Live & Learn Press

Live & Learn Press has a number of educational products that are lapbook or notebook type projects. In our school this year, we are using two of their Apologia products in the "Learn 'N Folder" line: Chemistry and General Science.

Apologia textbooks (middle school and high school level), have a number of "On Your Own" questions to answer throughout a given chapter. At the end of the chapter, the student will have Review or Study Guide Questions and some texts also have additional Practice Problems. We've tried using notebooks and binders and it was always hard for me to correct their work because I'd have to refer back to the text (which is rather large) and juggle the student notebook and the answer key. One of my kids always wrote super tiny and hardly ever showed his work. The other would just procrastinate or get halfway through is problems and quit. I was at wit's end when I decided to give a Learn 'N Folder a try.

Live & Learn products can be purchases as an e-book or on a CD. I purchased the e-book version to save shipping costs and to able to download instantly. Because my high schooler has plenty of schoolwork already, I do all the cutting and assembling of the little books. I consider that a small price to pay for the return I'm seeing. There is a booklet for all the On Your Own answers--questions right there and plenty of space to work the problem. All the review questions are written out as a variety of mini-books with plenty of space to answer the question. And for Practice Problems, again, all the questions are written out with ample space to answer (and it's much easier to work math problems in a wide open space instead of trying to squeeze them onto notebook lines like we had been doing).

The really cool thing is that students have a sense of accomplishment as they complete each book. We chose to just paste the booklets onto cardstock pages and keep them together by lesson in a 3-ring binder. Then when it comes time to stud for the test, it's easy to take out their binder and study through the mini-books covering the material as well as their practice problems.

GREAT NEWS if you act fast!

Live & Learn Press is currently having a sale on their Apologia products until 12pm EST on Monday, January 31. Just enter JanApol20 at checkout to receive the sale price. Some sales are only shared with their yahoo group but they kindly let me share this promo with my readers. Anyone can join their Yahoo group and remain in the loop regarding upcoming sales and news about new products. The good news is that group members have access to additional free lapbooks. So make sure you sign up today.

You can also check out their January Specials page and get a discount on a sports package or a writing package.

Don't miss the Freebies

Check out the Live & Learn Freebies page and download a sample of their products. One is a book on Apples with loads of activity pages to learn about this important fruit (they call it a "short sample book" but it has 17 pages of mini-books in addition to pages of instructions for assembling)! Or maybe you'd like to use the "All About Me" book with your child to help them chronicle what makes them unique.

One thing I really appreciate about Live & Learn is that they include instructions on how to assmble the books. If you need something more visual, you can also view video instructions for all the mini books at Squidoo.

Some other products you might want to check out include their Learn 'N Copy books and Learn 'N Journals. Or look at their variety of Learn 'N Folders for Bible, Literature, Holidays, Social Studies, Math, Science, and Field Trips.

We've been very happy with our purchase and if you've been looking for a way to add some spark to your winter studies, give Live & Learn a try!

Happy Learning!

Jill