Project Passport World History Studies: A Homeschool in the Woods Review
DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THIS COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.
Once a parent makes the big decision to homeschool, the next big choice is what curriculum to use. And that, my friends, is a loaded question! Every family has different ages, different paces, and different financial abilities so picking curriculum isn’t exactly a simple endeavor. In many cases it can take a few years to truly understand what type of programs your family needs and what you should avoid. Today we are talking about Ancient Greece and the Project Passport World History Studies from Home School in the Woods he and some lessons I’ve learned about what does NOT work well for our ADHD heavy family.
What We Received:
We received a digital file of the Project Passport World History Studies for Ancient Greece. This file includes instructions and content for a variety of small and large projects designed to be printed out and assembled in some way.
How It Works:
Since this is only a digital file, this is very parent-involved at the beginning due to a large amount of printing, cutting and constructing. For this ADHD mom, that is a red flag that I should listen to in the future because I am prone to putting off large printing jobs and struggle to keep up with multiple moving parts. For this program, since you are printing it all yourself, there are a variety of ways to use it. The complete intension is to experience Greece as a traveler complete with a passport, itineraries, traveler’s notes, scrapbook, audio tour, newspaper, maps and a variety of historical topics to explore. Homeschool in the Woods offers this Project Passport for multiple locations including Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, The Middle Ages, and the Renaissance & Reformation. For Ancient Greece, the itineraries provide a helpful overview of all the 25 “stops’ travelers will take, labelled with a location or aspect of Grecian life that will be focused on. Each stop also includes which activities are included, like adding to the “Greek Weekly” newspaper or “A Visit to Sparta” on the Audio Tour. There are several things to print at the beginning to set up the whole experience, but once that is established, you could pick and choose or reorder the various stops’ activities as you see fit, but it does have a natural flow as it is that works well. All of these activities include printing, coloring, cutting, gluing and attaching in some form or another. All of these hands-on projects offer students the chance to engage and interact with history and information while also being creative. This combination often leads to questions of curiosity and clarification that help build historical context and understanding.
What We Thought:
One of the hallmarks of my ADHD is that if a (non-autopiloted) task of any kind has too many steps to it, it s likely that I will not finish it. Sometimes that is due to distraction, disinterest or simple frustration. Digital projects often require step-by-step instructions (that have a tendency to overwhelm me) and a moderate level of organization (something that takes a lot of concentration that I don’t always have). In this case, both things worked against me to create a large sense over overwhelming dread and frustration at all the different things going on. However, that was just at the beginning when there are several things to print, organize and setup before the kids every really get involved. Once I could get things clear in my head, the kids involvement went smoothly. This is the lesson to learn about your strengths and weaknesses as a person and homeschool parent. It doesn’t matter how wonderfully made and popular a curriculum may be. If it doesn’t work well for you or your kids, (meaning you never get around to using it maybe or it makes someone cry) it’s not going to work well.
That being said, the Project Passport World History study is very well setup and thought out. My 9 and 11 year old are always happy to color, cut and glue anything. We have been working through aspects of Greece in our regular history curriculum so interacting with major places and people helped reinforce many of the things they had studied this year. The program could easily work as a full history component or as a supplement to any other program. Last year we reviewed History Through the Ages: Creation to Christ (Beginning - 100 AD) Timeline Figures from Homeschool in the Woods and right now many of our Review Crew families are reviewing Printable Essential Timeline Library which combines all of their timeline figures into one package. If you are looking for something to connect with all of your history lessons, this is something to consider.
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Homeschool in the Woods offers a lot of different projects. Click below to read all the other reviews of several different products.
