We had the opportunity to review the new Ancient Greece, which is a HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study by Home School in the Woods. The study is geared towards students in the third through eighth grades.
If you have been homeschooling for any amount of time, more than likely you have come across Home School in the Woods. Homeschool mommy, Amy Pak, is the one behind the company that was created as an answer to a need. If history isn’t one of your favorite subjects to study or teach, you will understand. Pak created Home School in the Woods in 2002 using timeline figures, enabling people to bring history to life in a hands-on, visually appealing, interactive and easy way to remember facts. Since its beginning, Home School in the Woods has grown to include several products that make learning about our past fun.
We were given the opportunity to review the HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study, which took us through Ancient Greece {http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ancientgreece.html}. We received the lessons as a download, which was easily saved. The digital package includes PDF files for the lessons,MP3s and image files of the hands-on activities and completed lapbook. If you are new to lapbooking and/or you just like order, then you will like how this curriculum is laid out. You also receive a file that contains a list of all of the documents needed for the study, which lists the order of use.
This Home School in the Woods lapbook takes your student through Ancient Greece and introduces him to significant events, people and ideas that permeated that period. Pak has set up the study as if a student were actually taking a trip with attention to necessary details like packing and prepping – putting together the student binder, reading over the notes/itinerary for the study/trip, which includes 25 stops. The digital introduction {example} also lists of all of the supplies needed to complete each stop and the lapbook. There is also a resource page of books that may be helpful in completing your study. You may see the scope and sequence.
The HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study Ancient Greece is intended to be a complete study where everything you need is included in the material provided in the lap-pak. To enhance the learning experience other resources, like a list of books, audio-books and others are included.
The concept of lapbooking is not new to me. We have done other studies (ex: geography) and have completed hands-on projects, but they have been individual projects that don’t necessarily have a tie-in together. I like the idea of lapbookng where many hands-on projects lead to a final project with all of the pieces having a relationship and pulling together one theme with many examples. All of those little pieces of the lapbook create a quick and memorable reference for students to periodically review something they have learned.
Our schedule followed where we actually spent five to six days on the lapbook covering about one to two projects a week. Alhtough lapbooking is a great learning tool for all ages, there is preparation and the projects take time to put together. We actually used a lot of our time reading through the lesson stops, discussing the information together and my children liked reading through some of the books on the additional resource list. I have got readers. The lapbooking took a back seat.
Pak’s studies are very thorough for the time periods that are covered. Some of the information includes the creation of the Greek colonies came about and their impact on governing bodies. This is our first year studying Greek history. The Ancient Greece study complimented our current walk through Greek history. It is interesting how much that time period reflects our current government.
With this being a downloadable product, there is a lot of printing involved prior to starting the study. The Start page is a great resource for determining what you need for each stop. You can determine if you want (or need) to print something. You are also able match the reading assignments with the projects that are included in the curriculum.
One aspect I enjoyed about the curriculum was the audio files, which were able to go with us while we were in the car and on the road. Although they are accents for some of the stops, the presentation was “hip” and interesting enough to keep us ungagged in the study.
You do not have to be a lapbooking person (I just am not) to benefit from using Ancient Greece, which is a HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study by Home School in the Woods. I have a respect for lapbooking, because it is a creative way to teach. HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study Ancient Rome will be released in 2018.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study Ancient Greece is available for $33.95 as a download and $34. 95 on CD.
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