Schoolhouse Crew Review: Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Egypt

Every year during our "summer school" I try and do something fun and hands on that is a little different from our regular school year.  This year I was very excited to have an opportunity to review Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Egypt from Home School in the Woods.

I have to tell you that I am a big fan of Home School in the Woods.  Home School in the Woods is a family ran company that was formed when Amy (the mom) could not find timeline figures that she liked to use in their history studies.  In 2002 they published their first set of figures and have grown since then after they received requests for fun and interactive history materials. I have used their timeline figures for years.  I also have done the History Through the Ages Time Travelers American History Study: The American Revolution  and The Great Empires Study.  I cannot speak highly enough of the products we used and couldn't wait to get started on this study of Ancient Egypt.

There are currently three studies in the Project Passport World History series: Ancient Egypt, The Middle Ages, and Renaissance and Reformation.  In each of these studies you travel through history to learn about cultures in the past.  You will make a passport and a luggage folder to travel to your destination and take a tour of the area making 25 different stops.  A "Guide Book Text" accompanies each stop giving information about the topic.  The "Travel Itinerary" gives instructions for projects. Students will create a Scrapbook of Sights notebook and a lap book as well as have many different hands on projects to create.  There are also audio tours to listen to as they go on their adventure.  Each of the studies starts with a stop called "Packing for the Trip" which gets everything set up to complete the study.

In the Ancient Egypt study students will learn about topics such as:

Everyday Life

Agriculture, Trade, and Transportation

Education

Literature and Writing

The Sciences

Medicine and Disease

Ancient Egyptian Arts

The Great Builders

Religion and the "gods"

Governing the land

The First Dynasties

From Chaos to Order Back Again to Chaos

A Land Divided

The New Kingdom Begins

Egypt's Most Famous Woman

The Conquering Pharaoh

Akhenaton and Tutankhamen

Egypt Fades Away

Ancient Egypt and the Bible

Bringing Back the Past


Project Passport is recommended for grades 3-8.  It can be purchased as a download for $33.95 or as a CD for $34.95.  It is designed to be completed in 8-12 weeks, but that can be adjusted depending on your schedule and how much you choose to complete.

You will need some other items to complete this study.  A 3 ring binder, pocket folder with the prongs down the middle, printer paper, card stock, colored card stock, double sided tape, plus regular school supplies like glue, scissors, and colored pencils. You will also need more specific supplies depending on the 3 D projects that you choose to complete.  Several of the projects use everyday supplies but I did have to purchase a few specific things.

As I mentioned above we are using PP Ancient Egypt for our summer school.  I am really good at completing hands on projects for science but not so good at doing ones for history.  I thought this would be a great study to use with my 8 and 10 year old boys and my 6 year old has also been participating in some of the projects.  We have been working on this 3-4 days per week and completing one stop per day.  There were a few stops that had multiple projects we wanted to complete so we spread those out over 2-3 days.  There are quite a few different ongoing projects along with projects specific to each stop.  You do not have to complete all of the projects, you can pick and choose what you would like to do.

I worked on the Packing For the Trip section myself and got everything printed out and ready for the trip.  I print out the travel itinerary for each stop so I can easily see what needs to be printed and how it needs to be printed (card stock, colored card stock, white paper, colored paper,) but the Guide Book Text I chose to read off of the computer. We are working on this project together making one lap book and one Scrapbook of Sights.  We are also working on most of the projects together.

I want to show you a little bit of what we have been working on.

The Scrapbook of Sights

This is the notebook that you will store some of your projects in such as your timeline, postcards, map, and other notebook pages.  My boys are not big fans of coloring so our cover and timeline figures are a little plain.

Notebook cover

Timeline

Postcard Rack

Social Pyramid of Egyptian Authority Page

Draw Like an Egyptian Page

Map of Ancient Egypt

Lap Book Pieces- The Lap Book is an ongoing project.  Different pieces are made at most of the stops.  Pieces are stored in a Ziplock bag until the last stop when the lap book is put together.  I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like!  Here are some of the pieces we have made so far.

Hands on Projects- There are instructions for several really cool hands on projects throughout the study.  Here are a few of the projects we have made.

The girls painting the diadem

Lily dressed up.  She wanted to make the boys Falcon Pectoral necklace too.

wrapping mummies

Christian making his name out of hieroglyphics 

Diorama of an Egyptian Temple

Shaduf

We are loving this study of Ancient Egypt!  The text for each stop is around 2 pages which is a perfect length for my children.  They have been fascinated with a number of topics we have learned about especially the mummification process and the medicines the Egyptians used.  We love the mapping and timeline activities.  The audio tours are another great element that are not typical to this type of study and we have enjoyed listening to them.  I think lap books are a great way for the children to look back on what they have learned and the lap book pieces for this study have been great quality and so worthwhile to complete.  The children have LOVED the hands on projects!

From the homeschool mom perspective the instructions are clear and easy to follow.  The project instructions are written step by step with color photos. There is even a list of resources included in the study if you wish to dive in a bit deeper.  Printing out the necessary pages is a bit time consuming.  You cannot just batch print these pages. You have to print each page one by one because some pages have to be printed on the backs of others and some are printed on regular paper while others are on card stock or colored card stock.  My children are on the lower end of the age range (3 and 4th grade) so I have had to work with them on all the projects, older children may be able to work more independently.

Members of The Crew reviewed all 3 of the Project Passport World History Studies.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, visit the Crew Blog!