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Astronomy 1st Edition Lapbook {Crew Review}

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If you know me, then you know my personal love of ALL things from Apologia.  They are just an overall wonderful company that creates some of the best curriculum available for Christian Homeschoolers. But did you know one of my other favorite supplemental curriculum companies is A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks?  They are another awesome Christian company that provides amazing resources for educational use.
Having used most of Apologia’s Exploring Creation Science books with my children, I like to cycle back around and find new supplements to use for my youngest and as a review for my older children as well.  We have most of the series books and workbooks but I’m always looking for fun things like A Journey Through Learning Lapbook’s Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy (1st Edition) Lapbook.
There are tons of other titles also available at the Apologia Curriculum Page.
Now because we’ve used Apologia for 11 years now, we have many 1st Editions of their Exploring Creation series so it was necessary for me to have a 1st Edition Lapbook to use with my children, but they do have a 2nd Edition Lapbook available to use for you if need be, as well.  They also have lapbooks for many other titles available too.
What is a Lapbook?
So let’s talk about what a lapbook is?   A lapbook is an educational scrapbook of sorts or a type of interactive notebook, usually created on a file folder that is easy to keep up with, yet it packs in a ton of information into one place for your student.  Lapbooks usually have little bits of information stored within it’s pages, generally in eye catching designs to keep your student’s interest.
We’ve used various A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks over the years and have always enjoyed them.  They are really easy to use and extremely educational.  Even my bigger kids enjoy using them.
For more information on Lapbooks, stop by A Journey Through Learning lapbooking page!
This lapbook was a lot of fun.  The design was simple to use like all other A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks.  You jump right in to learning along with the Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy book.  Every section has an activity that helps reinforce what your student is learning in the book.  This particular lapbook was designed to be used with the 1st edition of the book which is the edition we have and use.  Though it’s an older version, it’s still a really great book that we’ve learned a lot from.  
How We Used It:
Because this is a digital product and because A Journey Through Learning is such a generous company, we were able to make multiple print copies of this lapbook to use with all our students.  The forms are easy to print and easy to put to work with little work from me, the parent.  The kids can easily cut out the little designs and glue them into their file folders on their own.  I just had to provide them with basic supplies which we keep on hand since we use lapbooks a lot in our learning.  Things like glue sticks, scissors, tape, and of course a file folder to place our information in to.
This was something I could use with my kids: ages 4, 9, 14, and 16.  Of course, the 4 year old had to have help with some tasks and writing the information in the blanks but he enjoyed learning along with the rest and gluing his stuff into place.
The bigger kids, of course, had no problems doing any of the work involved with the lapbook.
Where You Can Get This Product:
Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy (1st Edition) Lapbook is available from A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks for $15 for the Full Color Instant Download.  You can also get this lapbook on CD or printed if you choose.  Order options are available on the website. 
Social Media Sites for A Journey Through Learning:
Twiiter:  https://twitter.com/AJTL_Lapbooks  @AJTL_lapbooks

Lapbooks for Classical Conversations, Apologia, Inventors & 20th Century {A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks Reviews}

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Home School In The Woods {Crew Review}

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Home School In The Woods
HISTORY Through The Ages Project Passport World History Study
Ancient Egypt

Digital Download $33.95

For this review, we were gifted a digital download of Home School In The Woods’ HISTORY Through The Ages Project Passport World History Study for Ancient Egypt.  Home School In The Woods offers several Project Passports for you to learn through such Renaissance and Reformation, The Middle Ages and their newest study Ancient Greece.  They are currently working on creating a study for Ancient Rome as well.

These studies are wonderful! They are thorough in design and so very easy for anyone to use.  Everything you need to learn about the particular time period of history right in one place.

The Product We Chose:

We chose Ancient Egypt for our Project Passport because we simply love learning about Egypt.  Plus my little ones were asking me lots of questions about Egypt at the time.  It’s such an interesting time period of History.

What We Received and How It Works:

This study was sent via my email with a download link that gave me access to all the files needed to use the program.  Once downloaded, I was able to open the file and find the start file which provides the specifics to using the study.  The introduction and all the linked files are set up in the start file.

Opening the start file, you will find information on how to use the study, tips to get through the program and additional materials and books you may need to complete your lessons.  Most of these items you will have on hand or be able to borrow from your local library or purchase at your local store.  I did have to purchase a folder to use for the passports but these were really inexpensive at Walmart.  You could also adapt and use card stock or a  file folder instead.

Ancient Egypt includes 25 stops or lessons that are intended to be taught over a period of 8-12 weeks depending on how you space it out.  The time frame is completely up to the parent/teacher and how the student learns.  You can choose a slower pace and expand your lessons very easily with books and extra internet research or you can work faster, using just the program and what’s included to quickly complete the program for a thorough study on Ancient Egypt.  It’s really all up to you.

We chose to take our time on this study because I really wanted to hit some key points for the younger kids and I wanted to reteach some areas of interest to the bigger kids that we didn’t cover with other lessons on Ancient Egypt.  My aim was for them to really take in the history and enjoy it over flying through the program.  In doing this, I was able to stop as needed and explore more on the history that truly interested us.

Each of the 25 stops covers an important part of Ancient History.  Each stop also has an interesting aspect to aid in teaching the topic.  Some stops have audio, some have stories, some have wonderful projects to complete such as the Sovenier Craft Card for Dress Like An Egyptian which has both a girl and boy version for fun.  The instructions to make these projects are all included and the materials needed are usually on hand as I mentioned previously.  Only one or two things will need to be purchased for completion of a project and many of these items can be worked around simply by using a different paper or material to complete it.

The Project Passports do include a timeline and figures for you to keep up with who is who in your lessons.  These timelines can be used for any parts of history and reviewed in other lessons or Project Passports.  They are a great addition for you and are really simple to put together.

Maps are also included in the Project Passport to help you and your students see exactly where History happened as you learn.  They too are simple and easy to use, can be printed for multiple use.  We like to laminate these when we finish them so we can go back to them again and again for future use. 

How Did We Like It:

Honestly, I absolutely loved our Ancient Egypt Project Passport from Home School In The Woods and so did our kids.  I like having all the activities in one place, easy to put to use.  I enjoyed having all the book suggestions to go on so I could easily pull out a story to build upon our lessons.  And the projects were so much fun to complete.

My kids looked forward to listening to the lessons provided in the program.  They really looked forward to the activities and enjoyed the hands-on learning experience they received while we worth through our Project Passport.  They have asked to complete more Project Passports on other subjects as well.  I’m thinking Ancient Greece will be next for us.

How We Used it:

The past few weeks have been pretty busy for us so I didn’t get to use this one as I had intended but I found it was easy to adapt for us.  We had planned to use our Project Passport more often but unexpected appointments caused us to slow our pace even more completing less of the program than I had hoped for our review.  We were still able to work through most of the stops each week, completing 1-2 stops per week.  My goal had been to complete 2-4 stops per week and more as we worked through the program.  I am still thrilled with our results though.  And as you see this program can easily be adjusted to work for you and your family as it has for ours.

To Purchase Your Own Product:

Home School In The Woods’ HISTORY Through The Ages Project Passport World History Study for Ancient Egypt for $33.95 for the download that I received.  You can also purchase a CD version for $34.95 plus shipping.  There are other Project Passports available for purchase as well at similar prices.

Where Else Can You Find Our Vendor:



Click Below To Find More Reviews Of This Vendor:
HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study Reviews

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In The Hands Of A Child: Pond Life {Crew Review}

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In the Hands of a Child is one of our favorite homeschooling companies.  Their awesome products have been used in our homeschool for years and will continue to be used for years to come.  They are easy to use and intriguing, bringing home education to a whole new level.
In the Hands of a Child offered the Schoolhouse Review crew their choice of several products.  My favorite and my personal choice was Pond Life.  Since we do a lot with water related activities and we have a pond and swamp on our property at home, the Pond Life project pack had a lot to offer to us.
As with all In the Hands of a Child products, our Pond Life project pack included all the reproducibles needed to complete the project.  Purchasing rights give me permission to print this for every child in our home, more than once if necessary, so this study will be available to us for years to come.  If we need to repeat the study, all we have to do is print out a new copy.  It’s that simple.
Pond Life must be printed out to use.  Make sure you have enough available copies for each member of your home before jumping into this study.  You will also need a file folder or an old cereal box cut so that it can be used like a folder.  Scissors, coloring utensils, and glue are also needed to complete this study.
Through the Pond Life study, your children will learn important vocabulary, spelling and all about life in the Pond.  This particular study was written with the Kindergarten through 2nd grade child in mind but can easily be adapted to any age.  I used it with my Kindergartener and had my 3rd and 5th grade students follow along.

So what did we learn through this study?  We learned about Habitats, animals, organisms, and even pond safety.  The study took us into the homes and lives of animals that we find naturally in our pond, like tadpoles and frogs, butterflies, dragonflies, turtles and more, some that we never realized may live in our pond!!

My kids really loved this study, and being able to view it first hand in our environment made it all the better!  Hands-on studies are often our favorites and the fact that it was super easy to use makes us love it even more. We are still viewing the differences in water environments as we have a lot to compare in our area: the Atlantic Ocean, natural rivers, local ponds, ditches, swamp water areas.  All of these can be located within 30 minutes of our home.

To get your own copy of Pond Life or any of the other available studies from In the Hands of a Child, visit their website.  Pond Life is available for $12 regularly but is currently available for $5 at the time of this review (this is subject to change in the future).
For more reviews of In the Hands of a Child, please click the banner below!

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A Journey Through Learning {Crew Review}

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A Journey Through Learning creates the most amazing lapbooks for your use.  There are 100’s of lapbooks to choose from on many varied subjects.  From educational to fun, you can find the perfect lapbook at A Journey Through Learning.
What’s a lapbook?  A lapbook is a hands-on, creative activity using mini-books featuring a topic you are learning about to create a sort of journal in a folder.  The finished folder can be viewed on the lap of your child, therefore being termed a “lapbook”.  This is a fun method of learning for almost anyone.
Lapbooks are something that we enjoy using in our homeschooling.  For this review, I chose to use two different lapbooks: Letters, Numbers and Shapes with Laycie, and Astronomy and Space with Winston, Emmalee and some of it also with Laycie.
This lapbook contains 51 color-filled pages.  The first 5 pages are a lapbook introductory showing the key elements of lapbook how-to’s: creation, storage, purpose.  Page 6 provides a guide to putting this particular lapbook together, followed by the Table of Contents on page 7.
The next 34 pages are jam-packed with activities teaching letters, numbers and shapes to the early learner.  Every letter of the alphabet is covered, basic shapes and numbers 1-10.  The activities make a great introduction to any preschooler or review for a child who may just need a little extra lesson review.
At the end of the lapbook, the teacher can find suggestions for things to teach letters.  Listed are several suggestions for every letter of the alphabet and are a great guide for teaching or just getting ideas to expand the lessons you may already have in mind.  There are also suggestions for learning about shapes with food, fun activities and games, fingerplays for shapes and numbers, printing poems, and a suggested book list to use with this lapbook.
Astronomy and Space is a full color-filled 70 page unit study.  The first two pages of this lapbook provide a brief explanation of a unit study.  A supplies sheet is also included in the beginning of the lapbook so that the educator can prepare ahead, followed by a thorough Table of Contents.  
This particular study begins with Creation in Genesis 1.  Other things covered in this study are where you live, particulars of the solar system, day and night, and so very much more.  There are planet information cards for the student to fill out in detail.
Near the end of this study is an included Bibliography with websites used to create the study.  These websites are also a great source of additional information that can be used to expand upon this particular study.  A set of enrichment pages can also be found towards the back of the study which includes additional reading suggestions, a NICK list, a reading tracking sheet, planet book report, and narration forms.  
We used these lapbooks in our homeschooling over the past few weeks as a center of learning for our daily lessons.  I used the Letters, Numbers and Shapes lapbook with my soon-to-be five year old and she had no problems completing it.  She enjoyed pasting the shapes into place, practicing her letter and number writing, and creating her mini-books.  This particular lapbook was a little more of a review for her than it was a challenge as she already knew much of what it provided but it will be a perfect lesson for her brother when it comes time for him to learn the same things in the future.  I suggest it used with an early preschooler over an almost Kindergartener.
We used the Astronomy and Space unit study as a family study.  I read all of the inclusive materials, as well as took the kids on a quick tour of the websites listed in the Bibliography to expand our lessons.  Each child found a different planet that interested them and we learned many strange and specific details for each.   The kids shared in filling out the worksheets and answering the questions provided in the study.  We did not use the suggested reading selections since we did this study quickly but we did track our reading of books already in our libraries as an addition to our lessons using the sheet provided in the study itself.  We also used the planet reports to research more about each planet we learned about.
Overall, we all enjoyed these studies.  Both are wonderfully thorough and exceptionally made.  They are easily implemented and can be used to create a full lesson on their intended subjects.  Colorful, fun and challenging the student to learn more.
You can purchase A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks through their website.  Letters, Numbers and Shapes Lapbook is available as a download for $13, on CD for $14, printed for $20 or assembled for $29.  Astronomy and Space Unit Study is available as a download for $13, on CD for $14 or printed for $21.
For more reviews of A Journey Through Learning, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!

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