I am a self-proclaimed Lapbooking Dummy.

I’ve stared at them longingly. I’ve thumbed through them jealously. I even have an entire stash of file folders begging to be turned into lapbooks, but alas, I just can’t seem to do it.  Every time we have tried, we have failed…miserably.

Perhaps it was how much time it took to do them because I was the only one doing all the work.  Or perhaps it was the fact that I am a no-nonsense no-busy-work kind of person and I was pretty sure lapbooks fit into the “Busy Work” category.  Whatever my subconscious reasoning was, just the thought of file folders made my knees weak.  It even became a running joke between myself and all my lapbooking friends…

poor Amy with lapbookaphobia.

Then, a couple of months ago, my lapbooking friend Betty at Peace Creek on the Prairie introduced me to A Journey Through Learning.  I noticed this company had a product called a Binder-Builder for a curriculum I was already using – The Prairie Primer. {Read more about how I am using The Prairie Primer with only my younger children.}

A Journey Through Learning graciously let me – yes, poor lapbookaphobic that I am – test out a copy.

It was a large download, covering 3 of the Little House books, so my husband printed it off for me and I put it into a large binder.  Then, I purchased a smaller binder for the children to use as their Prairie Primer Binder.

Instead of a file folder, each piece of the binder-builder is either a sheet you 3-hole punch and put in your binder or a piece you cut out and add to a larger paper with several lapbooking components on it. (and yes, I am making copies – doesn’t every good homeschooling mother of more than one do this?!)

I was thrilled that A Journey Through Learning included directions and a diagram of where to place every single piece…a lapbooking dummy’s dream!

My little ones loved putting the binder together.  They ask every single day about it and they are so proud to show it off to grandparents.  Finally, I understand the WHY behind lapbooking!  While it could be considered “busy work,” it is the kind of busy work that solidifies what they are learning, creates a wonderful memory, and gives the children something they can thumb through for years to come.  This goes way beyond that silly worksheet you are just going to throw away tomorrow!

In fact, doing this binder taught me something else about lapbooking.  You do not have to do every single piece of the lapbook to get the benefit of it!  I thought every lapbook had to be perfect with every single piece in place or you would lose the overall effect, while in reality, you can pick and choose and only do what you want to do and still reap the rewards of a memorable piece of school work!

A Journey Through Learning gives away free lapbooks on their site from time to time, so I have been grabbing those up and using them in the same way as the Prairie Primer Binder-Builder.  This is so much more my style.

They also have lapbooks for some of the best curriculum out there from TruthQuest to Apologia as well as stand alone lapbooks like My State Lapbook and their current Newsletter Freebie Special – Overview of the 17th Century (click over and sign up for their newsletter to get it!)

And on November 8th at 7pm CST, you’ll want to mark your calendars for their ABSOLUTELY HUGE FACEBOOK PARTY!  I am so excited about all the products they will be giving away from their own site and others.  You will not want to miss this!  {more info here!}

But, guess what you can do right this very second?!

You can win an AJTL Lapbook product of your choice!

Right here on Raising Arrows
{aka No More a Lapbooking Dummy Blog}!

Here’s how to enter…