Homeschool Crew Review: Home School in the Woods Project Passport: Ancient Rome

Home School in the Woods offers a variety of different types of products that help bring history to life.  I have used many of their products over the last 12 years and have been impressed with all of them.  Recently we were offered an opportunity to use and review the newest release in their Project Passport World History Studies ,  Ancient Rome.

 The Project Passport World History series will take your students on an up close journey to different eras of the past.  Geared for grades 3-8, each study has 25 stops in which students will read about the topic, listen to audio tours, make hands on projects, create maps, a timeline, lapbook components, notebook components, postcards, newspapers, and more.  Tips and tricks for completing the studies are included along with a travel itinerary with instructions for making the projects at each stop, and extra resources for further study.  Answer keys for timelines and maps are also included along with photos of what completed projects can look like. Each study should take around 8-12 weeks to complete but the pacing is entirely up to you.  A stop can last one day, or several days.  There are now 5 studies in the Project Passport World History series including: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece,   Ancient Rome, The Middle Ages, and Renaissance and Reformation.

I have been using  Project Passport: Ancient Rome with my 8,10, 12, and 14 year olds for the last few weeks.  We have been working 2-3 days a week for about an hour a day, completing one stop per day.  We print out one copy of everything and work on projects together.  Topics covered in this study include:

Laying the Foundation
Out With the Kings, in With the Republic
More Than Just a City
A Mediterranean Power
The Republic Begins to Falter
Julius Caesar and the Fall of the Republic
Everyday Life Part I
Everyday Life Part II
Business, Taxes, and Coins
Law and Philosophy
Education, Oration, and Literature
Science and Medicine
The Arts
Architecture and Transportation
Religion
Warfare
Augustus and the Empire
The Julio Claudian Emperors
The Year of the Four Emperors and the Flavians
The Five Good Emperors
Too Many Emperors to Count
From Constantine to the Barbarian Invasions
Rome and the Bible
And What Happened After?
Final Stop- Packing Up

To complete this study you will need a printer with plenty of ink, colored and white cardstock, colored and white paper, tape, scissors, glue, colored pencils, a 3 ring binder, and folders.  If you choose to complete the hands on projects you will need specific supplies for each of those projects.


We received the product as a download.  It is a rather large file that does need to be unzipped to use.  Once the files are extracted, the easiest way to use it is to click on the start icon which will open a web browser and you can see everything in order.

To get started, you need to read through the Introduction, Travel Tips, Travel Planner, and Additional Resources.  If you have never completed a Project Passport study you will make a luggage folder  and passport.  For these studies you cannot just print out the entire file all at once.  The Travel Itinerary for each stop will give you specific instructions on which files need to be printed on what types of paper.  Everything is clearly labeled as to what type of project it is such as a lapbook project, scrapbook of sights, or 3 D and you can pick and choose the activities you want to complete. I print the necessary papers for 5 stops at a time.

The Guide Book Text is usually 2-3 pages long.  I do not print these out, I just read them aloud to my children from my computer to save paper. The information is presented in a way that holds the interest for a wide range of ages.  Studying ancient civilizations is always so fascinating to us and Rome was such an important civilization.  We have learned many things about Ancient Rome that we have never learned in our studies before. We have learned of the founding, the kings, the republic, the emperors, the wars, the assassinations and so much about every day life. My children were fascinated to find out that you could get take out food in Ancient Rome!

After reading the text we listen to the audio files if the lesson has one.  We love these!  They do a great job with the voices and sound effects to make you feel as though you are a tourist visiting that place.  Then we dive into the activities we have chosen for the lesson.  We always complete the timeline (HSITW has the BEST timeline figures!) and many of the Scrapbook of Sights and lapbook projects. There are so may fun projects and activities for all types of learners that bring history alive!  You do not have to feel pressures to complete all of the activities, you can pick and choose the ones that work best for your family.  When we have done other Project Passport studies, the children wanted to do all of the 3 D projects.  This time around they just wanted to do the readings, audio tours, timeline, maps, and some of the lapbook, scrapbook projects. 

Here are a few of examples of we have done

Timeline

Postcard Rack

Maps

Lapbook projects

It does take some time to get everything printed out and ready and to complete the different projects, but it is time well spent because your family will be learning so much and the finished projects are wonderful.

Home School in the Woods products are suitable for many different learning styles.  You can stop by their blog and read this article on How to Teach Different Learning Styles.

Members of the Crew reviewed several different products from Home School in the Woods.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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