I am a self-proclaimed Lapbooking Dummy.
I’ve stared at them longingly. I’ve thumbed through them jealously. I even have an entire stash of file folders begging to be turned into lapbooks, but alas, I just can’t seem to do it. Every time we have tried, we have failed…miserably.
Perhaps it was how much time it took to do them because I was the only one doing all the work. Or perhaps it was the fact that I am a no-nonsense no-busy-work kind of person and I was pretty sure lapbooks fit into the “Busy Work” category. Whatever my subconscious reasoning was, just the thought of file folders made my knees weak. It even became a running joke between myself and all my lapbooking friends…
poor Amy with lapbookaphobia.
Then, a couple of months ago, my lapbooking friend Betty at Peace Creek on the Prairie introduced me to A Journey Through Learning. I noticed this company had a product called a Binder-Builder for a curriculum I was already using – The Prairie Primer. {Read more about how I am using The Prairie Primer with only my younger children.}
A Journey Through Learning graciously let me – yes, poor lapbookaphobic that I am – test out a copy.
It was a large download, covering 3 of the Little House books, so my husband printed it off for me and I put it into a large binder. Then, I purchased a smaller binder for the children to use as their Prairie Primer Binder.
Instead of a file folder, each piece of the binder-builder is either a sheet you 3-hole punch and put in your binder or a piece you cut out and add to a larger paper with several lapbooking components on it. (and yes, I am making copies – doesn’t every good homeschooling mother of more than one do this?!)
I was thrilled that A Journey Through Learning included directions and a diagram of where to place every single piece…a lapbooking dummy’s dream!
My little ones loved putting the binder together. They ask every single day about it and they are so proud to show it off to grandparents. Finally, I understand the WHY behind lapbooking! While it could be considered “busy work,” it is the kind of busy work that solidifies what they are learning, creates a wonderful memory, and gives the children something they can thumb through for years to come. This goes way beyond that silly worksheet you are just going to throw away tomorrow!
In fact, doing this binder taught me something else about lapbooking. You do not have to do every single piece of the lapbook to get the benefit of it! I thought every lapbook had to be perfect with every single piece in place or you would lose the overall effect, while in reality, you can pick and choose and only do what you want to do and still reap the rewards of a memorable piece of school work!
A Journey Through Learning gives away free lapbooks on their site from time to time, so I have been grabbing those up and using them in the same way as the Prairie Primer Binder-Builder. This is so much more my style.
They also have lapbooks for some of the best curriculum out there from TruthQuest to Apologia to Classical Conversations as well as stand alone lapbooks like My State Lapbook and their current Newsletter Freebie Special – Overview of the 17th Century (click over and sign up for their newsletter to get it!)
Angela says
Lapbooks are a recent find for me, but my kids seem to enjoy them so I’m on the hunt for more.
Doula Brandi says
oh this is just what I need to get me comfy with doing lapbooks. I love the concept of lapbooks, just feel a little overwhelmed at getting started!!
Amy says
Exactly my thoughts…love the concept, but they scared me! lol
Suanna says
I’ve never done a lapbook, but occasionally I will staple a series of papers together to make a book about a topic we’ve studied.
Joella says
I have just started lapbooking with my boys this year. Still figuring it out. I look forward to more practice.
Lisa Mather says
Sounds like fun! I’m right there with you as a lapbook phobic. 🙂
Caroline says
We have not ever done a lap book, but I would love to try it! I think my boys would like it. 🙂
Ticia says
I’ve got most of their Apologia ones and LOVE them. They’re remembering so much more this way!
Melissa says
I love lapbooks! This one looks great!
Nikki says
I love the idea of lapbooks, but my daughter doesn’t seem to enjoy them as much as me. I think because it does become a lot of busy work for her. Gotta work on that!
Sonita Lewis says
We love lapbooking! It’s a great way to reinforce learning!
Sandy says
I love lapbooking and I absolutely love A Journey Through Learning. I’m using their Apologia sets right now for Botany. My son loves them. We’re also using the ones for Truthquest. They really make it so easy but fun.
Suzanne Pace says
Hi Amy,
I am a lapbooker only in my mind, and on Pinterest… would love to try on that has it all laid out for me…. hope I win. thanks!
Sandy says
Honestly, anything that involves paper is for me. I love cutting, folding and making the lapbooks.
Tara gunnels says
I am a lap book dummy also, I have tried and failed. But I do plan to look at her site, because I love binders.
Valerie says
Thanks for showing me an interesting site! We are new to notebooking/lapbooking and I like the idea of combining the two concepts.
Lil Momma says
oh goody I am always looking for great lapbooks!!!
Stacy says
I enjoy lapbooks but often don’t take the time…I do love the binder method though, that seems to work best for my little boys and our FIAR journeys.
Jessica Lamontagne says
I would so love to win one of these , I am also lapbook dummy! I just cant seem to get it together 🙂 This would be a great help! 🙂
Carrie says
I’m not a lapbooker yet, but I hope to be when my boys get older. I did lapbooks when I was in school and they were such fun!
Lisa C. says
we love lapbooking here (we do most in a 3 ring binder this year). And love AJTL
Sarah says
I had never heard of these, but I have a 4 year old i’m hoping will love it while big sis does her school.
Amy @ Heritage Homemaker says
So glad to find this!!! I have often wanted to do lap books and felt like a complete dummy, too!
Stephanie says
I would like to be, I haven’t been organized enough yet :O
Janice Adams says
found a , lapbooking site by accident one night tried it out LOVE them I wish I had these when I was in school…
LisaAnn says
We love lapbooks!! Welcome to the crowd LOL 🙂
Rachel S. says
We have completed a couple lap books but not many.
Missy says
I am just curious how old your youngest ones are. My baby is 2 and finding things he is interested in is fairly hard.
nancy says
not a lapbooker yet 🙂 Maybe now…
Thanks!
Nancy
meclarks says
We have completed one lapbook so far this year (1st grade and Pre-K), and have two others “in process”… I like them because there is a finished product to share and show to grandparents and others, and the girls are doing a project, without having to create several large projects!
Tracy says
We like lapbooks, but don’t do them often enough.
Meredith says
I have done a few lapbooks before. They are really fun!
Crystal in Lynden says
I find Lap books interesting but have never done one yet.
Cindy says
I am not a lapbooker at all. But my girl is going to be, so I might as well get used to the idea.
Jamie says
We are currently doing a AJTL lapbook – Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Other than this one, We’ve done 2 mini-lapbooks.
Britta Kreps says
I really like doing lapbooks with my older 2 kiddos. It’s always just a matter of finding a time where we can keep the littles distracted enough that pieces and parts don’t go missing!
Tiffany DeOs says
I used to do lapbooks with my oldest when he was younger but I felt like I was just doing the whole thing too. Now that he is older they may prove to be more useful and I went and looked at the samples pages of the Journey Through Learning ones and they look great!
Heather says
Not a lapbooker…yet!
Sonja says
We are a lapbooking family! I began by using file folders but soon graduated to using card stock in three ring binders. This has worked out much better for us and I love that they are so much easier to save and store this way.
Joesette @ Learning Curve says
We have completed several lapbooks, although none this year (egads, I must rectify that). Would love to win this and cut out some of the leg work for me!!
Joesette
Casey says
A free lapbook would be a great provision for our family right now and my 3 kiddos would love to do one!
Marie says
This would be a great thing for a brand new to homeschooling family.
Charlene says
We love lapbooking at our house!
Nicole Rowles says
I would love to learn lapbooking!
kelli-AdventurezInChildRearing says
I’m an old scrapbooker who recently realized I should put those dusty papers to work in lapbooks for our homeschool- (like I’ll have time for scrapbooking before they all fade away) 🙂 Have not yet tried a curriculum to go with it- just pieced them together myself – would love to try this!
Debra :: Sweet Kisses and Dirty Dishes says
I’ve never even heard of lap books. They look interesting though.
Lecia says
We love lapbooking and want to start adding more lapbooks into our homeschool.
Lecia says
We love lapbooking although I must admit we don’t lapbook as much as I would like to.
Nadene says
I used to think lapbooks were too much fuss, but we have enjoyed them so much in our homeschooling. Now I make our own lapbooks and minibooks (I share them free)and you can read our Time-saving Tips for doing Lapbooks.
As my kids get older, they seem to prefer notebooking to lapbooks, so enjoy them while your kids are young.
Kristina Best says
I am not a lapbooker yet. I just don’t know where to begin or what to do.
Tina Savasuk says
I love the idea of lapbooking but so agree with everyhting you said in your post. I totally identify with being a lapbooking dummy. this looks wonderful! Thanks for the opportunity to win!
Kala says
I have never lapbooked, but it looks like so much fun and something my kids would like…but its too overwhelming to thinking about putting together. This looks like it takes all the guess work out of it!
Tammi says
We tend to go back and forth between lapbooks and
notebooking. My children like both, and the variety is nice. I would like to have my name entered into the drawing for a lapbook from A Journey Through Learning. Thank you.
Blessings,
Tammi
Caroline says
I am not a lapbook-er yet, but I have a great interest in it! This resource looks very useful. Thanks for this kind opportunity!
Sherry says
Not a lapbooker, but have always been interested in them.
Susan says
Thank you so much for this post. I too think of lapbooking in a perfectionistic way. You have helped me relax my expectations.
Helen says
Thanks for introducing me to the Binder Builder as I too have lapbook phobia. 🙂
RG says
I have never done a lapbook with my kids, but I admire those who do and have even planned to, just never actually done it. I am not crafty and it seems like a lot of printer ink… Excuses, excuses…
Hillary says
We have done some lapbooking. My children would love to do more. I like what the binder-builder looks like. I’ve not seen those before. As long as I have all of the little booklets prepared before we even get started, lapbooking can be fun for everyone. When I am not prepared, it can suck the fun right out of it. (Pick me, pick me!)
Elizabeth says
Looks like fun! I can see my daughters being VERY excited about this!
Sarah says
This looks so neat! I didn’t even know about lapbooking until I saw this post! Would love to win one and try it!
Jenn P says
I love these type of lapbooks! We’ve used them for our apologia science.
Rebecca says
My daughter would love these. We have done a couple lapbooks but they take a lot of time on my part this would be perfect.
The Tadey (Lisa B) says
Ohhh I love lapbooks but we never seem to finish. Probably because it’s me doing most of the work. But this binder idea looks fun!!
emily says
I’m not a lapbooker but part of the reason is because the thought of taking on yet another project scared me. But, I’m willing to give it a try!
Jessica says
I’m not a lapbooker, but would like to try!
Niki says
I have never done lapbooks with the kids, but love to scrapbook so I know I should be able to do these!
Rebecca says
I have never lap booked because I feel like a dummy too. I would love to give this a try though.
Aimee says
I’m not a lapbooker but it looks so much fun and hands on learning is what my kids like. I want to learn.
allison says
not a lapbooker yet, but maybe someday!
Reggie says
I’m going to have to google this. I have no earthly idea what a lapbook is. I guess that makes me lapbook illiterate?