Monthly Archives: May 2015

One of the ways I favor when learning with my children is the unit study method. I had never heard of the company Homeschool Legacy until this review became available, but I am sure glad I have heard of it now!

We have been happy to have been given two unit studies from Homeschool Legacy. We received (in digital format) Westward Ho 1 AND Westward Ho 2.

Westward Ho 1 is a five week unit, and Westward Ho 2 is a four week unit. Both are able to be used for grades two through twelve, which, of course, makes it easier and more fun to learn as a group!

In addition, all of the unit studies from Homeschool Legacy fulfill all or most of the requirements for a boy scout badge or an American Heritage Girl badge.

Having moved west to New Mexico a few years ago, I thought this would be a great choice for us! On our trip across the country, we had stopped at the St. Louis Arch, and went through the Museum of Western Expansion, so we had already picked up on some history that would be involved.

There is a lot packed into these unit studies. All of them are “once a week unit studies”, so you do not feel overwhelmed, as I have on occasion with unit studies. I invite you to watch the short video below in which the author explains the way her “once a week” unit studies work.

In Westward Ho 1, we are learning about Frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone, Kit Carson and Johnny Appleseed.

All the way through each unit, we have been given reading lists to choose from, complete with Dewey Decimal numbers so that we can look for them at our library. It’s very nice, and a money saver, to be able to get your read alouds for free instead of having to go out and buy them!

There is a family devotional which goes along with the chapter, and the Bible verses are given as reference only, meaning it works wonderfully for us, as we use only the King James Version.

Beginning with the very first week, we were given the opportunity to start a History Timeline Notebook. This is one thing we have yet to do, as I am still working on the best way to do it in a way for all to participate.

Even though we have all boys, we love the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. They play a big part for us in going through this unit!

There are even recipes for things such as stew that pioneers would have made, and home made butter.

In Westward Ho 1, we cover the following:

Week 1: Frontiersmen

Week 2: Pioneer Life

Week 3: The Lone Star Republic

Week 4: The Life and Times of James K. Polk

Week 5: The Oregon Trail

In Westward Ho 2, we are covering:

Week 1: Gold Rush!

Week 2: Life on the Prairie

Week 3: The Great American Railroad Race

Week 4: Cowboys and Cattle Drives

I like that there really is very little prep work! At most, you would be going to the library for books, and picking up things while doing regular grocery shopping in order to incorporate any recipes that may be included in the unit.

I like that the Westward Ho units can either be used as a complement to your current curriculum or can be your main source for history, by adding some of the other units available from Legacy Homeschooling.

We have been wanting to learn more about the west since moving here, so we are absolutely taking our time with this one, as I don’t want to miss anything, if I can help it!

Legacy Homeschool has many Once A Week Unit Studies available . . .

And I very much encourage you to go take a look. You may find them to be a welcome addition to your children’s (and your own!) education!

Visit Legacy Homeschool on social media at:

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We just received news last evening that a precious family in our church will be leaving, as the husband is definitely called to preach. He has been our choir director since we came to our church, and in charge of children’s ministries, and is resigning as a staff member in order to be free to candidate elsewhere.

His wonderful wife, who is a fellow blogger (I encourage you to follow her blog), serves in so very many ways, it’s really quite impossible to list them all.

On top of that, their children. Oh, their children, who are so delightful! Their two boys are such fun playmates for our boys at church, and their two little girls never fail to bring a smile to me. When I’m feeling down, it’s almost as though they know it, and come for a hug from me. I will miss them when they actually leave, as will everyone at Mesa Baptist Church.

Vaya con Dios, my friends, I love you!

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Heidi St. John (the author of the book I’m reviewing) at our homeschool convention here in N.M., so if course, I was so happy to be chosen to be part of the review team for a variety of her works, all of which come from Real Life Press.

When given a choice among what was offered, I asked for the Ebook Lapbooking Made Simple.

Like Heidi St. John, I am an accidental homeschooler. This is truly something I NEVER envisioned myself doing, but then when my first child aged out of his pre-primary impaired classroom into kindergarten, he was going for a full day, half in a regular classroom and half in a special needs classroom. This was not working. They didn’t challenge him at all, and he often even went missing from the classroom, without it even being noticed for some time! Eventually, we decided that I couldn’t do any worse, and the one on one might be good. Like Heidi, I also attempted to recreate “school” at home. This. Did. Not. Work. We had way more tears than we had fun, or even any actual learning! Finally, I ditched “school at home”, and went sort of eclectic/relaxed, for the most part.

Full disclosure here, one of the main reasons I asked for Lapbooking Made Simple was that I already own some of the other offerings, having purchased (and gotten them autographed!) at convention. 🙂 Beyond that, though, we do enjoy lapbooking, but have yet to do one that is completely self designed, as opposed to “print, cut out, fill in and glue”.

We actually discovered lapbooking by accident several years ago, when we went to visit some good friends for their kids birthdays, and we were going to watch “Kung Fu Panda”. I thought we might as well learn about REAL Giant Pandas, so I hit the internet. I actually found a simple little lapbook for it somewhere, and we added our own touches, like some stills from the movie. But, even that was for the most part, pre-designed for us. Not that we don’t enjoy the lapbooks we’ve done that are pre-designed, we totally do, but Heidi St. John, with her Ebook Lapbooking Made Simple, shows us (and you), how to easily take ANY topic of interest, and design your own lapbook.

I like her one Golden Rule: Your lapbook belongs to your child. Don’t take over and do it for him. (pg. 6)

This is a rule *I* needed to hear, for sure. I am an avid scrapbooker and card maker, so I really have to check myself when it comes to this, because what looks right to my kids may NOT be what I would have done at all, and I never want them to feel their “creation” isn’t good.

In this 54 page book, Heidi St. John gives so many tips on lapbooking! Not too far in, she reveals her top five lapbooking tips. She also shows us how to slow down and start simply, and that it is important that the child have FUN with it. If I make my child feel that it has to be “perfect”, he is not likely to want to do another lapbook, right?

Further in, we are given tips on folding the file folders to make single lapbooks, double lapbooks, and even more advanced lapbooks!

There are abundant online resources within this Ebook that are linked so that you may simply click on them and go check them out, which is one thing I really enjoy being able to do. The final 19 pages are full of printable templates for a variety of minibooks and such that your children can make their own, no matter wht topic they are currently studying. This is one of the best things about lapbooking!

Do not allow the length (54 pages) of this book to deceive you! It is chock full of ideas that I know my family will be using! And at the low price of $7.95, I think it’s quite a bargain!

To find out what my fellow crew members thought of this and other products from Real Life Press, please click the banner below . . .

 

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