If you’re a veteran homeschooler, at some point you may have been so dis- enchanted with the products available, you considered making your own. That
same frustration is what led to the creation of A Journey Through Learning. And
while it is certainly a success story, things
weren’t always easy for co-creators, Nancy
Fileccia and Paula Winget. Quite the opposite, in fact. We talked to Nancy about her
business, her personal struggles, and how
her educational philosophy has changed
over the years.
TOS: Tell me about A Journey Through
Learning.
Nancy: It actually began as a joke. My
best friend, Paula Winget, and I were
griping because we couldn’t find a certain
thing we were looking for at a co-op we
were running. And our husbands said,
“Why don’t you just make it yourselves?”
So we sat down and said, “Let’s see what
we can come up with.” Our co-op liked
the product, and we kept using it, never
dreaming we’d start a business. Finally
we got a business license, and before we
knew it, we had about thirty lapbooks.
We got on Currclick which was the first
big company that took an interest in us.
Then I contacted author, Susan Marlowe,
about making a lapbook to go with her
children’s series. We were starting from
scratch, and she had homeschooled (her)
children, and was now homeschooling
her grandchildren, and she said, “I’ll
mentor you ladies.”
TOS: What is a lapbook?
Nancy: A lapbook is basically scrapbooking for kids. It’s an amazing learning tool. A
lot of people think a lapbook is only done
with file folders. That’s the biggest misconception. You can do them in notebooks,
on posters, or on walls. I used sticky tack
with my kids, and we’d make the booklets
and stick them on the whiteboards for the
kids to open and close. It allows children to
use their hands, and gives them a place to
write answers in fun booklets. So you’re not
doing this boring, write-the-answer-down-on-paper, and then just moving on to the
next page. It’s a lapbook where the kids
fill in the information to create a colorful,
educational, manipulative booklet they can
use over and over again to study, to show
56 Spring 2018 • Vendor Hall www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Making
Education
Fun:
An Interview with the Co-creator of
A Journey Through
Learning
By Kathleen Conway Nancy Fileccia
A lapbook is basically scrapbooking for kids.
It’s an amazing learning tool.
