Learning Adventures: A New World of Adventure & Westward and Onward

by Billie
(Francesville, IN, USA)

Product: Learning Adventures: A New World of Adventure & Westward and Onward

Subject: History, Science, Language Arts (spelling, grammar, writing, literature, vocabulary), fine arts, Bible, geography, culture, cooking

Levels Used: ANWOA (A New World of Adventure), and W&O (Westward and Onward)

Grade Level: 4-8 (but can be adapted for younger and older kids)

Dates Used: 2007-Present

Likes: Thoroughness, lists of supplies on a day by day basis, recommended websites, yahoo group for each year of the curriculum, ease of use, cost, subjects interlinked, multi-grade. Works great with reading delayed kids too!

Dislikes: If one of the kids stays over at grandma's or you split the kids between different sitters or relatives you can't send each with their own work like you could with traditional texts. Other down-side is that there are ONLY 3 in the series so far. (Whatever will I do next year?)

The Learning Adventures series is a brilliantly put together study. The author has beautifully interlinked the subjects so that passages from literature are referenced on the grammar worksheets and bible references are sometimes given to discuss a character's attitude or decision... or the history lesson might link with the science (for example, in W&O Unit 1 they learn about Lewis & Clark's journey, often by river, while learning about Rivers in science.) Even the spelling words reflect on other subjects!

We had previously spent a lot of time studying older cultures (ancients, medieval, renaissance), and this curriculum has helped to guide us to delve into modern history. In the past we made our own history studies, and this has eased my burden by having it all predone.

The beauty of this curriculum (like many other unit studies) is that I can teach multiple grades/kids at a time. With 5 kids that is a real PLUS!

Learning Adventures includes regular hands on activities, encourages independent reading/research, contains seat work, and auditory learning... touching on all the learning styles to one degree or another.