Learning Adventures Review

by Sharla Malone
(McKinney, TX)

Product:Learning Adventures Curriculum
Subject: Complete
Levels Used: 4-8
Dates Used: 2006-2008

Likes: I don't think there is enough space for me to write all the good things I have to say about Learning Adventures! I was at a place in our home schooling experience where I HAD to make a change. We were using a complete textbook curriculum and it was a disaster. I was looking into the idea of unit studies.

I was told by my sister-in-law that KONOS was wonderful, but very time consuming on the parents part. I emailed my home school group's president and asked her if she knew of anyone who used KONOS and could they tell me about it. She suggested I look into Learning Adventures because that is what her family used and they loved it.

I went to the website and read the testimonals. There were so many moms that had gone through what I was going through that I just sat there and cried! I decided to email the author of LA and just ask her, point-blank, why I should chose LA over other unit study curriculum. The email I received back from Dorian Holt was AMAZING! She took time out of her busy schedule to fully explain (all day! many emails exchanged) to me why unit study was so beneficial to children.

She never pushed me to go with LA ... she didn't have to, I was sold on all the information she gave me! She is so dead-on about "text book burn out" and how that home schooling is about bonding with your children AND giving them access to unlimited information that they actually WANT to learn!

I had to have something that was organized into daily plans for me ... I didn't have time to put something together. LA has it all layed out with great daily lessons plans. It is all right there for us that we don't have to add anything, but LA does give you the choice to add or take away. It has a very large list of books on each subject to choose from.

The support group for LA is AWESOME!!! The women on the LA yahoo group are a great support system and know so much about so many things because they are woman of all ages and we are all in different places in our home schooling journey.

All subjects are included in LA except for math.
The Bible lessons are so great! My daughters and I have had wonderful, in-depth discussions because of what Dorian has given us to think about.

What I LOVE about LA is the fact that there are NO TEXT BOOKS! All the books we learn from are from the books that WE get to pick from out of the library! We go to the library and choose books that go along with the subject that we are studying at that time and we can spend as much time on that subject as we want!

LA is all about making school fun and being as HANDS ON as you want to be! We make maps out of clay, we have gone to a Greek restaurant, we have had Egyptian feasts, we participated in our own Olympics, we get to watch videos related to what we are studying ... my girls look forward to school now!

Dorian teaches that if you can't "have school" one day, don't worry about it, your kids are learning every day from things around them. There is no "catching up", if you fall behind, just pick up where you left off or take it with you wherever you go!

With LA, you can also teach multiple ages at the same time. I teach my 10 year old and my 6 year old at the same time. With math, spelling, writing, we do break off and do age appropriate activities with each ( see my review for My Father's World for K-1 ).

The language/writing lessons are great. Very in-depth but with an easy way to learn it!
LA was definitely a God-send! I feel as though HE led us to this wonderful curriculum!

Dislikes: I don't really have any dislikes about this curriculum.