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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 16 2012 at 5:38am | IP Logged
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Has anyone used any of the Homeschool in the Woods Time Traveler units?
I was looking at the New World Explorers unit... I love all the games and projects included. Paired with some living books, I think we'd really enjoy this approach.
But I wanted to check here first... I don't want to use a program that might be antiCatholic or have other red flag issues...
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Amber-v
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| Posted: Oct 17 2012 at 11:24pm | IP Logged
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I used the New World Explorers one and overall, we weren't that happy with it. There were some activities we liked, but a big chunk was very repetitive - trace the map overlay, write a few things in a little booklet, and do something with the explorer's portrait. And there were so many explorers to do in this fashion - it just got monotonous. I pared it down somewhat after the first 5 or 6, but even still... And I wasn't very happy with the text either. There were some things that I found questionable, some things were biased, and some things were either incomplete or misleading. This was a couple of years ago so I can't remember details, sorry!
All in all, there are parts I will use again (some activities were good, and I really liked the map overlays!) but I wouldn't use their text or schedule again. I think next time I will pick just some of the explorers to highlight and use readings from other sources to give more information. Jessica at Shower of Roses did a nice lap book using these materials and some of her own, you might want to take a look at that. I will see if I can find the link...
I have also used parts of the 19th Century America one and while I didn't follow the schedule there either, I liked the variety of activities better.
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Amber
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Amber-v
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| Posted: Oct 17 2012 at 11:28pm | IP Logged
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Ok, here is the link - New World Explorers at Shower of Roses
Amber
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 18 2012 at 7:03pm | IP Logged
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Thank you, Amber, for both the link and for your honest opinion.
This is just what I needed to know. You have been very helpful!
I admit that from looking at the sample pages there does seem to be a dizzying amount of information. I would never last with their schedule! 
I am mainly attracted to the projects- having the games and templates for the maps and different activities would save me a lot of time . My tentative plan is to use living books and then match those up with the maps and activities offered.
Do you think it's worth the $28.95 just for that? Speaking honestly, I would never dig up a lot of those activities on my own- I just don't have time or inclination- but mainly the time to spend digging around on the internet for free stuff. And my ds has never been a coloring sheet fan but would enjoy making a pop-up sea monster.
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Maryan
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| Posted: Oct 19 2012 at 3:46pm | IP Logged
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We just used it this fall. I think it's totally worth the money (because I used it for five of my kids! And we can repeat it in a few years!) but it will also cost you a lot more to buy the supplies. Just a heads up.
It was definitely a big hit with my boys, but it was intense work for me. There are wayyyyy to many things to do in five weeks like she has scheduled for my gang. However, I didn't want to spend more than five weeks on explorers?
- To pare it down, I printed all the project pages first and read that to see what I wanted to do. Then crossed off what I wasn't going to do off her five week schedule.
- In particular, we skipped the penmanship about the explorers, most projects, and we did SOME of the notebooking.
- I liked the accordion-style timeline with figures.
- We did all the map overlays; it was a lot, but I think it was worth it.
- We used her newspaper,as a simple way of narrating some of the books we read and some of her lessons.
- She has lessons for everyday. I printed the lessons and put those in a notebook as well. She has a protestant POV, so I didn't use all the lessons. I read them aloud and just skipped some days.
- I used Jessica's (Shower of Roses) suggestion of using Our Lady of Guadalupe in the place of one of the Lapbook suggestions as well.
- Having seven kids and babies, etc., I printed all the Explorer unit in the summer. It was intense just doing the gluing and the pasting without printing as well!!
The bottomline: The lapbook was a BIG hit with the boys and well worth doing. They loved the review of putting it all together. And we're so proud of the work they did for five weeks. We're going to do some more of her units, but we're going to stick to just the lapbook. Even my non-artists drew SHIPS every.single.day that's how much they got into this unit.
I wrote about our experiences here on my school blog
A little off-topic: We're doing the Colonial Days CD now, but it's definitely not speaking their boy language as well as the explorers did. Also, this unit is about the food, houses, clothing of the time period... like dress the colonist doll sheets. Wayyy more girl-type activities. If I could do more of the projects, I'm sure they would like it, but my plate is too full. Also Colonial Days has a big section on protestant leaders -- we skipped it and replaced it like Jessica (Shower of Roses) suggested in her Colonial Days lapbooks. Her accordion timeline is also just about the protestant faith -which we also skipped.
Her American Revolution CD looks a little more interesting for them, I think. But again, we're mostly going to focus just on the LAPBOOK projects, timeline, and newspaper for narrations. And great books from the time period... of which there is no shortage. 
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Maryan
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 20 2012 at 10:03am | IP Logged
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Thanks so much, Maryan.
I hadn't thought much about supplies or prep work.I'm glad you mentioned that. But I do think, like you said, this would speak boy language for my ds.
I think we will give it a whirl.
I tried to look at that link you posted for your blog, but it links back to 4real.
Is your school blog different from your family blog?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Maryan
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| Posted: Oct 20 2012 at 10:11am | IP Logged
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How funny Melinda! I had quotes in my url (because that's, so it linked it right back to here! I fixed it.
There's a lot of activities from which to pick -- so you can get a feel for what works for your family and do that!
I forgot to add that she does have two file folder games and flashcards to go along with it as the cards for the game. We did do that too.
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Maryan
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 20 2012 at 12:00pm | IP Logged
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This is great, Maryan. Thanks so much!
Are you using From Sea to Shining Sea as an integral part of all this, or are you just using the worksheets?
I keep going back and forth on getting this book- more as spine for myself- but then I remember hating history texts in school. They were always .so. dull.
The file folder games and activities remind me a lot of the set up from
Family Formation (from St. Paul's church in Minnesota). I use that for religion, and I feel like the hands on projects and games make all the difference for my kids. The nice thing with FF is that they send you all you need, already printed out and ready to go . It sounds like there is just too much in a Time Traveler unit to have it all preprinted.
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Maryan
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| Posted: Oct 20 2012 at 3:01pm | IP Logged
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We're really enjoying these. It's a lot of work, but so far I'm not regretting it.
And yes, I'm using Sea to Shining Sea too. Over five weeks, we did three chapters. Over this next five weeks we're doing two chapters. It reviews some, add some Catholic perspective, and has some neat Catholic stories and pictures.  It wasn't necessary - we could have just added the saints books itself, but my boys will attend Catholic jr/high school, so I wanted them to start to get a feel for a textbook.
BTW - since you mentioned pre-printed, if you were doing more than one unit, I *think* Winterpromise sells a printed version of some of this in their American Crossing . You have to scroll down towards the end where the picture is of "Outstanding Activity Resource" and below for "Optional and Recommended." On their "Shop" page, they are the towards the end all labelled "Time Travelers." It is pricey, but again, to buy cardstock etc. and print it all yourself is expensive! And this includes 4 CDs and projects for the four units? I think. You may want to look at this and read the fine print to see if this would work for you.
Another caveat, Winterpromise may not be fast getting materials out though. I ordered the Time Traveler CD's from Rainbow Resources who was very fast.
For me it was not economical (even for the time save, print, paper, costs) to do this x 5.
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Maryan
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Feb 23 2013 at 6:59am | IP Logged
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Bumping this up- wondering how the American Revolution CD was...
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Maryan
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| Posted: Feb 23 2013 at 9:07am | IP Logged
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Melinda,
First: it's awesome.
I feel like I did have to edit a couple of things (drawing a blank right now about just what).
I love all the activities and so do my boys. I love how they keep track of the battles on a map in their notebook, and I love the books that we're reading. (And we also watched a lot of Liberty Kids too!)
However, we had to take a break because my husband is in the middle of basketball season (November - the first weekend in March). And we started this one in the middle of November. So in the middle of Advent, I couldn't handle all of the workload and fly solo through Christmas, so I cut back on a few things. And one of those things was that I decided that we had to slow down on American History. So we're not going to finish 6 units this year (which was a huge task anyway).
So... I have all their work in their notebooks and ziplock bags and we're going to resume when things get back to normal. Hopefully, sometime in a few weeks.
And then I think we'll stop?
But now I'm not sure what to do about resuming with the rest of American History, so that's why I'm undecided. We don't school well in the summer. But I really would like to get early 19th century before the end of the school year and the Civil War in the summer and see all the spots around Manassas... sounds fun to me! So... we'll see.
But my boys really enjoy the lapbooking.
I think Jessica at Shower of Roses recently posted about the early 19th century and it looked fun!
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Maryan
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Feb 23 2013 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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I saw that, Maryan, which reminded me that I wanted to ask you how you liked the American Revolution. 
We are loving the New World Explorers unit, but, like you, had to take a break from it in December. If I had planned head last summer and gotten all my supplies, etc lined up and printed out, I think we could have forged ahead. But that's OK- my goal is to finish it this spring and then go on to Colonial Days and the Revolution next fall.
My dc can't get enough of the explorers. The keep asking me if anyone ever did find the Fountain of Youth. Too bad Indiana Jones drank from the Holy Grail- it would have been a good project for him.
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Homeschool in the Woods Time Traveler
