Liana immediately took to the idea of making a lapbook. She created the one on birds as a review of all the topics we covered this year and then the orchestra book was just her own idea because musical instruments greatly interest her. Arielle was more reluctant to make one. I gave her a choice from different subjects she's studied and she finally settled on Vincent Van Gogh. It's finally complete! Here is how she did it:
On the cover is a picture of one of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings. When the lapbook is opened, she has displayed several of his self-portraits and an accordian-fold time line of his life. On the flaps on either side are questions and answers. Inside the first page is a gallery of paintings. Then the next section is a written report about Van Gogh. I had given Arielle the option of making a lapbook OR writing a report in the conventional way of reviewing a subject. Still, she chose to write a mini-report anyway and then put it in her book. That's her style of learning.
Arielle also has a pocket with index cards with "fun facts about Vincent Van Gogh." We had some trouble finding maps of the different countries where Van Gogh lived because the individual maps are not to scale with each other. But she does have small maps of England, the Netherlands, and France marked with the important cities and corresponding events of his life.
Lapbooks are not Arielle's preferred way of learning, but I think she enjoyed making her book and it stretched her in a different direction and that was good for her.
Please share your ideas on lapbooks!
2 comments:
A friend from church just started doing lapbooks with her daughter. She started it as a way to give her daughter more control of the lesson. I love the idea. In Waldorf, which is where I would have been sending Deladis had we stayed in the city, they make their own textbooks. As a teacher, this is a tremendous idea, and a great way to measure what a child has learned. I like that you gave them options as well. As a kid, I would have rather written a report. My husband would have done the lapbook.
Different learning styles! That is the joy of homeschooling--to be able to find the best way your child learns. Lapbooks are perfect for reviewing a topic. Liana is proud of her bird book and loves to show people and talk about it. Every time she does that, she is going over all she learned.
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