A Journey Through Learning Astronomy and Space

I really love our regular curriculum and so do my girls, but every once in a while we need a change of pace! I especially like unit studies because it gives my girls a chance to explore their own interests. It also is nice to deviate from the normal every once in a while to keep things exciting. A Journey Through Learning provides a creative way for the learning process. Through their lapbooks and unit studies students of all ages can explore subjects that interest them and create a scrap-book style resource for use of review at a later date. The Review Crew had an opportunity to review the following products in a variety of age ranges: 
Lapbooks Letters, Numbers and Shapes (ages 3-5)
The Earth (grades 1-4)
Knights and Castles (grades 2-7) Unit Study
Astronomy and Space (grades 2-7) 
Unlike most studies I've seen online there are several ways these can be purchased. Purchasing the downloadable versions ($13.00) is the easiest for me, but this is not the most convenient for everyone. The lapbooks are also available in a CD ($14.00), a printed version ($20.00) and an assembled version ($29.00). The unit studies also come in a a CD ($14.00) and a printed version ($21.00).  I showed the different options we were given for review to Rose who immediately jumped at the chance to study more about Astronomy! My lover of science couldn't wait to start learning as much as she could. This study is laid out very simply. The instruction pages are clear and enable both parent and student to begin immediately with little preparation. 

Included is a list of books and other resources to enhance the study are included. Rose opted to focus on one book for further study called The Astronomy Book. It has a biblical focus which fits in with our family's beliefs. The nice thing about unit studies is you can choose which resources best reflects your individual family's values and beliefs as well as choosing appropriate reading levels if you are teaching different ages. Another beauty of unit studies is that multiple ages can study together. 

Each topic within the unit has a light page of reading which give interesting facts and information. Following this is a page for students to write down what they learned from what they just read. Rose particularly liked learning about the various planets. I have the order of the planets hanging in our schoolroom and she enjoyed finding out more about them. 

Another section she thoroughly enjoyed was the study of the moon. She liked coloring in the phases of the moon although at first she flipped them all around. We fixed that easily enough and I really feel that she may know them better now. Isn't there a saying that we learn more from our mistakes? 

By far Rose's favorite part was making a diorama of space. She started by painting the inside of a shoebox black. She decided to leave the lid attached to make a title for it. Rose loves being creative with her studies. This was a perfect project for my budding artist!

Included in the study is a page of decorations for the diorama which represent various objects in space which we studied. Rose was so sweet to let her little sister, Beth, help her decorate! I let them use some glitter glue to color the items before cutting them out. I asked if she wanted to color them before adding the glitter, but glitter was enough! 

Here is her finished project!

We finished our unit off with a trip to our local children's museum. It has a very nice display of space travel. Many artifacts, including the craft which Enos, one of the chimps who flew to space before man traveled, orbited the earth. This was such a fun way to close off our study!

If you are in the market for a unit study or lapbook this is a great company to explore. Take a look at the history of who they are. I love that it was two moms, just like me, who had a vision for something and worked hard through trials and adversity. 

Don't forget to check out the reviews from the rest of the Crew!