Home School in the Woods Publishing: HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections Review

We had the pleasure of reviewing U.S. elections lap book sold by Home School in the Woods.  We had the opportunity to create a lap book with the given materials.  I have enjoyed reading the material together and learning along with the children.   We read the information, and I found it easy to navigate the book once downloaded.  I observed that a user should click each section once downloaded to open each PDF.

My son and daughter have had a wonderful time creating their first real lap book with  HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections  which can be found at Home School in the Woods ~ (http://homeschoolinthewoods.com); it was sent to me for our review for The Schoolhouse Review Crew. This curriculum covered the election process for the United States, projects geared for later elementary or middle school.

The kids were entertained by all of the detailed worksheets that were later colored by both children. The instructions included were written out and detailed in photographic form in a separate PDF. We learned many definitions, created projects on forms of government, learned how the U.S. is different.  Project examples include: primaries, conventions, campaigns, elections and inauguration days.

One of my favorite aspect of this lap book is how I could find an election/ U.S. history curriculum and start teaching it the same day.  No waiting for it in the mail. It is geared for almost any age, but it is primarily suited for upper elementary and older. One could create variations of activities depending on age with this e-curriculum.

My eleven and twelve year old's said they liked learning this way as a change in our normal routine. This curriculum is great for any busy youth or those that like detail. I found it easy to keep the children busy learning even when they didn’t know they were.  The printouts were clear and easy to read. The instructions were at times vague. We had to guess on a few items on placement of certain items, but it is flexible.   The printing was a bit much in my opinion. The projects were easy to print, except the book which I found cumbersome and I had to make sure you had the pages printed correctly and had to make sure they were put back into the printer correctly to print on the opposite page. Homeschooling in the Woods, developers of the curriculum, do warn you to check and make sure they are placed correctly before printing the whole project. We benefited from using this e-curriculum and making us even more excited about elections, especially since we are in a very exciting election year. I enjoyed how it tied in elections and general U.S. history within the curriculum.  Furthermore, I loved how it allowed me to print some projects already written, or allowed me to give the assignments to the children to write in the information after they have researched the information.   

I enjoyed the MP3’s connected within the curriculum, especially which allowed the children to hear another experienced person explain the election process.   They both enjoyed different parts about the curriculum; therefore, I found it easy to please both personality types.  My kids are both very different and enjoy different things, yet my daughter gave this curriculum an 8.5 rating out of 10.  My daughter loved coloring and writing about what she learned about the curriculum and U.S. election booklet using many thought processes.  She read about the governments, history, suffrage, to elections and the coloring was her favorite. She said she found out about why the elephant was used for Republican and Donkey for the Democrats. The black and white printouts allowed you to print off on colorful paper or color on your own which my daughter enjoyed the most.

I have a son who is starting to get very interested in politics and the political process.  He enjoyed reading the book and learning about all the aspects to the election process. He was keen to the fact that it covered almost everything that has to do elections and history of the process.  They both enjoyed listening to the MP3’s.   My son gave it a 5 out of 10.

 

In conclusion, I would reiterate the completeness of this e-book. This book brought a big issue with many facets into one book and fun projects.  It is a full and complete lap book of elections. The book and MP3’s explain the election and history of elections and it could be used be exclusively for U.S. history of elections.  The only negative of it being so complete, is the cumbersome of the material printing and assembling.  This curriculum covered here in this e-book can be saved on your computer to start and finish as you feel fit.