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

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

Yeah!!  It's time for my first TOS Crew Review of my 6th year!!  Yikes...how did those years fly by??

I'm super excited about this one!!  HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections from Home School in the Woods is perfectly timed to help you and your students understand the crucial times we are living in... it's a PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR! (did I mention my oldest is actually voting this time?)

This downloadable Lap-Pak - $18.95 (or available on CD -$19.95)  will guide you through 21 projects to create your very own Lapbook covering the presidential election process.  It's designed with students in grades 3-8 in mind.  However,  I have been using this with my students in grades 1 - 12! From the definition of "election", learning the the history of our representative government and every step along the campaign trail, this lap book is the BEST comprehensive study on our US election process I have ever found!  

The Downloadable kit includes everything you need to print to complete the activities, as well as, full audio recordings (great for independent  or auditory students), detailed instructions, a comprehensive 24 page study guide, and suggestions for books and websites you can add to your study.  Additional supplies are minimal...just a couple of file folders, glue and some colored pencils.  You can check out a detailed scope and sequence to see the topics covered.

Having been a HUGE fan of Home School in the Woods, I knew that I would need to spend some time getting organized before starting.  They make it very easy!!  You do need to spend time printing the pages you'll need for the activities.  I decided the best way was to print everything we needed up front, but you could easily print it as you go. Other than the printing, they have done all the work for you - all the information you need to teach is right there, included in the study guide.  All you have to do is dive right in.

Since I wanted to do this with all my children (8 of them!!  Grades 1-12...) We created a SINGLE lapbook  (instead of 8) and used it as a visual as we worked through each of the activities in our study.

This worked very well for us!   I enlisted help with coloring the mini-books and gluing, cutting, and assembly so that everyone got to play a part.

Once everything was printed, and the lapbook was assembled, we used this study in our "all together" time each day.  We jumped in and explored each of the sections together at the start of each day. Each section is short, we easily covered a couple of sections each morning.  

I will say... I am beyond impressed with the depth of the information.  This isn't just a "crafty" or "busy work" type study for your creative kiddos.  This is a study that has enough meaty learning in it for even your highschoolers!  (I have to admit - my high school boys had zero interest in helping create the lapbook, but they were very excited about the study)  For the first time in my life...I actually know the difference between a caucus and a primary!
Creating the lapbook was not only fun - it gave us a wonderful reminder of our study as well.  It is much more memorable than a dusty textbook any day. 
This would make an excellent project for Co-op learning too. Many of the activities sparked an interesting discussions that lead to my older children completing additional outside research as well.  

I definitely recommend this study for the whole family. Take advantage of all the election media frenzy this year and get your kids involved!


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See what other members of the Crew thought here