Recently my husband and I are talking about the possibility of going to Florida next year. We would love to bring the kids are various theme parks including the famous Walt Disney World. We have been putting money aside monthly for quite some time and our dream is so close to become a reality. Our plan is to take one and a half to two months off so that we can have fabulous family memories with our kids. My husband even started mentioning the possibility for us to do long hours on the road if he could train me to drive the RV. Yikes! I feel so ill-equipped for this part but I guess that with encouragement and guidance from my husband I might be able to do it.
So I got to think a bit about how we could incorporate fun homeschool things before, during and even possibly after the trip. I immediately thought about lapbooks. What is a lapbook? Well essentially it is an inexpensive portfolio containing mini-book
s and flaps that will allow the child to study a specific subject. One company that I particularly love is called Hands of a Child.
So knowing full well that I might be able to pull off an early end of school year since I am more organized this year, I started wishing that I could find a lapbook on Walt Disney and Walt Disney World. I couldn’t find one on the website but I stumbled on one on the state of Florida! That would be great for geography… actually they have a whole series based on each states within the U.S.A.
While I was debating about purchasing it, I also send a message to a friend of mine who turns out to be a huge fan of anything Disney. I asked her if she knew about a lapbook on Walt Disney World. Hands of a Child had one on Disney Land but none on the theme park in Florida (apparently it was a special order which ended up going on their products offered). I wasn’t ready to pay the price tag attached to a special order. To her knowledge there wasn’t any. So I decided to purchase the lapbook on Florida.
This unit study will allow us to explore the “Sunshine State” at our own pace and learn more about the people, climate, government, economy and other things about this state. Principally geared to kids grades 3 to 6, I think this lapbook will be perfect to introduce the kids to the state we will be visiting. I am unsure yet if we will start it before going or if we will work on it while being there. It will depend on the school we have accomplished between now and May 2014. But knowing that I have something to do in April and May with the kids excites me. I sure hope that this trip will happen next year. I know my kids will like it.
This product is available in different format – from printed copy, CD, or ebook. Personally I prefer the ebook version as I can print them at home.
And my friend whom I had talked about a lapbook on Walt Disney World thought my idea so good that she is working on one apparently. I hope to be able to present it in a near future. Knowing how knowledgeable she is on WDW, I suspect that it will be packed with tidbits of information. In the meantime, I will explore other ideas to make our trip more enjoyable for everyone!
