George Mueller Lapbooks

This year is our first year to attempt lapbooks. In fact, though I had read the term in recent years online in homeschool forums and blogs, I truly had never paid any attention to what they were because my kids were "older" (and I pictured them being for younger kids), and also because it rhymes with "scrap book" which I don't have the time or inclination to do in this season of my life. So there. Case File folder closed.

But this year, lapbooks began to interest me when I actually began to see what they are... scrap-booky, yes, but in a file folder, and a neat way to put projects on a certain topic together in a non-threatening, small, easy-to-store way. And the fact that my kids are "older" means I'm not the one doing it, they are. So, we decided to give it a go. Last week I posted pictures of my son's Civil War lapbook that is still in progress, but this week I decided I'd post the pictures of the George Mueller lapbooks we did a few weeks ago (and just now put the final touches on this week).

If you are a lap-booker, (or a scrap-booker!) these will not be impressive in the least. We didn't spend a whole lot of time on them for "looks." I have scrap-booked in the past and am artsy enough to know how all-encompassing a project like this can be, so I tried to keep it in perspective with the rest of our curriculum and not let us get out of hand with it. I kept it simple and let them come up with their own ideas.

There are three of us who are reading some of the same missionary biographies this year and meeting every six weeks or so to make lapbooks of them. Our first one was George Mueller, so we read George Mueller: Guardian of Bristol's Orphans with our kids on our own and made some projects on our own at home (whatever we came up with.) My friend (at whose house we met and compiled our lapbooks) had made a timeline and copied off some pictures for the kids to use as well, and each of us brought a couple of additional ideas for the kids to add to their books if they wished.

Here is my son's finished product:

The top flap is a map he colored of the United Kingdom. On the left he did an acrostic of the word "faith" with some of George Mueller's characteristics. In the middle is the timeline, and on the right he made a collage of some things representing Mr. Mueller's "breakfast club" he had for the orphan children- a tea bag because he served tea, oatmeal because they always had oatmeal, and an apple crate made out of toothpicks because the children sat on overturned apple crates instead of chairs.
He made a photo album (seen on the left with George's picture on the front) from pictures he found on the internet, and on the right is a "prayer wheel" wheel book of some of the things that George prayed for (he was known for his expectant prayer. We learned SO much in this area!)

Underneath the acrostic "faith" flap book, he sewed a small gown out of some fabric and stuck it in his book, representing a nightgown/dress that had to be sewn for the orphan girls.

Here is the inside of his "memory" book. He made some of the pictures pop up.

Here is the inside of my daughter's book. She did a "faith" acrostic, too, and her map is cut off at the top, but she colored one as well. She did some things on the computer, including researching modern-day Bristol.

As well as researching fashions of the 1800's (George Mueller's time period.)

She also made a page with a little window, raised using some accordion-folded paper, then some pictures of the girls of the orphanage. I thought this was a cute idea. This picture doesn't really show the 3-D aspect of it, but it turned out neat, I thought.

She used some parchment paper and tore the edges for her photo album to make it look aged.

It was a fun project, and most of all we learned some great lessons from this wonderful man of faith. My husband and I read his biography two years ago on the plane to Ghana one summer. He read it on the way there and I read it on the way back. We have learned so much about praying in faith about EVERYTHING and expecting God's provision. I have learned to simply trust God in certain areas and pray fervently without necessarily telling everyone what I'm praying about, to see God's provision for myself. I have learned that even if I haven't always been faithful in the area of finances (if in fact it has been a weakness for me!) that can be an area of overwhelming victory when placed in God's hands and used for His glory alone.

John Piper has written an excellent article about George Mueller's life here, and I would encourage you to read Mueller's biography written by the Benges with your kids. This is also a great site to check out.

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." --James 1:27

"The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. I ask affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with which you are taken up irrespective of God?"-- George Mueller