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.

Surgery update on my Mom

Mom had her surgery Jan. 23 everything went very well and she got out in 3 1/ 2 days, while I was enjoying my time at my grandpa's house.

On Monday the 28th she started having a high fever and chills the doctor thought it was a UTI so he sent her to the ER. She had a slight UTI , not enough to cause a fever. They did a CT Scan that showed air bubbles outside of her intestines so she has a infection at the site of the hook up.

Me and my mom at the hospital. I had to wear a mask to make sure she did not catch anything.

They called in a Infectious Disease Control doctor because of all of mom's allergies to find the right mix of antibiotics. She was in the hospital for 9 days on IV antibiotics and she has a PIC line and is now home on IV antibiotics twice a day. She is very weak and sleeps a lot.

Your continued prayers are appreciated by my family.

Surgery tomorrow..............

Well, friends I'm signing off here for awhile. I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning for my surgery. After years of being misdiagnosed with stomach issues, doctors had always told me it was nerves, depression or stress causing my stomach issues......well they were wrong. So now I have to have part or all of my colon removed. They will decided once they get in there and get a better look at things.

The one nice thing out of all this was when I had a doctor that saw my CT scan tell me that he was very sorry that I had suffered for so many years. I told him "Oh, so it's not really all in my head?" And he told me that he could see from the CT scan that it was definitely not all in my head. Another specialist had a good laugh when I told him that I was told I was depressed and that was causing my stomach issues. He said with much sarcasm in his voice "Well having chronic diarrhea many times a day for years might make a person a touch depressed." lol. The doctors also apologized for me being one of those "medical mishaps" as they call it. Where someone slips through the system and is not treated correctly. Glad there is a name for this.......lol. As our Pastor always says "Doctors practice medicine." It's all just practice........EEEKKK!!!

Fear not if things don't go well and I end up in Glory. I know that Jesus has gone before me to prepare a place for me, John chapter 14 verse 3. The book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 6 says "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:" 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 55 says "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Do you have this same view of your own future death? Or do you fear death? Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can remove this fear. To find out more ask me or go to NeedHim.org or call 1-888-NEED-HIM.

Love ya all,
Moe
p.s. I'm not even worried about our homeschool. We have gotten all the 4-H books out and plan to have our son read over those, sketch out his projects for the year and stuff like that. Lots of reading, cooking and enjoying time with his 80+ year old Grandpa. He plans to set up a tent in Granpa's dining room and camping out for the week.

Sorry to be gone for so long.........

I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with acute diverticulitis. Had an incredible ambulance ride when they transferred me to a larger hospital. Those 3 guys has me laughing all the way there!
I am to be home resting and healing up so that they can do some testing. My dh's family has been wonderful!! His sister has really helped me out tons with doctors, nurses and hospitals, it can all be so confusing when you are very ill and out of your head. My church family has been bringing meals in, how wonderful is that!! It's been a real blessing to see our son step up to the plate while I as gone. He did his school work and chores, made meals for himself and dad, he also knew where all the 'hidden' meals are in the freezer......lol. I always have some sort of chili, soup or casserole in the freezer for a quick and easy meal.

Well my point for being on here today was to share something that I found from the Bible that has been a  real encouragement to me today, as I know that I am not the only person on the Internet feeling poorly today. I was pouting around this afternoon, had a very bad day reflux wise, as I am flared up from my throat all the way down to my colon  :P      Ended up on the phone with the nurse 2x and finally think I will make it through until tomorrow when they want to see me again. So here it is.

Weakness in the Bible: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
It is a paradox of Christianity that true strength is found in weakness. Jesus himself embodied the world's idea of weakness, even to the point of submitting to an excruciating death. However, just as Christ's saving power worked through that "weakness," so God's power is often most visible in the midst of suffering, humility, and weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (KJV)
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Gospel.com

I do have a few prayer requests:
1. No more reactions to antibiotics (had 3 in the hospital)
2. Antibiotics will be effective since I am on so many stomach drugs
3. No more blood thinners, these T.E.D. Hose are driving me crazy!
4. DH can concentrate on learning his new job, lots of reading and testing along with the stress of me being ill.
5. Insurance issues won't occur, our current insurance ends 12/31 and the new job insurance is to kick in 1/1.
6. Doctors and Nurses will be competent and know what is going on with me. Since I was told that what I have has been missed for many years and severe damage has been done. I have actually prayed that the doctors would be woke in the night thinking of my case, I pray that they will be milling it over in their mind and looking at it from all sides. This new doctors even apologized for the suffering I have endured, that in itself was a real blessing to hear.

Everyone have a wonderful week!