Home School in the Woods (A REVIEW)

I found another great unit study from Home School in the Woods! This time we had the opportunity to try one from the Time Travelers U.S. History Studies learning all about Colonial Life. This American History study has so many engaging and hands-on activities to go along with reading and writing assignments. These are the kinds of projects kids just love to do in their homeschool lessons! (At least mine do) Let me give you a hint: the first one involves really digging in the dirt!

Binder cover that can be printed up to put in front of the students personal binder.

This unit study was sent to me via email where I could click on a link to download the files and access all the directions and printables to complete the study. The file opens up to a nice homepage (pictured below), and from there I can navigate to any of the lessons and print up the pages I need for those lessons.

Homepage to the unit study

As I scroll down the homepage the lessons are in order and grouped in increments of five. There are also other helpful links with more helpful pages like pictures of completed projects, instructions for the teacher, instructions for the lapbook, an introduction, and other helpful things.

To access a lesson I just click on the colored rectangle. It opens up all the necessary components for the lesson.

The lessons are laid out in a way to easily follow, and it is definitely helpful to work through them chronologically. To access the instructions and printables I clicked on the group that includes the lesson we are on and it brings up all the necessary components for completing it. I start by printing up everything we'll need for the whole lesson.

To give you an idea of what a lesson might look like, I will show you the different parts of lesson 1.

Lesson 1:

It begins with a few pages of text to read. This introduces the history part of the lesson and is what the projects and activities are based on. So, it's pretty important to do the reading as it lays the foundation for the rest of the lesson. These text pages are actually pretty interesting and fun to read! It's helpful to have it all printed and ready to go.

Lesson 1 Text pages to read first.

 After the text is read, it's time for the lesson projects! This is where the hands-on stuff starts. The projects for lesson 1 (there are 2) all involve archaeology.

The project pages have all the directions for completing each project. There are also many helpful tips.

 The first archaeological "dig" is learning about The Dig at Ferry Farm where George Washington lived as a boy. It has some cutting and pasting of pictures to glue onto a page where there is information to read about each one.

A simple cut and paste project is first for Lesson 1

The end result of the cut and paste project.

 For the 2nd lesson 1 project the kids get to make their own "archaeological dig"! There are instructions on how to build it and then dig it. These are the supplies for making the dig.

Making an archaeological dig for lesson 1.

Mixing up the dirt with the "artifacts." This is the get down and dirty kind of project that kids love!

Before the dig is made and done there are instructions to make an archaeological journal to record each thing dug up as would be done in a real dig.

Cover of the archaeological journal.

 There are even layers marked. They are to slowly and carefully work through each layer with their tools. They feel like a real archaeologist!

Layers of the archaeological dig.

 And note what layer each item is found in.

The inside completed pages of the archaeological journal

 The next component of lesson 1 is writing newspaper articles. There are several pages to print up for a newspaper. It is worked on and added to throughout each lesson.

Newspaper writing is a project done throughout the lessons.

 The final part of lesson one is penmanship. The rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation are copied in each lesson. For lesson 1 we get to copy rule no. 1. These rules were adhered to during colonial times.

That wraps up all of Lesson 1! That is the pattern mostly followed throughout all 25 lessons. Some days there isn't any newspaper writing, or there will be more or fewer projects, but this gives an idea of how the lessons might go in this History study. There is also a lapbook to be completed at the end of all the lessons that includes all the special project pages worked on throughout the whole study.

Home School in the Woods is a great resource for all kinds of great history lessons and useful printables. I am always impressed with the great projects that are included in all the lessons. Some are simple and some are pretty involved, but all have great results and really tie in to the lessons.

Want to read a great blog? Home School in the Woods also has a blog! I really liked this Adding interest to History with Recipes article. It even has a recipe used in colonial times that we could make.

The review crew all tried out different products from Home School in the Woods. Click on the image below to see what other great products the crew tried.