Product Review: Apologia General Science Lapbook Journal

 
Now that I've spent a couple of years learning everything I can about the Charlotte Mason method and ridding our homeschool of all previous textbook-based concepts, we've added a few textbooks to our homeschool curriculum.  Charlotte Mason, after all, did use some textbooks but didn't allow them to be the main course of the educational feast. One of those texts is "Exploring Creation with General Science" 1st Edition by Apologia Science.

A few weeks ago, I requested and received a free copy of Apologia General Science Lapbook Journal- 1st Edition from Knowledge Box Central. In exchange, I agreed to give an honest review of the product.

Review:

This is a Lapbook Journal which has been specifically designed for use with Exploring Creation with General Science" 1st Edition by Apologia Science.  Designed for the middle school child, this science journal is a great transitional tool. While it mildly maintains some elements of a lapbook, it incorporates more "grown up" elements of note-taking and writing out observations and results of the assigned labs which appear in the textbook itself. 

The textbook presents questions and labs throughout the modules as well as a study guide. This journal organizes those elements in a way which makes studying simple. One has the option of printing the pages with or without pre-printed questions/labs from the textbook. I find that having the questions pre-printed makes a lighter load of Alexis' work. When I'm going through the binder, I can clearly see what she was answering but know that she didn't waste unnecessary amounts of time simply copying questions. (This is a big deal when you're dealing with A.D.D. because these children tend to write more slowly.)

The notebook is divided into 3 sections.

• On Your Own Journal- these are the questions which appear throughout the modules. Again, we chose to print the questions and Alexis simply answers them.
• Study Guide Lapbook Pages- This section uses the Study Guide section of the modules in a more creative way. Alexis can make little booklets with all of the information about each person or discovery or whatever the information is covering. The "hands-on" aspect helps increase retention of the material while also making future "lookups" of the information simple.
• Lab Reports- The labs presented throughout the modules are organized here for recording the data, results, etc. Again, we chose the pre-printed pages to save time.

I find that this journal is an excellent transitional tool as Alexis moves more into independent work. Also, she can keep it on hand for years and use it as a resource for referring back to when needed. For those who must maintain some sort of portfolio or documentation/record-keeping, this would be a big help in that area as well!  Alexis is very creative and loves making things (at any given time of day she can be found creating something or another!) and this fits right in with her artsy-craftsy ways!

At only $30, I'd say it's worth it to receive something that organizes and entire year of science (and an entire textbook of assignments!) into one binder and does so in a way that can be fun for the child.

Summary:
This product:

• Offers Hands-on learning in a way suitable to the middle-school-aged child. 
• Helps increase retention of material learned
• Keeps the student's assignments organized 
• Provides an excellent reference resource within itself
• Can be used for record keeping
• Is a price value 

I am impressed by this journal and plan to continue using them throughout the girls' education!

 Happy Homeschooling!