Mom, PLEASE, I want to make more coins.
Mom.. please, can we make more???
This was the refrain I heard when using the Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods. We have been doing this study as part of Schoolhouse Review Crew. We worked on the Vikings and China.
Mom.. please, can we make more???
This was the refrain I heard when using the Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods. We have been doing this study as part of Schoolhouse Review Crew. We worked on the Vikings and China.
Facts
Vendor: Home School in the Woods.
Product: The Great Empires.
Pricing: Download $18.95, CD $19.95
Age Range: Elementary
Product: The Great Empires.
Pricing: Download $18.95, CD $19.95
Age Range: Elementary
The Great Empires Study includes studying such places as Ancient Civilizations such as Egypt, Greece and Rome as well as China. It takes a look at the various empires of the Arab-Muslim world, the Mongolians, Vikings, Spanish, French, English, German, Japanese and Russian. They finish by looking that the United States of America.
There was no way we would be able to get through all these empires in our short review period so we chose to focus on those that had an impact upon Canada in some way. The Vikings discovered Canada, and the Chinese folks worked building the railroad. This gave us the hook in that intrigued my lad.
Text, videos, activity, menus. This sums up the way the study was set up. A timeline is also provided so you can fill in the figures as you study them. The download link had PDF files which included texts, projects and printable activity pages. The projects lists included recipes, games, maps, hands-on projects, crafts and list of reference literature for further in-depth studies.
Text, videos, activity, menus. This sums up the way the study was set up. A timeline is also provided so you can fill in the figures as you study them. The download link had PDF files which included texts, projects and printable activity pages. The projects lists included recipes, games, maps, hands-on projects, crafts and list of reference literature for further in-depth studies.
Viking coins
We made Viking coins and Viking flat bread. Both were a huge hit.
Learning how the Vikings influenced the world around them the lad found absolutely fascinating. Since the people were afraid of the Vikings they learned better ways to defend themselves. The lad was so intrigued by that idea that he wove it into his play for several days after that. The Vikings inspired a boat trip on a rainy day.
Learning how the Vikings influenced the world around them the lad found absolutely fascinating. Since the people were afraid of the Vikings they learned better ways to defend themselves. The lad was so intrigued by that idea that he wove it into his play for several days after that. The Vikings inspired a boat trip on a rainy day.
We also looked at China.. and I have to admit, this study disappointed me in that it seemed to take a vary cursory look at China, only briefly mentioned two of the major time periods. I understand this is due to needed brevity but I felt teased, I know there are more time periods, but NOTHING was mentioned about most of them.
Map work and the Great Wall of China. I didn't know before that the Great Wall of China was built in sections. I also hadn't understood that the Mongol attack was a big part of why the Wall was built. The lad learned this and of course had totally fly with it. :)
Defend the wall! Protect the pigs!!! The birds are coming!!! Protect the pigs!!!!
If you exchange the pigs for the Chinese people and the birds for the Mongols.. it all makes perfectly logical sense. :) He understood it quite well. :) He had so much fun acting out the sequence of events.
We also made a surprising discovery. Our recipes for this part of the study called for Egg Drop Soup and Spring Rolls. My very fussy, extremely cautious of new foods, lad LIKES Egg Drop Soup!!!! I learned that hey... Spring rolls are fairly good (especially with plum sauce), but the lad very much disagreed with me. He gobbled up the egg drop soup and all was right in his world. :)
We also made a surprising discovery. Our recipes for this part of the study called for Egg Drop Soup and Spring Rolls. My very fussy, extremely cautious of new foods, lad LIKES Egg Drop Soup!!!! I learned that hey... Spring rolls are fairly good (especially with plum sauce), but the lad very much disagreed with me. He gobbled up the egg drop soup and all was right in his world. :)
My overall opinion
I found it to be an okay introductory study. I wanted more. This is me. I find it frustrating when I know there is more information available but when I'm not given enough information to research it myself I'm just annoyed. I felt like that particularly with the China Study.
My son found that it was enough information. I parsed out the information to him. I watched videos with him in between reading the textual facts. Some of the facts were simply too dry to just read to him in one sitting. We used videos to make the learning become more real.
I will continue to use this study but I can see myself supplementing it. Using things like the Great Wall 3-D puzzle to show difficult it was to make the wall, and how they had to defend it. I would anticipate doing more of that sort of thing. BUT that's me and how I do things. This study would stand alone quite nicely as it does teach the basic facts to elementary age children. I just want more....
And you may also wish to have more... more opinions that is of what others thought of this study, and the other review items from Home School in the Woods. If so you can either click this link or click the image below to find more crew reviews to be read. Everyone has their own experiences to share so go, have fun and read more of them. :)
My son found that it was enough information. I parsed out the information to him. I watched videos with him in between reading the textual facts. Some of the facts were simply too dry to just read to him in one sitting. We used videos to make the learning become more real.
I will continue to use this study but I can see myself supplementing it. Using things like the Great Wall 3-D puzzle to show difficult it was to make the wall, and how they had to defend it. I would anticipate doing more of that sort of thing. BUT that's me and how I do things. This study would stand alone quite nicely as it does teach the basic facts to elementary age children. I just want more....
And you may also wish to have more... more opinions that is of what others thought of this study, and the other review items from Home School in the Woods. If so you can either click this link or click the image below to find more crew reviews to be read. Everyone has their own experiences to share so go, have fun and read more of them. :)
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