Review: A Journey Through Learning

Do you enjoy lapbooking?  Have you ever even heard of lapbooking?  I discovered it many years ago and I've always thought it was a great way to learn.  A Journey Through Learning offers a multitude of lapbooks that you can use with your students.  I was given 4 lapbooks for this review and expected to complete just one, but we've actually finished two so I will share both.  We did Letters, Numbers and Shapes ,which is for ages 3-5 and The Earth, for grades 1-4.

A Journey Through Learning was created by two homeschooling moms, Nancy and Paula.  Take a moment to read their touching story.  If you are not familiar with lapbooking you may wish to watch these how to videos.

Letters, Numbers and Shapes is a 51 page pdf document with printable mini-books and activities to do with your younger children.  There are several booklets for tracing letters on the outside then copying the same letter under a flap on the inside, there is an ice cream cone triangle book, a firetruck rectangle book, number writing, a one-to-one correspondence activity with cards for matching numbers to objects, a booklet for matching capital and lowercase letters and more.

covers of the lapbooks Ellie and Connor made

You could choose to complete a booklet each day and have enough for about 4 school weeks.  We chose to just keep working on several books at a time and had this completed in about a week.  The end of the e-book contains 9 pages of finger plays, letter activities, poems, things to do with letters, learning about shapes with food.  There are lots of fun ideas in here to keep you busy for much longer.

a completed lapbook with the idea sheets that are also included

Connor matching capital and lowercase letters

cards to math numbers with objects

One of the things I really love about A Journey Through Learning is they provide you with an exact placement guide for each booklet in your lapbook.  You don't have to try to figure out what fits where! 

Here is a clip of part of the placement guide for this lapbook:

Add caption

The Earth lapbook is designed for your first to fourth grader.  It is an excellent introduction to Earth Science or would make a great go along for whatever Earth Science curriculum you are using.

The Earth is a 42 page e-book with directions for completing the lapbook, then each lapbook mini-book is accompanied by a page of text. No outside sources are needed to complete the lapbook.  There are 14 mini-books, a book list along with some songs, poems and crafts are included as well. 

The cover of Emma's lapbook

This is the cover of a layers of the earth booklet

and the inside of the same booklet

Part of the completed lapbook shown with the placement diagram that is included.

The Earth lapbook covers layers of the earth, types of rocks, landforms, seasons, mountains, volcanoes and more.

One thing I wanted to mention is that in the poem section there is a poem by Jane Yolen called Earth Day that starts out, "I am the earth, the earth is me." It's a little pantheistic for me, but it's not really a part of the study and you certainly wouldn't have to read it.  This would not prevent me from purchasing the study, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Overall, we had a good time with these lapbooks and will likely complete more in the future.  These lapbooks are especially fun for kids who enjoy crafts and making projects.

You can purchase Letters, Numbers and Shapes for $13 (as a download...see the link for more options) and The Earth is also available for $13 as a download and $21 printed.

A Journey Through Learning offers lapbooks to go along with Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia Titles, Classical Conversations and many more! They also have Express Lapbooks for only $1!

See what others are saying about A Journey Through Learning on the crew blog.

Touch Math for Pre-K

For the past few weeks my younger children have been using the Pre-K level of Touch Math.

Touch Math generously provided me with all 6 pre-school units and 3 different fun manipulatives; Touch Shapes,  3-D Numerals, and Texture Cards.

Touch Math Texture Cards and 3-D Numerals

Touch Math Pre-K includes:

• 90 Student Activity Sheets
• Implementation guide
• Six module guides complete with strategies and answer keys
• Pre-and Post tests for each module

Touch Math uses a multi-sensory approach.  Students see, say, hear and touch manipulatives and do paper and pencil activities.  This was very easy to prepare (just print out) and everything is laid out step by step.  There are pre-activities for each worksheet (or group of worksheets) and instructions in the teacher pages for each worksheet.  I printed out the worksheets as we went but I think in the future I am going to print out an entire module at a time and put them in a notebook since I tend to misplace things.

Sadie (3) completing a sorting activity with the Touch Shapes

Connor doing a Touch Shapes activity

This has been a wonderful curriculum not only for my 2 pre-school age children but for my son with Down syndrome who is older and hasn't really been able to grasp math yet.  He is making slow progress with this and I am THRILLED. This is the first time he seems to be grasping the idea of one to one correspondence.  YAY!

Connor...so proud of his work!

The 230 page pdf curriculum is divided into 6 modules. Each module has 15 workmats (worksheets that you print, but they refer to them as workmats.)  I really like these.  They are not only great for activities, but the kids enjoy coloring them too. They are all black and white which is nice for saving on ink.

Each workmat is aligned to a Common Core Standard if that matters to you.  (It doesn't to me.)  Answer keys are also found in the same module for each workmat.   A progress monitoring sheet is included if you like that sort of thing for record keeping.

I really like how the teacher pages (Instructional Strategies) lay out everything including scripted dialogue, pre-activities and instructions for each worksheet.

Here are a couple of clips from the Instructional Strategies:

The six modules include:
Counting and Number Sense
Comparing and Classifying
Sorting, Classifying, Graphing and Patterning
Identifying, Sorting and Classifying 2-D Shapes
Identifying, Sorting and Classifying 3-D Shapes and Coins
Representing Quantities and Numbers


Touch Math recommends you spend 2 to 2 1/2 times the learner's developmental age per day.  So a young child is only going to be spending less than 10-15 minutes each day building skills.  (love this!)

The Touch Shapes are definitely needed to start with this program.  Several of the workmats and activities require the use of the shapes.  (I guess you "could" make your own shapes with paper but if you're like me you never will.  Just go ahead and order them...that is my advice!)

The Texture Cards and 3-D Numerals are not needed early on, but would make a wonderful addition to the workmats (and are used in later modules.)  The 3-D Numeral set comes with the plastic numbers and a CD-ROM of printable worksheets to go along with them.  The worksheets also match the Texture Cards.

One last picture of Connor after completing a workmat.

I guess I've never really thought about purchasing a Pre-K math curriculum but now that we are using one I can see the value in it and I really like Touch Math and will consider continuing on with it when we finish the 6 modules of the Pre-K program.

View sample pages.

Purchase:
Touch Math Pre-K $59.95
Touch Shapes $30.00
3-D Numerals $79.00
Texture Cards $99.00




See what others are saying about Touch Math (various levels) on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Flowering Baby Pre-school Curriculum

Flowering Baby, LLC is a delightful preschool curriculum in five levels for ages birth through five year olds.  Though I received all five levels of Flowering Baby, we focused on the Three to Four year old curriculum and some of the Four to Five year old curriculum.

Flowering Baby Curriculum was written by Martha Saunders and her mother, Carolyn Schulte.   Carolyn was a Kindergarten teacher for over 30 years and has spent the last 12 years doing therapy with children birth to age 3.  The original curriculum was written for Martha's then three year old son. It has since grown into this full preschool curriculum .What they have come up with is a detailed day-by-day curriculum to use with children from birth to age 5.  It is easy to use, a lot of fun and beneficial for the child.

What I love most about this curriculum is that it is so flexible. I liked to look at the week and see what we should be doing and then try to check off each thing during the week (not necessarily on the suggested day, but when it fit into our schedule). I could set some time aside to do all of the activities or just try to hit on them throughout the day (which is more likely to happen here!)

I also love that everything is planned out right down to what books to read, fun activities to do, music to listen to etc. I am a sucker for book lists and the book lists in Flowering Baby are excellent, as are the music selections.

In the 3 to 4 year old program (and the 4 to 5 year old program) there are 2 guides.  One is the monthly curriculum guide and the other is a theme guide.  The monthly guide has 115 pages and has an introduction, suggested websites, a list of books to be read throughout the year, a CD list as well as a supply list.  It is broken down month by month with daily activities.  Each month also has a supply list for that month and a breakdown of the books to be used for that month by category, music for the month and a list of holidays for that month.

Next you will find a list of daily activities to complete with your child. There are between 10 and 13 days of activities for each month (more activities are in the theme guide so there is plenty to do each month).  You can see an entire month of this curriculum at Flowering Baby.(scroll to the bottom)  Here is a small sample from one day:

Day 6:
ABC’s: Using a book your child knows well read it again today. Skip a page or leave out something important. Does he notice? Does he know what was missing?
Math: Select two objects that are similar in at least one respect but different in another. Example: an orange and a basketball are both round and orange but not the same size and used for different purposes. Discuss with your child what is similar and what is different about the objects. Then select two different objects and have your child explain the similarities and differences to you.
Discrimination: Gather a variety of objects from around the house. Ask your child to identify them based on appearance, color, shape, or physical characteristics. Some examples are: apple, ball, stuffed animal, shoe, book and plate.
Physical: Today’s physical activity is fun – it is all about laughing. Laughter is so wonderful for our emotional state, relaxes us and increases learning function. Sometimes in life we get so focused, so busy, we forget to just be silly. Today is about being silly. Make funny faces, tell jokes, play fun games or sports that you enjoy (we like balloon ball where we hit a balloon around the house), look at funny pictures. Use your imagination and laugh today.
Social: Discuss emotions and the value of feelings today. I discuss a variety of emotions (happy, sad, angry, and surprised) and give examples of each. Children learn better when there are emotions attached to what they are learning.Self help: Let your child dress himself today and observe if he knows to get the proper items of clothing (underwear, pants, shirt, etc) and if he can dress himself correctly (shirt facing forward, socks on correctly).
Composer of the month: Mozart. Listen to music composed by Mozart, don’t expect your child to sit and listen to this, just play it in the background while he plays or while you are in the car.

The monthly guide also includes several appendices.  One is a worksheet of questions for naming things, another has recipes for playdough, another is for Learning Through Stories which gives questions and an activity for 15 different popular children's books. (wonderful!)

The second part of the curriculum is the Theme Curriculum Guide.  You are encouraged to do two of these per month.  Themes include each season, musical instruments, dinosaurs, aquarium and arctic life and many more.  Each theme guide has approximately 6 days of activities.  There is a suggested schedule of themes to use for each month but you can choose the ones you want to do in any order.

This is a short sample from the Rocks and Minerals theme guide:



Day 1:

Read a book on rocks and minerals.

Go rock hunting. Take a walk and collect rocks of different types, shapes, sizes, colors. Then wash them off and compare each. You can use a magnifying glass to get a better look. Save the rocks for tomorrow. Discuss the characteristics of each.

Day 2:

Read a book on rocks and minerals.

Using the rocks you collected yesterday, ask your child which is his favorite. Then try to determine what type of rock it is. Draw a picture of your favorite rock. Remind your child to notice the slight differences of color and line in the rocks.

Day 3:

Read a book on rocks and minerals.

Research and determine a few different types of rock that are common where you live. Try and determine if you have found any when you went rock hunting or find a picture in a book or on-line. Tell your child a few characteristics and the name of at least two of the common rocks.

Day 4:

Read a book on rocks and minerals.

Using the rocks you found and some tools have fun breaking them up to see if they look different inside. This can be messy so you might want to do this task outside on the sidewalk. Wear goggles to protect your eyes and depending on the type of rock this is likely a job for the adult.

Here are a few of the things we really enjoyed:
 A trip to our local aquarium as part of the Aquarium and Arctic life theme:

Making a Healthy Foods collage (the kids absolutely loved this...I never think to do things like this.)

Decorating a star fish with fruit loop cereal. (another activity they loved)

There are so many more things we have enjoyed doing from counting Cheerios, to making a triangle on the floor with tape to walk on, reading LOADS of books, listening to a wide variety of music styles and on and on.  We are really enjoying Flowering Baby and I would highly recommend it.  It is available as a pdf or on CD.  I would prefer a physical copy.  If you are like me you will want to spend the time and money to print the guide out and bind it.  If you like just working from your computer screen then you don't need to worry about it!

The Four to Five year old program is extremely similar to the Three to Four curriculum and can easily be used simultaneously.  The books are often the same though more books are listed for the Four Year Olds, the some of the activities are also more advanced.

You can view a full month of each level by scrolling down on each of the following pages:

Birth to One
One to Two
Two to Three
Three to Four
Four to Five

Here is some basic information about the other levels that I received, but did not use for the purpose of this review.

Birth to One is 87 pages and includes an introduction with book and music suggestions.  It is then broken down by what to do for each age.  There are 27 days of activities for birth to one month, 65 days of activities for ages one to three months, 64 for ages three to 6 months etc. up to twelve months.  The 2 page appendix includes words to rhymes and songs to sing with your baby.  Visit the Birth to One page for more details and samples.

One to Two has 99 pages and includes an introduction, supply list, book list and CD list of what is needed for the year.  Then each month provides 20-25 days of activities to do with your child. The appendix for this level contains rhymes and songs and a couple of playdough recipes.

Here is a sample from the 17 month old section:

Day 6: 

Certain aromas build brain power. Today have fun with some spices. Make herbal tea (cinnamon, peppermint, chamomile or similar) and then drink and enjoy. Just make sure the tea is not too hot. 

Listen to “Beethoven” today, for at least fifteen minutes. 

Day 7:
It seems laundry is a never ending household chore. So, get your child to help. At this age there is not really much he can actually help do, but he sure will feel proud that he “helped” out. I would dump the clean load of whites on the bed and have him sort them into like piles. Ask him to put the socks in one pile, the underwear in another and the t-shirts into a third pile. 

Recite “Baa, Baa Black Sheep”. 

Read Runaway Bunny. 

Day 8:
Learn more about water and the different forms it can take. Always be extra careful with your child when water is involved and monitor him carefully. Pour some cold water into one bowl. Pour warm, not hot, water into another bowl. Put ice cubes into a third bowl. Put crushed ice into a fourth bowl. Let your child feel and play in each bowl. Talk about what he is feeling and the differences he might notice. 

Play “Wee Sing” CD today. Enjoy and sing along.

Two to Three has 159 pages and includes an introduction, supply list, book list and music list that is needed.  Each month also breaks down exactly what you need for each month.

By the time your child reaches three he will have learned at least eight shapes, ten colors, the alphabet, counting to ten in English and Spanish, heard dozens of books, completed science projects and several fun physical activities, enjoyed a wide variety of music and understand about the community helpers in your town.   --from the website 

Each month has 20 days of activities.  Here is a sample of a day for a 31 month old.

Day 17:
Language: Sing the ABC song. Roll out and form Play-doh into letter ‘Y’. 

Math concepts: Count backwards from 10 - 0. 

Song of the day: Yankee Doodle. 

Story of the day: Gingerbread Baby. 

Science project: Clouds are important to our environment. Clouds are made up of millions of tiny droplets of water and they come in all shapes and sizes which produce different kinds of weather. Go outside today and observe clouds. Ask your child to describe the clouds he sees, if you are lucky and the cumulus (big white fluffy) clouds then you can try to find something in the clouds. You might use your imagination and think the cloud looks like a bird, or a fish, or even an ice cream sundae! If you wish you can take along construction paper and crayons and have your child color a picture of what he sees. Or, if the weather does not permit you can use cotton balls and blue construction paper and have him glue on clouds. He can glue them on full and puffy or stretch the cotton ball out to represent (cirrus) long wispy clouds. 

Other: Have your child work on squeezing today; this will improve his gross motor control. You can use kitchen tongs for this activity. Gather various items of different sizes, shapes and weights for him to practice picking up with the tongs and moving into a bowl or box. For added difficulty you might work on fine motor skills and have him use tweezers and pick up small things such as beans, cereal or small toys.

Purchase any of the 5 levels of Flowering Baby individually:

Birth to One $30.00
One to Two $30.00
Two to Three $30.00
Three to Four $38.00
Four to Five $38.00

or you can purchase the entire five year Flowering Baby curriculum for $132.00.

Get a 10% discount on any order by using code Blog10 upon checkout.

See what others are saying about Flowering Baby, LLC on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.




disclaimer: I received all five levels of Flowering Baby, LLC in pdf format in exchange for an honest review

KinderBach

Earlier this year, I reviewed KinderBach and I have been given another opportunity to review it.  KinderBach at Home is a wonderful music curriculum for 3-7 year olds that teaches them music through  playing the piano (or keyboard).  The last time we reviewed this Ellie (4) just loved it and she never stopped talking about it even when we no longer had a subscription.  We are very excited to be able to have a new subscription!

KinderBach does not color, sticker or number keys or turn the keyboard sideways. It teaches the children where the notes are using ANY piano or keyboard. One of the first concepts the children are introduced to is that the piano has groups of 2 black keys and 3 black keys.  They learn to identify the 2 black keys with a cute story about a donkey named Dodi that lives in a house built over the two black keys.  There is video instruction, worksheets and even cards that the kids (or adult) can color and laminate to put on the keyboard as shown here:

Ellie placing the cards

a close up of the cards

Children are also simultaneously taught rhythm, dynamics, and tone.  Everything is taught using cute stories, songs, games and fun worksheets.  One of the early worksheets, has an apple tree with apples in the tree and on the ground.  When children hear a low sound (in the video or a parent can do the sounds) they color an apple on the ground.  When they hear a high sound they color an apple in the tree.  There are similar activities with loud and soft sounds.

The kids coloring the apples.

As they meet each piano pal they learn more about the keyboard and progress to playing real songs in a pretty short time using special notation. Eventually, they progress to reading music.  You can read more about each piano pal here.

Here is a short video sample of one of the lessons.




All of my younger children LOVE KinderBach.  Sometimes we watch more than one lesson in a day (most of the time) and they are free to watch them as often as they like.  KinderBach currently has 6 levels.  Each level has 10 weeks of lessons.  Each week has 4 lessons. By the end of level 5 students will be reading music.  This is a wonderful way to bring music education to younger students.

Each level looks like the picture above.  You just click on the appropriate circle to access your lesson. Lessons are the perfect length for little ones (short!) At the bottom of the screen there is a link to the pdf workbook that goes along with all of the lessons from the level you are on. This is very handy if you want to print out the whole book at one time. You can also access worksheets one at a time in the actual lessons. Note that the first 2 weeks of Level 1 are free.

I can't speak highly enough about how much the kids enjoy this.  I can't think of anything negative to say about it.   If you have young children, you should definitely give it a try.  It's cute, it's fun and educational.  Who could ask for more?

Purchase an online subscription to KinderBach for $99.95 for a year or $19.99 a month.  KinderBach is also available on DVD. Songbooks, Activity Packages and Value Packages may be purchased as well.

I'm also happy to offer a coupon code to my readers for 30% off any order - homeschool, classroom, online or DVDs.

Coupon Code: TOS_crew2012
Expires: 12/31/2012

Creator and "star" of the show, Karri Gregor

The crew is also reviewing the new KinderBach app for iPad and iPod that normally sells for $26.99 but is going to be on sale 50% off next Friday (October 19).  I plan to get it.  We already have the free Simply Discover Piano FREE app (gives you the first lessons and then you can purchase future lessons in app.) The kids really love it.


Like KinderBach on Facebook to be sure not to miss out on any specials.

See what others are saying about KinderBach on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.




disclaimer: I received a 6-month subscription to KinderBach in exchange for an honest review.  (I also received free downloads of 2 of the pdf coloring books.)

Kinderbach

For the past several weeks we have been given the opportunity to try online piano lessons for young children by Kinderbach.  It is absolutely adorable and my 4 and 6 year olds are enjoying watching the lessons and doing the accompanying worksheets. Ellie (4) is especially a fan of this. She will talk about Dodie's house throughout the day even on days when we aren't doing Kinderbach.

Kinderbach uses videos and pdf worksheets which can be purchased on DVD or you can buy an online version either by the month or by subscription. (pricing details are found at the end of this post.) Kinderbach teaches more than just music. A variety of additional skills are introduced such as counting, matching and even some phonics.

Each lesson has a worksheet that goes along with the video.
These are easy enough for young children. Many are just coloring pages.
My kids love them. You can print them out one at a time or print out the sheets that
go with each level all at once.

A sample worksheet from one of the later lessons.

Each key has a piano pal.  Dodie (donkey)  is the first character you meet.  

The hardest part of using Kinderbach is printing out the worksheets. (In other words...not hard!)  If I am prepared and set it up for the girls they are happy to do it.  The creator, Karri Gregor, is a lot of fun for little kids.  It is obvious that she works with children of this age group and talks to them at their level.  My 9 and 6 year olds are currently working through a lesson and have been laughing and having a great time the entire time. (My 9 year old takes piano lessons and doesn't "need" Kinderbach but still can benefit from it and have a good time.  I probably wouldn't buy this for a child that old but if you have a younger child with an older sibling they might still enjoy parts of it.)

Watch a sample of the video:

and this:

I truly believe that music is an important part of a good education.  I highly recommend Kinderbach for families with young children.  You can give it a try for free. The first 2 lessons are available on the website along with free coloring pages and song download.

There are 6 levels of Kinderbach and each level is designed to take 10 weeks.  There are 4 sections to each weekly lesson. You need a piano or keyboard in order to use Kinderbach.  A simple keyboard is fine.

Kinderbach is the creation of Karri Gregor
a professional musician and artist with decades of teaching experience.   

You can purchase 6 levels of Kinderbach on DVD for $40.45 each. Each level comes with a DVD, audio CD, and a CD with a pdf Activity Book and Parent Guide or click here for specially priced packages.  Kinderbach is also available as a subscription. You can pay $95.88 for a one year subscription (which works out to $7.99 a month) or pay month to month at $19.99 a month. I think this is a great option and MUCH cheaper than private lessons, especially if you have more than one child.

They are running a 40% off deal until January 31 with coupon code KBclear2012 and I am seriously considering buying the entire package or the set pictured above which includes the first 3 DVDs, pdfs and extra songbooks. So, if you think you might be interested don't delay in checking it out!


The sale mentioned above is over, however I just received a coupon code to offer here for 30% off ANY order and it's good for one year!  TOScrew2012  Let me know if you decide to order and what you think!

Kinderbach has a 30 day no hassle money back guarantee

Read what others are saying about Kinderbach on the TOS crew blog. I do read the comments on my blog so please feel free to ask questions if you have any!



disclaimer: I received a free 3 month subscription to Kinderbach in exchange for an honest review.