A Journey Through Learning Review

We have been given the opportunity to review A Journey Through Learning lapbooks. A Journey Through Learning is a company that was founded by two homeschooling moms Paula & Nancy, how cool is that? 2 ladies who know exactly what we do on a daily basis with our children!! Who better to create a curriculum for us.

Our son is 7th grade but still enjoys doing some of the lower grade fun stuff. This is our first experience with lapbooks, I had seen them online over the years, but I was so focused on book work in the first few years that I overlooked lapbooking, "You can't learn from arts and crafts" I thought! Well our 7th grader took to lapbooking like a fish to water!

Stack of library books that became a part of the leraning process.

Click on the link Knights, Castles and Middle Ages lapbook, the lapbooks are available in the following formats:
Instant Download- $13.00
CD- $14.00
Printed- $21.00
We were asked to pick one of the following lapbooks.
Letters, Numbers and Shapes (ages 3-5)
The Earth (grades 1-4)
Knights and Castles (grades 2-7)
Astronomy and Space (grades 2-7)

Section 1, with drawings and cut outs.

We were given the instant download version to review. That worked really well for us even with very slow and basic DSL Internet service. I printed out the lapbook for the Knights and Castles; my son just went to town on it! He got some library books to read up more on the subject. He has been cutting and pasting like crazy. He watched the how to videos from A Journey Through Learning and picked right up on how to make the lapbook without my assistance.

Middle section of the lapbook.

We had all the supplies on hand already for the lapbook. If you have younger children you will need to work with them on this, I would say most 3rd graders could read the materials on their own, 5th grade on up could do the lapbook on their own with you checking up on them. I highly recommend watching the how to videos that I mentioned above, they were very helpful and explained things in very easy to understand terms.

Last section of the lapbook.

For the review our son picked Knights and Castles Lapbook with Study Guide which covered the Middle Ages. We liked the fact that the materials were from a Christian perspective.

What our son liked about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) It covered the Fall of Rome, Middle Ages, this was all new to me.
2) Love learning about the castles, I learned that they are not very fun to live in.
3) Knights and armor
4) Loved doing crafts that counted as school work.
5) Liked how there were places to draw pictures.
6) This was so much fun!

What our son did not like about the lapbook:

1) NOTHING

What this Homeschool Mamma liked about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) This was so much fun!
2) Easy for "On your own work."
3) Easy instructions.
4) Not too many supplies needed.
5) Did I say "FUN?"
6) BONUS!!! No outside materials needed for research, if you wanted to go more in depth there are book suggestions included. Otherwise you can just use what A Journey Through Learning provides for you.

What this Homeschool Mamma did not like about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) NOTHING! It was totally awesome and even hubby thought it was a cool way to learn.

I am finding that lapbooking is great for those homeschooling days, weeks or months when a homeschooling mom has health issues. I've gone through a Sigmoid Colon removal surgery, had an anastomotic leak, and then an infection from the leak, which has made for an interesting end of the school year to say the least! lol. A Journy Through Learning lapbooks would be a great learning tool for those times that homeschooling is difficult on mom. My son worked on handwriting, cutting, reading, spelling, and history, all while I rested quietly as I recovered.

Come see what others reviewers have to say about A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks.
For those of you that have NEVER done lapbooking, it's so cool and I think we are hooked on it. Looking back now, I wish that we had done lapbooks from the very beginning, but ya know, you can't go back. So we are going forward and he is looking at what else he can lapbook. So all is not lost, but you know how our mommy homeschool brains work, it was sort of a sad moment thinking about how those fun little homeschool learning moments are fleeting. Enjoy your children and relax with the textbooks for awhile and try a lapbook out.

REST, REST & MORE REST

I've been gone for a bit, resting. It's amazing just how tired you can be after having a colon resection or the medical term Hand-assisted laparoscopic sigmoidectomy. Only mine was not exactly laparoscopic, I've got a nice sized scar that is healing well and 2 scope holes.

My son now wants to be a Colorectal Surgeon. LOL...had we known that sooner, we might have saved more for college...LOL. He has learned so much through this and taught himself a lot. He has been looking stuff up on the Internet, in books and reading through my medical records. He found that our health care provider has a way to read records online, so he even looked up the summary of my surgery. He was going crazy looking up the different medical terms, then telling me what they did to me in surgery. Thank the Lord that this all went on AFTER surgery, cuz I would have freaked if it had been told me to BEFORE surgery. There are just some things left better unsaid ya know?

March is  National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, So Get Your Butt In Here!

In honor of this being National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, I have put a really cool video on my blog  Tim Hawkins-Colonoscopy song it's very entertaining! lol.

I shall be going back to resting, as the doctor told me I would be like a newborn baby, I would come home from the surgery and eat, sleep and poop......lol. That is pretty much what I have been doing. If I try to do too much I end up feeling like I'm going to pass out, I nap for awhile and end up feeling better. Saturday was 2 months since my surgery and it is still hard to think about how tired I am. I feel really well, but the fatigue is no fun at all.

If all had gone fine, I would be up and running this past Saturday: two months post op. I was suppose to be in the hospital 4-6 days and my wonderful surgeon was pretty sure that I would come home with a temporary colostomy or appliance, not a 'bag' that is not politically correct, it's called an appliance. But praise the Lord he was able to put me back together. I did so well after the surgery that I got to go home in 4 days.

So with my Anastomotic Leak, I shall spare you the details as to what that is, you can Google that if you would like  :O)  I ended up spending an additional 9 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and then came home on the IV antibiotics.  

I've finally gotten rid of the guilty feeling I had from just laying around, puttering around the house and needing to nap on and off throughout the day..."Yes, I know exactly what you told me doctor, but I did not want to believe you!! It's those other people that you operate on that need all that extra rest, not me!" Boy was I wrong! And my family can see if I rest I feel better.

Saturday I took my last pain pill (I hope!), long car rides seem to really make it all flare up again and I still feel like someone has kicked me on my left side by my ribs. I have no idea what they did in there but it kills me sometimes if I bend, stretch, breathe too deeply etc. I should be up and going by the start of summer. I am hoping to soon be able to stop rotating between the 3 pairs of sweatpants that I own, nothing else fits. Well I have squeezed myself into a skirt for church, but thankfully I only have to stuff myself in to that for a short time each week. I've never been thin, but I must laugh at myself when I close the refrigerator door on my stomach or smack my stomach on a kitchen chair, as an adoptive mom I can only guess this is what it's like to have a preggo belly? I can finally reach the kitchen sink faucet handles, had to press my stomach into the kitchen sink to reach them and that really hurt, so I did not do dishes for a time.

 I've had some wonderful opportunities to share the love of Christ with many in the medical community. I was able to give out 2 Gospels of John books and several Bible tracts in different languages to the doctors that took AWESOME care of me! I have to giggle about the infectious disease control doctor (he brightened my days with his sense of humor, he is a very charming older gentlemen), he commented in his notes that we homeschool and that my son is up to date on his vaccines...LOL. That was funny to read, I wonder, if we utilized the public school system if that would be documented? LOL.

Would I have the surgery all over again, even with the complications? YES!  I am totally serious in saying this. Everyone I talked to that has had the surgery, had some sort of a complication, so I am not alone. Intestines DO NOT LIKE TO BE MESSED WITH! And I feel better, well I am sore and post-surgical stuff like that, but I don't feel that draggy sickness that I had before. Which the surgeon described perfectly in saying that I felt like I was run down from the flu all the time. A chronic smoldering infection will do that to you.

Thanks for hanging with me through the bumps in life.
Hugs,
Moe
Click here to learn more What you should know about diverticulitis.

GOTCHA DAY! Adoption Day!

This week we celebrated our son's adoption day, we call it GOTCHA DAY! In our home when it's your special day (birthday or Gotcha Day) you get to pick your meals. Our son picked cold cereal for breakfast, we normally have hot breakfast so this was a treat. Lunch was a favorite buffet restaurant and dinner was Subway. In the past we have spent the night at a hotel swimming,  gone to the zoo, played board games all evening long or find other fun stuff to do for his Gotcha Day! We had planned a fun field trip to tap maple trees for syrup but those plans unraveled. We got on the road by 7am with my sister in law (AKA favorite Aunt of the child) in tow and headed toward the forest of maple trees.

About an hour into the drive husband calls to say the field trip was cancelled due to weather. From the backseat comes a yell to head to the children's museum instead. OK, foiled plans are now made in to more fun plans!! It was cold (33 degrees) anyway and I think we were all a bit glad it was going to be an inside day. We decided to take a side trip to look at the baby chicks at the feed store, always a fun time. We now have BABY CHICK FEVER! lol. We will need to go to the doctor for that cause I ain't got no energy to care for baby chicks right now, though we only have about 4 chickens left in the freezer. We did buy a chicken hutch that was $119.00 on sale for $89.00. When I am up on my feet again we will get some meat birds to fill that up. YUM!!

Then we headed off to the museum, we get in free with our son's AOPA membership so that is pretty cool! Since I am not up for much in the way of walking around and expending energy since my surgery/leak/infection, I rested on a bench, then sat for a few hours in the lunch room. I brought the Kindle Fire along with me to watched an episode of the Duggars show 19 Kids and Counting, if you want to know exactly what my only child is like, he is a carbon copy of the Duggar boy that is interested in cameras and photography, I will have to ask our son what that boys name is. If anyone knows post the name, I know it starts with a J . . . hahaha, but I can't come up with it, post it on my blog please. Josiah is his name!

After the children's museum we headed off to the mall since I needed some new pants, none of mine fit anymore since the surgery, my stomach is still swollen, though this morning I did see a bit of my large incision, so the swelling is going down some. We walked around the mall and sat down a few times. Son treated his Aunt to a chair massage, they both liked it. I thought it might be too much for me so I just watched. Did not buy any clothes, but got talked into being a model for a fashion show and I will get 40% off my purchases that day. I'm thinking it was the pain meds that made me do it!  Otherwise I would NEVER consent to being a fashion model. But for 40% off everything that I buy, well I'm thinking I can do this. And the child was going nuts about it, so I said "YES!"

After all this they wanted to go to a bookstore, I conceded and headed out to the car to recline. I napped and ate some egg salad (what other type of sandwich would you eat when you raise chickens?) and chips. They enjoyed themselves and Auntie thought she would never get the child out of the bookstore...hahaha, she was getting tired and there are no chairs in this particular book store, I guess they don't want you to sit around and sample the books before you buy.

We arrived home around 10pm, I was pooped (pun intended after my intestinal surgery. . . LOL), the next day I did NOTHING but breathe, sleep and eat. I am for sure not ready for a day out like that again for awhile.

There is a silver lining to all this.
After all the stress of my illness and added responsibility that the child has had over the last 6 months, remember I broke my foot, ended up on bed rest with it, then was hospitalized in December (Diverticulitis), then again in January (surgery), then yet again in February (infection). Now my recovery phase (should be back to normal by summer, but really what is NORMAL. . . hahaha.) It's been a really long ride for all of us. So this comment from our son really threw me for a loop, it got me thinking WOW I guess love is what it's all about (the love of the Father first and foremost) and you just do what you have to do to make it through. I think this has all been a HUGE learning experience for our son, in watching how Daddy takes care of me and how our marriage vowes really come into play with something like this, especially when your spouse is not able to function for months on end, you have to take on household responsibilities and new financial responsibilities (my medical bills just for 12 days in the hospital + all the extras of tests, co-pays, prescriptions etc. are well over $100,000.00 and insurance is fighting $48,000 of that saying it was not medically necessary for me to be in the hospital for the infection and IV antibiotics. Prayers would be appreciated in this area. I am thinking that there is an insurance coding glitch or something since I was very ill and I don't think I would have fared very well at home in the condition I was in, there is no way I could have functioned at home.

I pray that our son will remember us getting through these times when/if his wife or children should ever become ill. I look at this as a time of growing for all of us, and WOW what opportunities I had to share through the course of my illness, to God Be The Glory is all I can say! As I feel up to it I will share more things that I encountered through my illness.

Visiting Mom in the hospital. I look much better now!

I will leave you with the comment from our child the night before his Gotcha Day, he says to me "Mom, I am so glad that you adopted me." I said "Why?" He says "Because I get to grow up in a Christian home, I get chickens and I get to have a dog." I told him "Thank you and also be thankful for your birth parents, they made a really hard decision in placing you for adoption."

How does your family celebrate Gotcha Day!?

 

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Time4Learning review opportunity

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

We are pretty excited about this opportunity.
Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Yummy Gluten Free, Corn Free, Dairy Free recipe

I was over at today and came across this recipe for Zuppa Toscana click here to find out what that is!! Zuppa Toscana Recipe. This recipe is so yummy looking, I plan to make it next week when I go shopping, I need to buy the sausage. Now you will notice that the recipe calls for sausage and bacon be sure to use corn and gluten free meats. If you need to be dairy free also, sub the milk for your choice and the cheese for Daiya brand. Stop by and see what other goodies Erica has on the Confessions Of A Homeschooler blog.

Enjoy!
Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Lone Star Learning Math Review

 

 

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, we were sent a set of the Lone Star Learning companies Target Vocabulary Pictures Math Set 1 flashcards. You can find these flashcards by clicking here lonestarlearning.com/ they come in two different sizes:
The Large cards measure 11″ x 8.5″ $34.99
The Small cards measure 5.5″ x 4.25″ $29.99
Grades 1st-8th

We were given the small cards to review. I think at first our 7th grader thought, "Oh, yeah! Flashcards! YIPPEE!" Well by the end of the review he was telling me that
"The Target Vocabulary Pictures Math set 1 flashcards would be great for high school students that needed a math review."

What we liked about the Target Vocabulary Pictures Math Set 1 5.5x4.25 size cards:

PERFECT size for homeschool use (the larger size would be great for classroom teachers)
GREAT for on the go use in the car.
FITS perfectly in purse or bag to use while waiting at appointments.
FUN to play with.
DOES not feel like we are doing school when we use the cards.
HIGH quality flashcards, I don't see these falling apart anytime soon, they are laminated.
GREAT for all ages, recommended for 3rd-8th grade, but could be used with 1st-12th grade.

What could be better about the
Target Vocabulary Pictures Math Set 1:

STORAGE there is no box to store these in. I actually think that I am going to hole punch each card and put it on a ring for easy storage.
PRICE since I have an only child, these were a bit out of my price range, ($29.99 for 57 flashcard) but they are WAY COOL and if I had the extra money in my budget I would buy them for the coolness and fun factor to help with teaching math terms! We both actually learned several new terms using these flashcards.
ANSWER SHEET was on just plain paper, it was not on a flashcard type of paper or laminated and it started looking pretty wrinkled up after just the first week of use. So I laminated it myself and it's holding up well that way.

Paper Answer Sheet

We had a lot of fun with this review and learned a lot, it's amazing how much you can learn when you see the word and then also see a picture of what the word is describing (cone and a picture of a cone). I would recommend these for any homeschooling family and even classroom teachers. We used these as flashcards for guessing, writing definitions and just general math review each day.
"Target Vocabulary Pictures Set 1 consists of math vocabulary presented visually to facilitate recall. Sets are not arranged by grade level. Please view sets to determine the appropriateness for your students."

 http://store.lonestarlearning.com/

 

 

A Closer Look At Gluten Free Food Labeling

Eating pre-packaged gluten free foods and all the sudden you feel ill? HHMMM.........might be because gluten free does not always mean free of gluten! Most foods labeled gluten free have 20 PPM (parts per million) of gluten in them and that is legal in the USA. Canada and Europe test down to 5 PPM (parts per million). So those with Celiac Disease or those that are highly sensitive can react to many gluten free foods even though the package says gluten free. To read more I have included an article at the end of this blog post from Living Without magazine.

Check out this article from my favorite gluten free magazine Living Without.
http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_7/closer_look_at_labeling-1945-1.html

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/