Lapbooking

In Singapore, I guess homeschooling is not entirely popular / common hence resources are not as wide and as comprehensive I wish it were. Some of my mummy friends have reached out to me in various stages of their parenting journey on how and how to start homeschooling, what can they do, how much to do, how often, etc.?

For Dumpling's homeschooling journey, we started with books and extending it to crafts when she was very young. It was mainly activities more for motor skills development and also as a FTWM, it gives me an avenue to bond with her through homeschooling. As she got older, we found lapbooking to be fun and yet a great method to "keep" all the resources properly - in a file.

Lapbooking may not be very heard off here in Singapore as yet but has far been a popular choice of homeschoolers in countries such as the US. Here's the lo down on lapbooking.

What is lapbooking?

As shared in Lapbooking 101, a lapbook is an inexpensive portfolio or collection of mini-books, flaps, and folded display material, that provides interactive space for drawings, stories, graphs, graphics, timelines, diagrams, and written work, from any topic, unit study, book you choose, gathered, glued, and creatively displayed in a coloured standard sized cardboard folder, often folded in a “shutter-fold” (though our family doesn’t), that fits in your lap.

What does it consist of?

It is a project book or folder, laid out in a creative manner, with many smaller elements such as "mini books", pockets, sleeves, etc. that are being pasted into a file folder and can then fit in the child’s lap, hence the name.

What does it do?

I do not know about other homeschooling mummies but personally, for me, lapbooking is a good way for me to organise and keep/preserve the resources as everything is being pasted / attached to the folder.

For me, in each of my lapbooking session, I would extend it out to cover perhaps writing readiness exercises or counting or even some bits on science activities. So with such a "format", it almost "trains" / "directs" me to research for materials / free printables systematically.

Where and how do I start?

I find working around a theme (e.g. a particular animal) / book easiest. Here's a link to a video to see how the various elements would look in an insects lapbook. The idea is you call the shots - if you want to add on more literature arts bit / math readiness and you plan out accordingly.

And if you are looking for some quick printables to start off, here's a good site to go to.