Journey Through Learning

I will begin by saying that lapbooks are very much NOT a favorite at our house. So when I received lapbooks to review from A Journey Through Learning I was in a quandary. However, my 12 year old daughter said that she would complete one so that we could see how they worked. The one she chose is called The Desert.

The lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning look fun enough to get even a non-lapbooker like me excited. With many topics to choose from your child can experience hours of hands-on, enjoyable learning.

Included in our lapbook kit was a study guide. This is such a neat feature as I do not like to have to search elsewhere for the information to complete the mini-books. There were also complete templates for the mini-books including clear and thorough directions of how to put the lapbook together. The booklets are colorful and the activities among them varied. The only negative comment that my daughter had about the lapbook was that some of the pieces were challenging to cut out and for a perfectionist that might prove frustrating.

The beauty of these lapbooks is their flexibility. If you want to just read the study guide and complete the mini-books, that is great. You will still learn plenty. However, they are also perfect for including extra material and expanding the topics. You can even purchase copywork and notebooking pages to enhance your study if your particular lapbook does not already include them. Several forms are provided to assist your expanded study. A book list form, note organizing and outline forms as well as narration forms make extra studies easy. There are even additional reading material suggestions.

These colorful lapbooks are very complete, allowing the parent and student to enjoy learning the material instead of worrying about the structure or flow of the lapbook. By completing one mini-booklet per day, a 3-folder lapbook will take you approximately one month. Or you can work through it at any speed that fits your family. I can see one of the history overview unit studies being a great history class when my little ones get into early elementary.

The lapbook topics range from science to history to Bible. There are even ones for preschoolers. If you are interested in a lapbooking class, the folks at A Journey Through Learning would love to book one for you. There are sample pages of the different lapbooks on the website. If you want to see one in its entirety, sign up for their newsletter and you will receive a lapbook free. (Scroll to the bottom of this screen.)

A Journey Through Learning offers free shipping on orders. Most lapbooks cost $13 (instant download), $14 CD, and $21 Printed copy (including 3 color file folders). They also have mini-lapbooks and unit studies.

So if your schooling could use a little spicing up, check out your options at A Journey Through Learning. I know I will be keeping them on my list. You can read here what other families have to say.

Disclosure:This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. No further compensation was received. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are my own.