Two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Heidi St. John (the author of the book I’m reviewing) at our homeschool convention here in N.M., so if course, I was so happy to be chosen to be part of the review team for a variety of her works, all of which come from Real Life Press.
When given a choice among what was offered, I asked for the Ebook Lapbooking Made Simple.
Like Heidi St. John, I am an accidental homeschooler. This is truly something I NEVER envisioned myself doing, but then when my first child aged out of his pre-primary impaired classroom into kindergarten, he was going for a full day, half in a regular classroom and half in a special needs classroom. This was not working. They didn’t challenge him at all, and he often even went missing from the classroom, without it even being noticed for some time! Eventually, we decided that I couldn’t do any worse, and the one on one might be good. Like Heidi, I also attempted to recreate “school” at home. This. Did. Not. Work. We had way more tears than we had fun, or even any actual learning! Finally, I ditched “school at home”, and went sort of eclectic/relaxed, for the most part.
Full disclosure here, one of the main reasons I asked for Lapbooking Made Simple was that I already own some of the other offerings, having purchased (and gotten them autographed!) at convention. 🙂 Beyond that, though, we do enjoy lapbooking, but have yet to do one that is completely self designed, as opposed to “print, cut out, fill in and glue”.
We actually discovered lapbooking by accident several years ago, when we went to visit some good friends for their kids birthdays, and we were going to watch “Kung Fu Panda”. I thought we might as well learn about REAL Giant Pandas, so I hit the internet. I actually found a simple little lapbook for it somewhere, and we added our own touches, like some stills from the movie. But, even that was for the most part, pre-designed for us. Not that we don’t enjoy the lapbooks we’ve done that are pre-designed, we totally do, but Heidi St. John, with her Ebook Lapbooking Made Simple, shows us (and you), how to easily take ANY topic of interest, and design your own lapbook.
I like her one Golden Rule: Your lapbook belongs to your child. Don’t take over and do it for him. (pg. 6)
This is a rule *I* needed to hear, for sure. I am an avid scrapbooker and card maker, so I really have to check myself when it comes to this, because what looks right to my kids may NOT be what I would have done at all, and I never want them to feel their “creation” isn’t good.
In this 54 page book, Heidi St. John gives so many tips on lapbooking! Not too far in, she reveals her top five lapbooking tips. She also shows us how to slow down and start simply, and that it is important that the child have FUN with it. If I make my child feel that it has to be “perfect”, he is not likely to want to do another lapbook, right?
Further in, we are given tips on folding the file folders to make single lapbooks, double lapbooks, and even more advanced lapbooks!
There are abundant online resources within this Ebook that are linked so that you may simply click on them and go check them out, which is one thing I really enjoy being able to do. The final 19 pages are full of printable templates for a variety of minibooks and such that your children can make their own, no matter wht topic they are currently studying. This is one of the best things about lapbooking!
Do not allow the length (54 pages) of this book to deceive you! It is chock full of ideas that I know my family will be using! And at the low price of $7.95, I think it’s quite a bargain!
To find out what my fellow crew members thought of this and other products from Real Life Press, please click the banner below . . .
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