Mini Books of Remembrance

You’ve probably heard of MyMini Books of Remembrance by another name – lapbooks. Or perhaps shutterbooks. They are made up of little booklets, sometimes called minit-books, mini-books, or book folds. We began making them many years ago. But like many good things they sometimes got brushed aside, and we needed “reawakened” to them and their joys.

In Exodus 17:14 God tells Moses to write a book of remembrance and to tell it to another; “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.” Journaling is a big part of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™. We teach our children to journal their learning, not only for their own benefit but also as a “text” that they can teach others from, patterning off of this Scripture. This too is how we learn to teach.

But sometimes plain old Journaling in our Notebooks can become kind of mundane. We begin to lose our joy in it. We forget the creativity God has placed in us. Sometimes we lose sight of the Wisdom seen in the “Big Picture”. That’s the time to remember to pull out our colored papers and colored folders, some scissors and glue, and make those Books of Remembrance” something to really remember, by making MyMini Books of Remembrance.

MyMini Books of Remembrance are perhaps the best, primary method of Journaling for our younger children. Our youth still enjoy it and can use it as much as they’d like also. These truly are books that help them remember what they have learned.

Just what is a MyMini Book of Remembrance (or lapbook)? It is several small uniquely cut and folded booklets, made from colored paper, containing the things we’ve learned – one thing per mini-book, attached to a shutterfolded file folder (preferably colored 🙂 ) Dinah Zike has written the definitive book for making the little books. It’s called The Big Book of Books.

Well, with that introduction, I close for tonight. I have much more to share with you on this topic. But it will have to be on another day. I hope I’ve at least inspired you to check this out further.

Continue to Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this topic.