I must begin with the fact that we are HUGE lapbook fans in our homeschool. In fact, I dedicated an entire post to them that you can read here.
Lapbooking is a means of hands on learning. We all know the benefits of hands-on learning. Students learn and retain the most information when they are engaged physically with the learning and "do" something, rather than just passively sitting and hearing or reading about it.
The lapbook itself is assembled with file folders and there is always a section to lift or fold. (kids just love manipulating them!) Different templates are utilized (booklets, wheels, cards, etc.) to include important information about the topic the student is learning. Lapbooking is active learning. The student is cutting, pasting, researching, DOING. They love it and the results are always impressive.
Our Lapbook Project Pack was made available to us by instant download. Right off, I brought my flash drive to Office Max and had it printed and bound. I am definitely a visual person and like to have the material in my hands. You certainly could just print off the pages you would need each day if that is easier for you. I have done that in the past, as well.
The pack included a 6-day Planning Guide, Related Reading List, 15 hands-on activities plus 1 fun extension and 1 bonus activity, 14-page Research Guide and Answer Key about why national parks were formed, the National Park Service, an introduction to some of the most visited parks, National Park issues, protecting the National Parks and more!
Here is a synopsis of all that Kiddos 3 and 4 got to do while learning about our National Parks. They added vocabulary words each day, we read the reading(s) and completed various activities, that included making a postcard and making fact cards on each park. They even analyzed visitor statistics and learned about preservation.
They have already let hubby and I know that they want to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon first, followed by all of the rest of the parks! :-) How wonderful to spark a child's interest in such a way tht they become so excited and eager to learn more about a place and to visit it! This is the beauty of lapbooking, friends.
In the Hands of a Child has hundreds of lapbooks and notebooks to choose from in every possible subject area and covering every age group from preschool through high school.
What is a notebook? For those who do not like the cutting, pasting and artsy type of crafting of the lapbooks, there are notebooks. The pages are journaled in and then placed in a 3-ring binder. Most of the subject areas are available in both formats (lapbooks and notebooks), so HOAC has you covered.
The National Parks Lapbook retails for $12, but right now is available for $5! (along with some other titles). I know your family will enjoy it as much as mine.
