Benjamin Franklin Lap Pak from Homeschool in the Woods

As part of our study of the 1700’s and the American Revolution, we are reading about Benjamin Franklin and his amazing contribution to science and history. My three younger children have completed the Ben Franklink Lap Pak from Home School in the Woods for their history notebooks. It’s a complete set of printables for lapbooking and/or notebooking your way through history.

This is my first time to use any products from Home School in the Woods, and I have loved it. The Lap Pak on Ben Franklin is a complete unit study created for grades K-2. It is a downloadable product, complete with printables and audio files. Though it is designed for K-2, I easily extended this to suit two of my older students, ages 9 and 11.

The lapbook printables are very thorough. And at only $9,95, it’s easily affordable!

Hands-on History K-2 Lap-Pak: Benjamin Franklin

What is a Lap Pak?

A Lap Pak contains a unit study on a specific topic, and includes an entire set of printables that reinforce what students learn in the study. As soon as you complete your purchase on the Home School in the Woods website, the download link is emailed to you. The files need to be unzipped to use. (You may also purchase the CD-ROM version if you prefer.) There are several titles available for grades K-2 and 3-8. I’m looking forward to trying the 20th Century in America set in a few months!

Here’s what I like: Complete instructions are included for printing AND assembly of the lapbook. You can choose to follow these exactly or mix it up a little. I chose to mix it up just a bit. Instead of creating a standard lapbook (with a file folder), I adapted the Lap Pak to go in our history smashbooks (read about those here).

Here’s what the instructions and printable links look like:

You simply click on the files as you’re ready to print, or print them all at once. And see that little “Photo” button? Clicking that takes you to a sample photo of what you’re printing. Nothing is a mystery!

Along with the printables, an entire text (reader) is included. This can be printed into a booklet (2 sizing options are available) to attach to the lapbook. Additionally, audio files are included for young listeners. If you didn’t have any other resources on the topic, there’s plenty of info included here.

The instructions are easy to follow, especially with illustrations for each lapbook component. I printed out all of the instructions and copies of each component for my three kids and we are working on them a little each day, as we read through the life of Ben Franklin.

This is a great activity for kids who love hands-on learning. My kids were all impressed with their ability to make a pop-up! Since we read our history books aloud as a family, the cutting, gluing, and coloring are perfect quiet activities to do while listening to the story.

Our Experience

I love, love, love to add the hands-on learning experience to all of the subjects in our homeschool. It just really reinforces what the kids have heard or read.

Ben Franklin printing press — My kids loved the pop-up printing press!

On their website, HSITW states: Because text is provided, use them as a stand-alone study or to accompany any additional text you are using. Or, use the lap book to guide your studies by adding living reading and research to each project as you do them! There is a list of suggested books to read with this Lap Pak provided in the printables.

We are reading Ben Franklin: Inventing America with all the kids, so this Lap-Pak has been the perfect addition. The Lap-Pak is very thorough, hitting on all of the important details of Ben Franklin’s amazing life.

Ben Franklin notebook page — Instead of making a Lapbook, we used the Lap Pak elements in our History Smashbooks. They fit right into the 3-ring binder.

As we did the “Leather Apron Trades,” we looked up the different trades in a library book about Colonial times. We completed one or two sections of the timeline as we read through his life.

About Home School In the Woods

Home School in the Woods offers many, many hands-on history products for all ages and all topics. There are so many that I look forward to using! And they just announced an addition to their catalog on their Facebook page: A-La-Carte projects! They say, “We’ve had our projects used for MANY purposes outside of daily studies, such as VBS, women’s Bible groups, craft tables at festivals, and so much more!” I’m really excited about this new single-product availability, as I’m definitely a “pick and choose” type of homeschool mom. I usually create my own curriculum and pull fun projects from all sources. I’m excited to get some timelines and other single items!

The Homeschool Review Crew used a variety of products from Home School in the Woods, so click on the link below to go read all of the reviews:

Hands-on History {Home School in the Woods Reviews}

Be sure to visit Home School in the Woods to see all of their printable products, and follow them on social media:

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I hope you enjoyed this review. Read all of my homeschool reviews HERE.

Nicki Truesdell is a 2^nd-generation homeschooler and mother to 5. She loves books, freedom, history and quilts, and blogs about all of these at nickitruesdell.com. She believes that homeschooling can be relaxed and that history is fun, and both can be done with minimal cost or stress, no matter your family’s circumstances. Nicki is a member of the Texas Home Educators Advisory Board and The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew. She also teaches ESL online from home. You can also find her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.