Dear Hope Chest friends,
By popular demand and for the seventh (?!) year, I am about to order a whole new print batch of my Learner's Journal lesson planner and resource logs. I am taking orders until July 25 (that's next week) and then they should be ready for shipping by August 1. (Florida residents, thanks to the tax relief holiday on school stuff, your orders will be tax free until the end of July since I will process all orders during the July 22 - 31 time period.)
As always, profits from the Learner's Journals will be sent to Malawi to aid the ministry of Pastor Headson Makazinga.
I'm pressed for time right now, so I'm pasting in last year's blurb. (At least I'm not having a baby this time in the middle of it!)
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Are you looking for a way for you or your child to keep school records in an attractive, orderly, and durable way? Please consider The Learner's Journal lesson planner and resource log! The Learner's Journal is flexible in format, and can be used for all kinds of different educational -- traditional textbook, unit studies, Charlotte Mason, unschooling, or whatever. (We use a mix of all of the above!) Even if you don't plan lessons ahead of time, you can record what you did after the fact. You will need one for each child.
The Learner's Journal covers are durable wipe-clean plastic over cardstock, and come in six eye-catching colors (other colors may be available by request):
- Rocket Red
- Solar Yellow
- Pulsar Pink
- Terra Green
- Lunar Blue
- Ivory
The books are spiral bound and lay flat for easy writing. The front cover is attractive and uncluttered so you and your children won't get tired of looking at it all year. It has an oval surrounding the The Learner's Journal title in very large print, and Name: and Year: in smaller print. The font is the very sophisticated Tempus Sans ITC, suitable for both boys and girls. The back cover has nine quotes about books to inspire readers young and old.
Inside, you will find introductory pages for:
- How to Use the Learner's Journal
- Major Resources Used This Year (a place to record text books and work books with abbreviations)
- Most Important Literature (2 pages for a quick summary of the best stuff you read!)
- Special Accomplishments & Projects (summarize your most noteworthy achievements)
- Field Trip Summary (list date, location and description)
- Progress Samples (show beginning and progress samples)
After that, you will find 50 weeks worth of lesson plan sheets and resource pages.
On the left hand side of each double page spread you will find the lesson plan sheets. At the top there is a spot for noting the week. Then there are nine large blocks. Six of them are labeled as follows:
- Bible & Character
- Language Arts (literature, creative writing, spelling, grammar, handwriting, etc.)
- Math
- Social Studies (history, geography, sociology, etc.)
- Science and Health
- Arts (music, art, crafts, drama, and more.)
The bottom three blocks are unlabeled.
For those who like to give daily assignments, the blocks are marked off with horizontal lines into five sections each. Even those who give weekly assignments will appreciate these lines for writing different assignments. For example, for Language Arts, you could use these lined sections for literature, spelling, handwriting, grammar and creative writing.
Across the bottom of this left hand page, there are five smaller schedule blocks for Monday through Friday. Here you can note any appointments, out-of-the-home lessons, deadlines, field trips, etc. This helps you and your child prepare for and plan around what's coming up. Now you're less likely to be scrambling to finish up that science fair project that everyone could have forgotten about!
On the right hand side is the Resource Log which has columns for Date, Title, Author, and Format & Topic. Use this last column to specify whether the resource is a book, tape, video, kit or something else, and what it is about, which is not always apparent from the title! For example, Beyond the Next Mountain is a video about missionaries in India, while Cell Wars is a book about the immune system. This will make your portfolio much more meaningful when it is evaluated.
People who have used the Learner's Journal over the past four or five years have appreciated the format and the durability! I think you will, too.
Click on the Hope Chest Resources page (http://www.thehopechest.net/resources.html) for more information on ordering the Learner's Journal or my other books. You can click on any of the links there to see information on the individual books. The Learner's Journal page has examples of the page formats and colors.
Learner's Journals are $10 each, but there is a $1 discount per copy if you order 3 or more at the same time. Shipping is 10%, with a minimum fee of $2.50. Florida residents need to add 7% tax to this total. If you wish, you can also order my books The Real Life Home School Mom and Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade at the same time for the $1 quantity discount!
My address for mailing checks is: Virginia Knowles / 1925 Blossom Lane / Maitland, FL 32751
You can also order by PayPal -- my payment address is
[email protected]
Whether you order by check or PayPal, please e-mail me your color choices as soon as possible.
The Learners Journal Review
The Learners Journal by Virginia Knowles is a really useful organizational tool. In fact, it is so nifty that I am going to tell you all about it! The Learners Journal is for planning lessons and recording accomplishments for one student. If you have five students you will need five Learners Journals. It can be used for a variety of teaching/learning styles and is extremely user friendly. The journal is divided into sections to record major resources used this year, important literature read, special accomplishments, projects, field trips, and work samples. There are 50 undated weekly lesson plans. Each week is on a two-page spread and includes a schedule of events, a resource log, notes, and the lesson plan. Mrs. Knowles has included several pages of tips for parents that include samples of how to customize The Learners Journal. The Learners Journal features a heavy-duty clear plastic front and back cover (great for wiping off sticky fingerprints and protecting important information) over colored cardstockand can be purchased in a number of vibrant colors. I really appreciated the sturdiness of the cover and the lay flat, toddler-proof comb binding [Virginia's note in 2006 -- It is now a spiral binding.] I have four kids, so durability is essential.
-- Product Review by: Tina Rice, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
For more information on the Learner's Journal or my other two books (The Real Life Home School Mom and Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade), please click here: www.TheHopeChest.net/Resources.html
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