SCRAPBOOKS AS A TEACHING TOOL

Making Scrapbooks: A Valuable Homeschool Tool

Making Scrapbooks: A Valuable Homeschool Tool

by Irene Helen Zundel

In recent years, scrapbooking has become a very popular hobby. Entire magazines and scores of websites are dedicated to providing practical advice, inspiration, and sources of supplies for people who delight in this form of contemporary folk art.

Yes, scrapbooking is interesting, creative and fun. But it is also a valuable educational resource. For those of you who homeschool, as I do, you might want to make it a part of your curriculum--or at least use it as a colorful way to document your child’s academic progress.

The possibilities are endless:

Do you homeschool little ones? Make a scrapbook for teaching the alphabet, learning to count, identifying animals, color, or shapes, or depicting early reading words.

Don’t make the scrapbook for them, let your child help as much as possible! The tactile experience of cutting, coloring, arranging and pasting reinforces the visual and auditory content of what you are teaching. It also helps your child become immersed in the experience of learning in an enjoyable way. Learning by immersion, in a creative, no-stress environment enhances learning immeasurably.

Do you homeschool older children who hate writing reports and doing special projects? Scrapbooking can be an enjoyable way for your grouchy student to document want they have learned. It allows them to add their personalities and creative gifts to their schoolwork, and synthesize their knowledge in an enjoyable way. What kids like, they tend to remember. What is done from compulsion or by rote is soon discarded. Scrapbooking increases learning. Do you have older children whom you are encouraging to trace their family’s roots through history? Scrapbooking is an ideal way to make a pictorial, easy to follow representation of your family tree.

Are you teaching your child current events? Do you use the newspaper headlines to bring home a pertinent life lesson to your child? Creating a scrapbook around world events such as wars, peace negotiations, space flight, natural disasters and presidential elections is a great way to document history, and your child’s reaction to living through those events.

Are you into documenting your child’s milestones? Scrapbooks centering around kindergarten, learning to read, mastering a musical instrument, winning spelling bees, getting first prize in a science fair, scoring high on the SAT, getting an athletic scholarship etc. are all possibilities. It is a nice way to applaud your child’s achievements and to preserve them for coming generations to enjoy.

You can scrabook on a shoestring, or you can make elaborate works of art. It depends on your homeschooling budget, personality, and level of motivation. Following I have listed some basic supplies and general tips to get you started, along with resources for creating scrapbooks, and tracing your family tree.

Once you get started, you might get hooked! Or at the very least have a kid who is enthusiastic about school...

Basic supplies:

scrapbook album, paper, card stock, glue, pens, scissors, rubber stamps, stickers, pressed flowers etc.

Scrapbook Basics:

Choose acid-free paper to prevent yellowing and deterioration over time.

Arrange all elements before gluing. This allows for re-arrangement and creative impulse to assist in producing a better looking page.

Make sure to label and add basic information, such as names, dates, places etc.

Put the focus on the photos and mementos that are the theme of the page. Stickers and other decorative accents should enhance, not overpower the presentation.

For more information on scrapbooking, try:

The Eclectic Homeschool Association website

http://www.eho.org/features/scrapbooking.htm

Your Family magazine March/April 2003 issue

Grandma’s Scrapbook (childrens story)

Josephine Nabisso

Gingerbread Books

available at http://www.gingerbreadbooks.com

For clip art and other decorative items you can print on your computer:

http://www.dltk-kids.com

For resources about tracing your family tree and documenting it in a scrapbook:

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/articles/oct01/ideas.html