Curious, how often do you do hands-on type stuff with your kids?

[KristineIN]

projects such as lapbooking, or other fun "paper" type stuff.

Kristine

[SandraDumas]

My kids make pictures, crafts, and drawings all the time on their own when they are excited about something.

This summer though we will do some FIAR units and so those might include a few hands-on crafts, though we will not do a LapBook for most of them because that usually ruins it for me.

[Baseballmom]

We do lapbooking or notebooks 1-2 times a week for science or history. We do hands on projects at co-op 1x per week.

[Jill, OK]

When the mood strikes me, and it's convenient.

So...infrequently. :-)

We do lapbook a little, and I plan to do *some* of the SOTW activities with them next year, but probably at the rate I did with their older siblings (every couple of weeks, if that).

I think it's valuable...but not the end-all, be-all. They do a lot of artsy-crafty stuff on their own.

[Mom2boys]

and I own quite a few of the Evan-Moor history and literature pocket books, but we rarely get around to using them. My kids do draw and color often on their own, plus we are in an art class that meets twice a month, and they build things out of Knex, Legos, and Magnetix. So, they are doing hands-on things - they just aren't mom directed or curriculum driven.

[Verena]

Not nearly enough. I really would like to do more art and crafts (and I have wonderful books on my shelf that just BEG to get used), but the hands-on stuff is the first to get pushed aside.

[awanama]

We don't tend to do much for paper crafts but my dd loves to make up her own. We do try to do the craft projects from SOTW at least every other day, if not every day. My dd is a very hands on learner though.

[angela in ohio]

I did a bit with my girls when they were early elementary age, but now they are older and my 5 yo is a boy, so we don't do much. We are more read-and-disuss type people. My girls (11 and 9) do handicrafts (knitting, sewing, etc.) more now, but they have done most of the paper-type stuff (making books,e tc.) on their own over the years.

[mysticamethyst]

Probabaly three times a week here. My kids are big hands on learners and this is my sneaky way of making them write too.:) We do lots of notebooking for science, history, and geography.

[Lisawa]

projects such as lapbooking, or other fun "paper" type stuff.

Kristine

For us, weekly. We use lap book folds for History and science but we place the folds on card stock in notebooks. No folders. I favor note books to file folders now because of my childrens ages.

I try to make it a part of what we are already doing as much as possible, we do not do to many extras each year and I love to lap book so the notebook was a solution that has been working well here.

The girls like origami and any sort of craft... paper or not.:) My son, could care less....

HTH~

[Lisawa]

and I own quite a few of the Evan-Moor history and literature pocket books, but we rarely get around to using them. My kids do draw and color often on their own, plus we are in an art class that meets twice a month, and they build things out of Knex, Legos, and Magnetix. So, they are doing hands-on things - they just aren't mom directed or curriculum driven.


RyLee love the history pockets! We did the Egypt one for her instead of TOG year 1, she also used Galloping the globe that year....

[godpoetry]

My boys really are getting too old they say, but my three old likes to do some. My oldest still likes to help her, but I think it is way of trying to get out of his own work.:rolleyes: I really did like it when we were able to do history projects together. Every few weeks I still schedule one for us to work on. We still plan nights for us to cook an international meal also.

[MIch elle]

We ski every Fri in winter, both dc play soccer fall & spring and study 2 musical instruments each. That's our "hands on" stuff, LOL!

[Michelle T]

DS generally hates paper crafts, actually, he hates every type of hands-on activity, including science experiments!

But I showed him the pictures of Hands Of A Child's WW2 lapbook on their website, and he wants to do one. So I ordered it, and am waiting for delivery.

We'll see how it goes. I would love to do lapbooks on a regular basis, but DS is a bit old for them, and highly resistant.
Michelle T

[Ellie]

when I was hsing, my dds did lots of artsy-craftsy stuff on their own, but rarely part of anything we were actually learning.

We did lots of field trips, though, which I do consider "hands-on," as in "We went there physically and did that."

[Lori C, Texas]

started to do more. We try to do one crafty thing a day. My kids love anything with an activity or craft involved. They do retain more when I have them do a project. I am just not a project type mom.:( I am trying though!:) Luckily, my husband has taken over the science experiments. I just really can't get it to those.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Currently we have 3 in progress this year for American history, US geography, and science (Zoology 1). The history booklets contain their narrations. I designed that latter 2 for them to fill specific information . We work on US geography booklets 3 times a week, science 1 or 2 times a week, and history 0 to 2 times a week depending on the topics being covered. Overall, I guess we lapbook 4-5 days a week, but it only takes 10 to 20 minutes on any given day.

Other than the lapbooks, we do very little hands-on school projects. I find most of the crafts to be time-consuming. Then there is always the problem of figuring out where to keep the crafts when they are finished.

[Chris in VA]

We try to do several of the suggested activities for SOTW, by chapter. The Vikings was a big chapter for us (pics at blog), and dd7 really enjoys that sort of thing. Paper crafts and coloring are ok with her, but she'd rather cook or make something than cut and paste. She also LOVEs science stuff--our Home Science Adventures (Microscope) kit has been a huge hit. She'd like to make more art, too.

[Trivium Academy]

Everyday my dd7 is doing SOMETHING, on her own or within our studies. She loves manageable crafts- making necklaces with tiny beads and string is not her forte, give her paper to cut, color and paste and she's happy.

I purchased various paper craft type activity books for American history (within TOG2 and TOG3) because she loves building dioramas and little books. She is very artisitic and luckily, she'll do something on her own if I don't provide something for the day. I do aim to have 2 projects each week, 1 in history and 1 in science, which really helps solidify what she's learned and sparks her interest to know more.

Of course, I try to keep it cheap, easy and simple plus we have ds3 who likes to 'seek and destroy'.

[siloam]

WITH my kids? As little as possible. Something about it just drives me nuts. The mess, the to do, all the little hands, ugh! Part of my feelings are left over from trying to do things with them when they were young, and everyone would want to participate and NONE could do it on their own. A simple craft would turn into half a day project then I also got stuck with clean up. I wish I didn't feel that way, but I do.

Luckily they have figured out how to do them on their own. (Happy contented sigh with angels singing in the background...)

Right now my oldest does one lapbook a day. I use Hands of a Child because they have great study guides. She also is working on a History Pocket at her own pace. With TOG she is also making President and State cards as they come up. I just print off the information/flags/pictures she needs and she fills out the card on her own.

My middle two girls usually do one a day, which might be history pockets, Donald Silver books, out of a craft book or a DKTL (I think) website animal craft. These books allow for copying, so I scanned them, and I just print them on demand.

They spend a HUGE amount of time outside of hs drawing figures, coloring them and cutting them out. The have whole families of Sonic the Hedge Hog, Blinx the time Cat and Rachet and Clank....see a pattern. They are all from video games, sigh....(This time with eyes rolling and no angelic choir.)

Heather