I'll be entering into our second year of TOG and have not tried using the lapbooks. Can anyone give me some feedback on how helpful they are? Thanks!

Kara

I think a lot depends on your children. I am pretty sure TOG has a sample one, download it and print it out. Think about would your children, like cutting it out, filling in the spaces, pasting it in?

I know some children who like them so much they don't use the TOG ones because the child creates their own book.

On the other hand in our family, they were not well received. Too much small writing for boys who don't have that and might never (their dad had to come back and type an exam in law school). Also it felt too much like just putting down separated facts to us. We much prefer to do the discussion questions and some real hands on projects for the more creative part of our school.

We have used TOG's lapbook kits this year with an 8 ds and 7 dd. They have worked out beautifully with my dc! They have enjoyed them so much that we had to order each one their own kit for Y4 Unit 3! Before that, they worked on one lapbook together (each picking out which topics they wanted to write on). The key to me is that these kits have got them writing! Plus, it helps us to see, at a glance, what we have studied over the course of the unit. It has also been a great tool to show grandparents that the dc are learning something!

Brenda

Depends on the child. Brenda had great results, Pat not Pattie and I didn't. My daughter does everything s l o w l y . Very very very slowly. And, her handwriting seemed to come late. She has an academic nature with amazing reading and language arts skills, so I thought lapbooks would be just her thing. I might try again when she's older, but I know for her they didn't work at the 1st and 2nd grade levels.

I know another mom who's daughter just couldn't seem to find a way to "do" school until lapbooks. The lapbooks allowed her daughter to synthesize all she had learned with only a little writing in a format she could review and show to other people. It was a huge blessing to both student and mom. Academically it seemed to be more than just a "project" for her daughter, really a stepping stone to much better learning.

It's possible you just won't know until you've tried it!

My kids LOVE the lapbooks! (I am using it with 8.5 daughter & almost 7 year old son.) It has been a fun way for my children to share w/ Daddy & other family members what they are learning- esp for my son! I do not do a lot of the other projects.

Highly recommend it for younger students!