Stitch Books (the little sister of lapbooks)

I've always been envious of homeschoolers who do lapbooks. My kids never wanted to do them. While I drooled over the homemade books of colorful information I think the kids were intimidated by the super fancy layouts and big books. My kids are not very good at organization of school materials, reports, Etc. So I laid back for several years and didn't push the issue.

Yesterday I was looking for something for Penelope to do (preschool/K) and I came up with the idea for her to make a number book. I'm glad we were all out of staples because I told her I had a super fun idea for a even better book binding.

I went to work on sewing her a paper book. (It was hardly work, it took 1 minute.)

 And that is when stitch books were born! As I helped Penelope with her numbers I had a talk with my older kids about layout and how to matting/ framing information on projects makes them look nice. They were all interested and I asked them to make books on any subject they wanted. I explained that if we started making books on the subjects and units we learn about we'd build up our own personal library of information. We'd have them to share with the younger kids, and to read and re-learn when needed.


Showing the middle blank pages; stronger and better than a stapled book!



Penelope wanted to name her book "Learning Numbers and All Sorts of Things"


The older kids are working on these:

So as not to overwhelm them with research and layout all at once I asked them to make presentation their main focus; in other words make the stitch book about something they already know a lot about so it's easier to write and research. Since the kids all enjoy drawing I encouraged them to not use
the internet for their projects.

Charlotte has not added words to her mummification stitch book, but I think the pictures are impressive!

 These are really fun and I hope they are a persuasive introduction to the amazing, creative, fun world of lapbooking!

These are also great little books for journal or drawing. My kids always want new sketch pads and after a buying a bunch sketch pads get pricey! These are easy to make and cheap!