, but no lapbooks.

ETA: The “connection” problem was what I started to notice, too, and that it was more work for me, than for my dc, especially if they are not independent with the material.  But that is just my opinion and specific to my dc.

Not a go here. Too much cutting and pasting and busywork for us.

Thanks 2flowerboys, that’s a good point! I just tend to feel that we already do so much that’s it’s hard to add yet one more thing in. Plus in the past artsy stuff can take forever w/kids w/perfectionist tendencies:) They do look neat, though!

I consider myself creative and crafty. However, I can’t bring myself to do a lap book with my dd. When I look at lap book materials I get the same feeling I get when I look at Pinterest. (Confused, cluttered, impractical assortment of oddities). Now that is not to say that I could not enjoy lap books or Pinterest for that matter, if I could learn how to navigate the clutter to find what I want and what could be useful to us. I just tend to break out in mental rashes when I am presented with what looks like chaos or clutter.

This is meant to be light hearted so please all of you who love lap books don’t hate me. Lol!!! I am afraid I know where my lapbookaphobia comes from. Our first year HSing, we joined a coop and I was a helper in a class with 6-9 yr olds. The class was on the fifty states. We were covering 5 states a week and doing a lap book. At first I thought, “what an awesome idea!”. By week ten I was singing the hallelujah chorus!!!! Having 12 children (some reading and writing and some not) doing 5 states a week in a 45min. Time slot was a little overwhelming for a new hs mom. I remembering walking away from that class with the profound impression that if I never did another lapbook in my life it wouldn’t offend me!!!! Lol!!!!