We are BIG history fans in this house. After studying Ancient Greece for the past year and a half (it... took us a while to get through the longer book I chose, which apparently we were supposed to be reading three chapters from each week instead of two. Whoops!), it was finally time to move on to Ancient Rome! Hurrah! So the timing was perfect to try out some of the supplementary activities from the team at Home School in the Woods.
There are tons of unit studies, lap books, activity packs, and more available on their website. I had a tough time choosing! Ultimately, I thought that their Project Passport World History series sounded right up our alley - with unit studies on Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance available, it would have been almost impossible deciding, had we not already been moving on to Roman history.
Trying to match up the order of the lessons with the book we were already using was a little tricky, so we decided just to try the supplementary activities, of which there were many from which to choose! But the kids being board game lovers, we decided especially to work on getting one of the culminating projects done, an awesome board game. Everybody worked together to cut, color, laminate, and trim the pieces, and they've been using it and picking up on all sorts of Rome trivia before we even hit that point in our reading!
As we used the program for a few weeks, it occurred to me who this program would be perfect for right now - those of you who are quarantine schooling!! These unit studies take approximately 6 weeks, and they have some geared towards grades 3-8, and others for grades K-2, though the one we chose definitely worked for our 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders together. The study we used included readings, activities, crafts, and more. It was a LOT of material, and while it was too much for us to use all of it, this would make a great interdisciplinary program for multiple children if you need a fun, structured way to keep school going at home without resorting to hours of screen time!
We spent much of last year reading about Saint Paul in one of our books, and have just started reading about him in another, so it was nice to see a map of his travels! So often in history, it seems that religion is ignored or brushed to the side, but Home School in the Woods definitely recognizes the importance of Saint Paul in relation to Ancient Rome.
The final board game is pretty sturdy after everyone finished laminating every single piece possible! I think we'll have an easier time playing once we've finished our studies of Rome, but everyone was too excited to wait.
If you're interested, you can find out more about the complete History Studies AND a la carte offerings in this blog post. And now is a great time to learn about United States Elections with this Lap-Pak!
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I would love to hear a day/week in the life of your homeschool sometime. I really loved homeschooling my two sons and K through 4 were my absolute favorite years. My husband and I are older parents though and I didn't want to homeschool high school. So we started them at a hybrid University Model school half way through 6th grade and they went there for a year and a half. They attended all day Tuesday and Thursday and worked from home MWF. I really liked it and it was a great way to transition to school life but math really did not work like that for my two sons. They ended up starting public school this year (8th grade). Now they are home again for quarantine and they are not happy with me because we are doing school at home again:) and none of their friends have to:). When I read about your homeschool, it makes me miss those younger days with my two. Love reading about your beautiful family.
ReplyDeleteThings are so different every single day over here! Maybe I can get a post together of a typical-ish week - I took pictures this morning, so if I can manage that every day maybe I won't forget things ;)
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