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

My family had the privilege of trying the Project Passport World History Studies Ancient Rome from Home School in the Woods for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. 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 the Ancient Rome study it is called "The Roman Tribune"), 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 Project Passport World History Studies: Ancient Rome covers:

1. Laying the Foundation (Packing for the Trip)
2. Out with the Kings, In with the Republic!
3. More than Just a City
   
4. A Mediterranean Power
5. The Republic Begins to Falter
6. Julius Caesar and the Fall of the Republic
7. Everyday Life - Part 1
8. Everyday Life - Part 11
9. Business, Taxes, and Coins
10. Law and Philosophy
11. Education, Oration, and Literature
12. Science and Medicine
13. The Arts
14. Architecture and Transportation
15. Religion
16. Warfare
17. Augustus and the Empire
18. The Julio Claudian Emperors
19. The Year of the Four Emperors and the Flavians
20. The Five Good Emperors
21. Too Many Emperors to Count
22. From Constantine to the Barbarian Invasions
23. Rome and the Bible
24. And What Happened After?
25. The Final Stop - Packing Up!

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I enlisted my daughter Zari who finished 2nd grade this past school year to learn about Ancient Rome, the newest Project Passport Study from Home School in the Woods, since she loved listening to and helping out with the other studies before. This is supposed to be for 3rd through 8th graders so 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 kids. I learned quite a bit too while helping her with this study.

Zari coloring the Scrapbook of Sights Cover.

This study, like all the other ones 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.

Zari making the Roman Clothed Paper Dolls.

Zari really liked our project time together. She loves art and making things. She loved dressing up as a Roman Woman. Dressing up in period clothing is a great way to learn history. We are on a very tight budget for everything, including afterschooling, because my husband is doing school himself and not currently working so we don't have a lot to spend on extras at the moment. Because of this our dress up didn't look quite like the one in the picture. We used sheets instead of muslin and it was a reasonable facsimile...hey, we improvised with what we had. The other project that was her favorite was the "Roman Clothing & Accessories" paper dolls. She learned a lot about: how the Ancient Romans dressed, what they believed, what they ate, what wars they had, what their homes looked like, what jobs they had, what they used as transportation, their currency, their education, and so much more! There were so many projects to do to go with all the reading, creative writing, and listening to the audio tours. We did so many fun things and learned so much about the culture so far. I can't wait to get all the way through the whole program with my daughter. We really want to try the recipes "Recline and Dine" cookbook. It is great to add interest to history with recipes. in the We are looking forward to learning more about Ancient Rome.

Zari dressing up as a Roman Woman.

I highly recommend the Project Passport World History Studies: Ancient Rome from Home School in the Woods. This is great for anyone homeschooling who might need some help with teaching Ancient Rome 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.

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

Download the scope and sequence, listen to a sample audio tour, see photo examples of projects, and watch a video of "What is a Project Passport" when you click the link above, to get more of an idea about the program.

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