Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Home School in the Woods Project Passport World History Studies: Ancient Greece Review


My family had the privilege of trying the Project Passport World History Studies Ancient Greece from Home School in the Woods for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Home School in the Woods is a family run business that creates Christian based history curriculum for homeschooling. This curriculum immerses your student in the topic. It is very hands-on with lapbooks, timelines, recipes, art, creative writing, notebook projects, dramatized audio theater, maps, crafts, projects, re-enactments, file-folder games, vocabulary to learn, etc.

There are icons that help along one side and buttons that link to nice clear photos of the finished projects.

The Project Passport World History Studies are a virtual trip through history. These are recommended for grades 3-8. There are two different versions you can purchase, a CD version or a digital download version. With the CD version everything that you access and print is on the CD. With the digital download version you download a zipped file, place all of the contents into a folder on your computer, and access it by the start.htm file that is in that folder. We received the digital download version. This "trip" is supposed to last roughly 8-12 weeks depending upon how quickly everything is completed. For Each Project Passport World History Study you make a passport and "luggage" folder to hold some of the stuff you print off and make along the journey. Each "trip" has 25 chapters called "stops", where you observe action-packed events and meet fascinating people along the way. At each stop you come to there will be "Guide Book Text" which is information for the student to read about a certain topic explored and a "Travel Itinerary" that covers the project choices and directions. There are also helpful icons that let you know what you will be doing and color photos of all the completed projects so you know how they are supposed to look like when finished. There are a lot of printables of information and projects to do. Masters are available for all printables. There are so many things to do on the trip, for example: creating a "Scrapbook of Sights" (notebook for storing the notebook projects), dining on local cuisine with the "Dining out Guide" (recipes to create food and drink that was popular in the area at the time), taking pictures ("Snapshot Moments in History" scrapbook timeline), reporting on important people and happenings (a newspaper creative writing assignment - In Ancient Greece study it is called "Greek Weekly"), making "souvenirs" to remember your stay (craft/art projects), dressing like the locals (clothing of the era: fun dress up craft), making a lapbook, playing games (file-folder games), collecting postcards, listening to tour guides (dramatized audio theater - there are 8 of these), and so much more!

We found that there was a lot of preparation that needed to happen before getting started. There is a lot of things needing printed, items needing prepared for crafts and other projects, and general preparation of materials before one can begin the journey. The Travel Itinerary and Travel Planner: Quick Stop Itinerary helps with this a lot!

You will need a few items to get you through the lessons:
  • Working Printer
  • Color and Black Ink for the printer to cover all the printing that will be happening
  • White and Colored Printer Paper
  • White and Colored Cardstock (this is best, but admittedly we didn't have any of this and used only white printer paper and it worked OK)
  • One 3-Ring Binder for the Guide Book (teacher binder for Introduction, Travel Tips, Travel Planner: Quick Stop Itinerary, Travel Itinerary, Guide Book Text, and Additional Resources)
  • One 3-Ring Binder for the Scrapbook of Sights (student binder for all notebook projects)
  • Colored File Folders or Colored Pocket Folders with Fasteners
  • Scissors and/or an X-acto Knife (when using an X-acto Knife you will need a thick piece of cardboard or self healing mat to use as a cutting surface)
  • Crayons, Markers, or Colored Pencils to color the pictures, if desired
  • Glue
  • Other Craft supplies specified for each of the different projects that your student wants to do

This is what the HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Greece covers:
  1. Laying the Foundation (Packing for the Trip)
  2. Laying the Foundation – Part II
  3. The Archaic Period
  4. Greek Government
  5. Athens
  6. Sparta
  7. Everyday Life — Part I
  8. Everyday Life — Part II
  9. Farming, Business, and Transportation
  10. Education, Oration, and Literature
  11. Science
  12. Medicine and Disease
  13. The Arts
  14. Philosophy
  15. Religion — Part I: Titans, Gods, and Monsters
  16. Religion — Part II: The Heroes & the People
  17. Warfare
  18. The Greco-Persian Wars
  19. The Golden Age and the Peloponnesian War
  20. Sparta, Thebes, and the Coming of the Macedonians
  21. Alexander the Great
  22. The Hellenistic Age
  23. The Greeks and the Jews
  24. Rediscovering Ancient Greece
  25. Final Stop - Packing Up!

 
Teela coloring the Scrapbook of Sights Cover and Spine.


How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I enlisted my daughter Teela who finished 4th grade this year to learn about Ancient Greece since she loved doing the Ancient Egypt and The Middle Ages study before. This is supposed to be for 3rd through 8th graders so most of the projects she did very well on. She did need my help with some of the more advanced projects and writing assignments and it took her a lot longer to get through some of the stops than it might have taken for my older boys. I learned quite a bit too while helping her with this study.

Dining out Guide recipe: Yiaourti me Meli, a Greek yogurt treat.

This study, like the first and second we did, was jam packed with information. I am glad that I already had experience doing this type of program because everything seemed to go faster. The instructions are not hard, but there is a lot of things to set up and print out initially and throughout the program....so be aware of that and set some time aside initially to get things done so you are not overwhelmed. We still have not gotten through all the stops, but we have enjoyed everything that we have done thus far. I love that it is from a biblical Christian perspective too.

Teela making the Greek paper dolls and coloring their clothing.

Teela really liked our project time together. She loves art and making things. She especially loved making paper dolls clothed in costume of the era. We also made some very yummy Yiaourti me Meli, a Greek yogurt treat, with the Dining out Guide recipe, which everyone enjoyed. We very much enjoyed the audio tour too. We are learning a lot along the stops and are enjoying every moment. I can't wait to try my hand at making Gyro meat and tzatziki sauce so that I may make my own Gyro sandwiches because I love them from Portland's Food Carts! Yum! Home School in the Woods Project Passport World History Studies are so much fun and great for hands-on history!




Greek Gyros are yummy!

I highly recommend the Project Passport World History Studies: Ancient Greece from Home School in the Woods. This is great for anyone homeschooling who might need some help with teaching about Ancient Greece in a highly educational, fun, and very hands-on way. This would also be perfect for those wanting something fun to do with their kids in the summer time. I am looking forward to reviewing more from Home School in the Woods in the future!


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BUY IT
You can purchase the Project Passport World History Studies Ancient Greece download version for $33.95 and CD version for $34.95.

Project Passport Ancient Rome

Also hot off the press is their newest product... Ancient Rome, now available for purchase in download format! CD version coming in fall 2018.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Home School in the Woods...
Hands-on-History, Project Passport, À La Carte Timelines and Time Travelers {Home School in the Woods Reviews}

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