Review: Home School in the Woods-The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  





Several years ago I was hearing great things about a company called Home School in the Woods from many of my fellow homeschoolers.  I would check out their website, but I just never followed through on purchasing anything. Often times if I can't see it in person I struggle to know whether I'll really like it or not.  When the opportunity came up to review an item I jumped at the chance. I figured this was my chance to try it out for myself and see how I really felt about it. We were blessed to review items in Feb.2017, July 2017, Aug. 2018 and March 2018.  My youngest has developed a love of history and the Time Travelers U.S. History Studies that we've been working on lately has added to that love.  We've been studying The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression and just learning so much and having a great time.  

Homeschoolers vary on how they school greatly. Some do lots of workbook activities, some don't do any, some like certain types of programs, others like to be child-led etc.  That's what is so great about this unit is that you have a great starting point and you can run with it wherever you'd like.  The unit we've been working through is suggested for grades 3rd-8th.  My son fits right in at 7th grade.  He struggles with lots of workbook/writing type activities and often times we struggle with certain programs because of the writing.  There are definitely writing activities, but it's up to us if we choose to do them and how many.  I do have to warn you that this program is heavy on the printing.  I also have to admit that I like having papers in my hand verses the computer, so I often print things that others might not.  There are a total of 25 lessons which it's recommended to spread over 5-10 weeks. I'll let you in on a little secret :) We only got through 11 lessons during our review period :) We have just moved and therefore it's been so hectic, but working on this unit has been perfect.  It was easy to print up multiple lessons and have where I knew they were to work through.  I usually like to print about 5 lessons at a time. That way it gives me an idea of how we are doing and if I need to print less.  I also go ahead and print and put together the entire timeline. That way it's ready for each lesson's activity. Each lesson consists of the following:

* There is a lesson that your student can read to themselves or you can read out loud * Handwriting pages * Newspaper articles to write * Timeline  * Other additional projects such as games, activities, experiments, cooking etc.  


It is up to you and your child to decide which activities you would like to do.  Previously we didn't do the newspaper articles because my son struggles with the writing. We tried them this year, but honestly it caused more frustration for him than fun, so we dropped that section after a few lessons. My son also doesn't like to color, so you will see in almost every activity that we have done that they are just the printed paper and no color.  A sample lesson is also available to give you an idea of what is covered in a lesson.  I am currently only schooling one child at home now, but these are easily used for multiple children.  You can print copies for each child, let them take turn writing the articles, etc.  It's completely up to you.  Home School in the Woods has set up all their activities for the parents and children to succeed. They give us a starting point and it's up to each of us how we run our adventure :) 

There are so many different items to choose from and Home School in the Woods covers just about any topic you'd like to study in history.  We were working in the Time Travelers series this time.  There are currently 7 total in the series and some of the other fun options we looked at were the   New World Explorers and The American Revolution.  There is also a bundle option.   They've also written a U.S. Elections Lap-Pak  that would be just perfect for the upcoming year.  There is also tons of information on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest sites.  I really enjoyed reading this article on their blog too. It had nothing to do with what we were currently learning, but I remembered hearing about this when I was a child.   If you'd like to see what my son thought about this program check out his video.  We also had 80 reviewers this time, so there are tons of different items being reviewed.  Head over and read what other families chose and what type of projects they have fun making.