Journey Homeschool Academy {Review}

Disclaimer: I received FREE access to Journey Homeschool Academy- Experience Astronomy: Elementary course through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Journey Homeschool Academy offers complete science courses for elementary and upper-level students. We were so excited to try out the Experience Astronomy: Elementary course and we loved the engaging videos and fun hands-on activities that were included.

Journey Homeschool Academy currently offers Astronomy and Biology courses, a high school level Bible course, and joining the list soon will be Earth Science and Chemistry. It’s a great choice for a homeschool science curriculum for all ages.

About Experience Astronomy: Elementary

Journey Homeschool Academy has created an Astronomy course for Elementary students that is truly all-encompassing. Their multi-sensory approach allows successful learning for students with all learning styles.

The Elementary Astronomy course is broken down into 30 lessons, complete with videos, hands-on activities, copywork, memory cards, and more. Each lesson is presented in a fun and engaging way that truly captures the attention of the students and keeps it throughout the learning time.

Journey Homeschool Academy Lesson Breakdown

Video Lessons

Each lesson starts with a video lecture that is around 15 minutes long. These videos are beautifully made with great visuals and sound that truly draw the students in. There is so much information presented in each video lesson that it may actually take more than one viewing to take it all in.

In addition, the lessons contain:

Recommended Reading Lists– these books can be found at your local library or bookstore and are broken down by reading level. I love the choices on these lists, they are quality selections of living books that truly enhance the learning that the students are doing.
Hands-On Activities– without a doubt these were our favorite part of the lessons. I love that they are so simple, yet teach the student so much. There are not a lot of miscellaneous items needed for these, so it makes it easy to be a mainly open and go learning experience.
Memory Work– the memory videos and flashcards give direct instruction regarding the information that the students should be remembering. This is such a helpful addition for the parent-teacher to see exactly what the focus of the lesson should be.

Copywork– each lesson comes with copywork in both print and cursive for the students to complete.
Quizzes– there are short quizzes that you can give to your students at the end of the lessons to be sure they have retained the information correctly.

Our Experience

I knew from the start that this was going to be a favorite for my busy boys. They love everything to do with space, planets, and stars. This was the first time in a while the boys did not argue with me about doing science work.

I loved how the lessons are laid out. Starting with the lecture video and then moving right into the hands-on activities allowed us to discuss much of what we watched while we were cementing the information in with a fun activity.

Our favorite activity so far has been the marshmallow constellations. The boys had such a blast doing them that we had to do this one over and over with different constellations. It didn’t hurt that they loved eating the marshmallows as we went.

It was such a simple activity, but it really encouraged such great conversations about the stars and why they are placed the way they are. It has really sparked their curiosity about so many aspects of creation that I know we will be going back through this course again and again as they get older.

For me the Journey Homeschool Academy Experience Astronomy: Elementary course is a win-win. I feel that my boys have learned so much just in the first 9 lessons we have gone through and I am looking forward to seeing how much they learn throughout the remainder of the course.

I love that this is an open and go curriculum that requires very little preparation from me. As a mom of four kiddos that I am homeschooling, the easier a curriculum is for me to teach, the better. I enjoyed this one so much that I am sure we will be using other Journey Homeschool Academy courses in the future as well.