A TOS Review: U.S. Elections Lapbook

Undoubtedly, your television screen and news feeds are filled with politics these days. As caustic and unreasonable as politics appears to be there is no excuse for being ill-informed. We have been given a roll in this country of ours and we all need to be aware of the political process.

I was blessed to have some fantastic teachers in High School and then college who were passionate about our system of government. It can be overwhelming to wade through with all the jargon…“electoral colleges” and “delegates” and “super delegates.” I recently received major assistance from Home School in the Woods with HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections. This has been a fun review for Josiah and a good refresher for me!

I have raved about Home School in the Woods for years. They simply do excellent work. Home School in the Woods features lap books, timelines, history studies…did I mention their timelines are simply fabulous?

I really believe that lapbooking is a terrific hands-on learning tool. HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections is exciting and interactive. I received the downloadable version, but you can purchase the CD if that is more your speed. The study is intended for grades 3-8.

Upon receiving my download, I immediately sat down and got a lay of the land. There are a lot of moving parts with this product. There are detailed project directions and instructions for assembly so I wasn’t left in the dark. There are a total of 21 lapbooking activities as well as a printable reading text. I was THRILLED to discover that there are also audio files of the reading text. This is such a help for my dyslexic boy. Sometimes he just needs another voice besides mom’s (which is easily tuned out).

I need to tell you that the reading text comes in a handy booklet to print or a 3-page letter sized layout. The picture below is a pretty copy from Home School in the Woods. We chose to print out the 3-page version which is now covered with ketchup.

I have made friends with my local printing company (They gave me a Christmas card) so I bit the bullet and sent the whole kit and caboodle off for printing. This was not the most economical decision, but it was a matter of time management. There is a lot of printing.

If you do the printing on your own you will need cardstock, colored cardstock, printer paper and colored printer paper. I went around and made sure I had the supplies I needed for all the projects. I consider myself a "lapbook making pro" so I didn’t have to go far and wide for most of it. Not to worry. The supplies are easily found and the Home School in the Woods folks make sure they have provided a thorough list.  

Now that my prep work was complete we simply started through each section and completed one each day.

One vital tip that I learned years ago was to keep all of the completed activities in a plastic baggie. Just be sure to put said plastic baggie somewhere you can find it again. I speak from experience!

Another great thing about this lapbook is that you can personalize it to your child’s ability or interest level. Because Josiah is dyslexic (and hates to write) we used the files with text more often than not.

This booklet on Terms Of Office simply provided all the text needed to learn.

I felt like the text was easy to understand and interesting for the reader.

Not all of our projects reached their potential glory.   This is Josiah's Economic Policy. Nothing. Much like most of our current presidential candidates.

One of my favorite things about lapbooking is that a student doesn’t have to rely on cramming in short term knowledge to succeed. I am not a huge fan of the worksheet so the hands-on books and projects make for a happy lesson.

I think that Home School in the Woods simply have some of the most clever and creative lapbooking projects out there. Take for example this presidential candidate. He is movable! He is literally running the Electoral Race! So fun!

And what could better illustrate the Three Branches of Government than a tree?

Remember how I boasted of my lapbook preparedness? I had brads..just not brads that were best suited for the project!

I am sure this is what the creators of this gorgeous lapbook project had in mind when they created it! Football brads!

Can you feel the love?

This is such an awesome product.

The HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections is of such quality that we will be able to enjoy it for some time. Especially during this long election year!

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