A Journey Through Learning is a home-based company created by two homeschooling moms, Paula Winget and Nancy Fileccia. They have developed numerous lapbooks and unit studies covering the following subjects: Science, History, Social Studies, Government, Holiday, Seasonal, Bible, Family, Early Learning, and Literature. I had never used a lapbook before, so I was excited and nervous about receiving Amphibians Lapbook with Study Guide to review.

To my surprise, it was a fun and easy learning experience for both me and my children. This product is for grades 2-7 and includes everything you need to complete a three-folder lapbook for one student (if using the printed version, which costs $21.00). The instructions for assembling the lapbook are wonderful. They take you step by step, with color pictures and easy-to-understand instructions. Also included are instructions for how to make the different folds, how to use the study guide and mini-booklets, and how to put the different elements into the lapbook.

This lapbook can be tailored to your own child and homeschool environment. The study guides for each topic are one page long and can be used alone or as a jumping off point for digging deeper. There is a small book list if you want more information on a topic. Depending on the age of your child, you may want to add in some additional reading. I found the study guides to be very thorough; however, there may be places where your child has trouble understanding a concept or wants more information than what is provided. The following topics are covered:

• What are amphibians?
• The defense mechanisms of amphibians
• The order of amphibians
• The life cycle of a frog
• What is a food chain?
• The amphibian food chain
• Amphibian habitats
• The amazing world of tadpoles!
• The diet of frogs and toads   
• The characteristics of frogs and toads
• What are frogs?
• What are toads?
• How are frogs and toads different?
• What are salamanders?
• What are Caecilians?

The packet also includes four optional enrichment pages. Your child can keep track of the books he reads with the Book Log. Nick Notes helps your child organize information from the study guide. (Older children can use the Outline Form.) There are two different forms for narrations; one has a space for a picture, while the other just has lines.

Overall I really enjoyed using Amphibians Lapbook with Study Guide. It was as open and go as a lapbook could be! Everything was right there ready to be cut and pasted into the lapbook. The graphics were amazing and included actual pictures and clip art throughout. When we want to do another lapbook, A Journey Through Learning is the place we will look.

Product review by Stacy Rocha, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2010