This item can be found at The Old Schoolhouse Shop I used this with both our 9 year old son and our 15 year old daughter.
My son and I used this item every day this past week. I really liked the way it included different subjects. We were looking at pieces of art while also doing bible, science, geography and english. We don't typically do much art because I feel we just never have the time. It's a sad excuse because I do feel that art is important. This was a week to incorporate art while still feeling that we get all the "basic" subjects done. Our son really enjoys anything related to geography, so that was his favorite part. He can spend hours looking and talking about maps, interstates and looking at a globe. The english was harder for him. He has struggled with reading and comprehension, so I really believe that was part of his struggle. It was also a little hard for him to come up with the details when asked about the different works of art. I had to coach him for the answers more than maybe the average parent would need too. Our son really enjoyed the art projects. There was one where you used painter's tape to make trees. You then painted everything not taped with blue paint. When it was dry, you removed the tape and painted the trees brown. Here is a picture of his work of art.
Our daughter didn't seem to have any struggles, but she is older. She was able to compare the different works of art without issue. She was able to do the other subjects easily and come up with lots of interesting responses. She was able to do the work on her own and didn't need my help. She doesn't really enjoy unit studies, so this study wasn't a favorite of hers. In general she likes all her subjects separate. I do feel that unit studies could work very well for our son. It might sound strange, but I felt more productive this past week knowing that we included art in our school week. This study made me realize that we can incorporate art into our everyday life in an easy way. If you are interested in checking this unit out head over and check out A Path Among Ancient Rocks
If I had to say anything negative about the unit it would be in having some type of schedule. I briefly skimmed the unit and then we started from page one. Before I knew it we were done with the unit sooner than I expected. I would like to see some type of a schedule that would have a "recommended" plan for the unit. It might be nice even to have two options as a suggestion for ways to use this study. I know everyone doesn't always follow the plan, but if there was a suggestion of the best way to do this unit that would have been great. I think we did more each day than we were suppose to have done.I also didn't really care for having english included. That is a subject that seems to have a much larger range of usage, so I think it's harder for that to work for a larger range of people.
Overall, I really enjoyed this unit. Like I mentioned previously we typically don't do art because it just always seem hard to fit it in the schedule. I enjoyed sitting with my son and looking at these works of art. I felt like he really enjoyed this unit because everything was around a main theme. I've not typically been a unit study fan and that might be why my daughter didn't care for it. This study has opened my eyes to them again and I'm going to bring more of them into our school time. I'm thankful to The Old Schoolhouse for giving me this chance to use and review A Path Among Ancient Rocks.
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