Although our family had had one (very good) experience with the company Home School in the Woods, we had never seen any of their “Project Passport” products.
I was intrigued at the idea of trying out Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Egypt, because my eldest son, “The Batman” is very interested in ancient Egypt.
We received this program as a digital download for review purposes, though it is also available in a CD version. The download version allows immediate satisfaction for those of us who suffer from delayed gratification syndrome, though, so I was glad to receive it in that form! 🙂
When I first received my download, I was extremely overwhelmed. Home School In The Woods provides so much in this study! It is meant to be an eight to twelve week study, but we are tweaking it somewhat, in order to accommodate “The Batman’s” special needs. Also, our tendency of going off onto rabbit trails when something interests us or we have a question that has been raised by something we read in a study.
Passport Project: Ancient Egypt is put together as if your student is going on an actual trip, beginning with creating a passport and a luggage folder. Each “lesson” is referred to as a “stop” on the trip itinerary.
With each “stop”, we are given the following:
1. An itinerary
2. Reading material
3. Color pictures and printables of projects
4. Dramatized audio tours
According to the Scope And Sequence, by the end of this study your student will have covered many things, such as:
- History and Social Studies
- Language
- Geography
- The Arts
For more detail, you may read the scope and sequence in its entirety here
With “The Batman”, I am really taking my time on this study because I didn’t realize it would be so intense for him. He has anxiety problems whenever he feels as though he isn’t getting something “perfect”, even when I tell him it doesn’t have to be perfect. Also he has serious problems with handwriting because of his lack of fine motor skills. However, he really loves the reading, and he enjoys the audio “tours” as well.
We’ve not yet attempted the 3-D projects; we are working up to that. Plus, he and his brothers were away at youth camp for a week. We will be doing them, though. Also, I promised him he would have help; when he looked at the complexity of the 3-D projects (for him) he got scared of even trying.
The very best thing about Project Passport: Ancient Egypt in our opinion is the Lap Book! We LOVE Lap Books! Anyone who has been reading here for long has seen pictures of beaming faces when my kids were showing off a completed Lap Book. 🙂 In fact, the Lap Book is what I am using as “The Batman’s” incentive to do the different projects.
Wherever possible, I am allowing him to type rather than hand write. If it is not possible, then he dictates and either his brother “The Artist” or I will copy what he wants written down. This is just one way of tweaking any study for a special needs child.
We will also, as I said above, help him with any of the 3-D projects he chooses to do. One thing he thinks will be fun is making the “newspaper,” so I am looking forward to working with him on that.
Here are some shots of “The Batman” reading the text during a lesson:
As I said above, he really doesn’t mind the reading involved; in fact, he quite enjoys it. This thrills me given that when we adopted him, we were told he would probably never be able to read, etc . . . Homeschooling has done wonders for him and for our other kids, and Home School In The Woods is a company I would very heartedly recommend to any homeschooling family . . . whether you have special needs children or not.
To read what other Review Crew members thought of this and other Passport Projects, please click on the banner below.
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