Lapbooking......NOT for us

Since we are still new at this I am constantly trying out new learning techniques in order to find out what works best for us.  Something that I have read and heard about constantly is lapbooking.  There is also a form called notebooking, the difference being to my understanding is that lapbooking is geared towards younger children while notebooking is toward older ones.  They are both ways to keep a physical product logging what you have learned in a certain subject.  Lapbooking is done with a file folder and various cut and paste objects, notebooking is a more detailed written version of the same only it is kept in a composition notebook or something similar it can also contain cut and paste items.  Since we were not 100% sure what to do I downloaded pre-made lapbooking kits for us to use.  After coloring, studying, and cutting them we were ready to assemble.  Since we are Pre-K and K the boys each did different ones, Weston did his on animals and Colton the letter A. 

Animals and A the front view

Inner folds......fold out facts, pockets and pockets with flashcards

Inside....fact flaps, cut and paste A objects

Back...animal facts and fact flaps for A

In general I love this concept and the kids definitely absorbed what they learned BUT.....it took us two days to complete them.  One contained five pages of coloring while the other had eight.  On day one they finished the coloring but by the end their attention spans were done so we held off on cutting, pasting and assembling.  Day two we cut out all the various objects Weston of course had help but Colton did his own, by the end both Colton and myself had sore fingers and zero patience.  I folded the file folders and we finished up.  The kids love them and they are very proud of them but at the end of the project when they both said "We don't want to do this again, it took forever." I found myself silently grateful.  From a logical view point there is no way we will have time to spend two days on one activity, even though I'm sure we would become quicker at it should we stick with it.  From a in my opinion view point it was a PAIN!! I'm not saying don't try it because it is a wonderful learning tool and lots of people love it both the kids and adults however it is most definitely NOT for us at this moment.  I can now check that off of our learning list as a not repeating anytime soon activity.  Maybe in a couple of years when they are older we will try again with more success.

http://www.abcteach.com/  This is a wonderful website with pretty much any download you might be interested in.  They do have some free downloads but in order to have access to everything you have to become a member.  I found both of these kits in the section labeled lapbooking.