Friday, March 19, 2010

Review: Homeschool in the Woods



Can I confess to having mixed feelings when I found out I'd be reviewing the Old World Style Maps from Homeschool in the Woods?

We've been using the timeline figures that they put out for years and years, and I love them.  And I was quite certain that the maps would be of a similar, very high quality.  But we've finally actually started doing things with geography and I didn't want another product thrown in the mix to mess with what was working.

I should have known better.

This product is fabulous.  Between the two products (World Maps and US Maps), I received over 300 maps, and scads of notebook pages.  And the maps are simply beautiful.

I printed off the maps for Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, thinking we could use them to review for the National Latin Exam.  That worked okay, but what really happened was the my oldest two latched onto the maps and created some sort of an ancient Risk game.  They spent HOURS using those maps as gameboards.

And as we are participating in a postcard swap, I decided we would use the US Maps and notebook pages to create a postcard notebook.  I printed a map (the version that is labeled) and a blank notebook page for each state as it comes.  We read the postcard and fill in whatever we can (state abbreviation, date of statehood, state bird, etc.)  If the postcard pictures a specific spot, we find it on the map and mark it.  And if the return address is present, we locate where the family is from as well.

We are not going through and looking up the "missing" information... just filling in what we know from the postcard.  And this project is FUN.

These sets are available as downloads for $18.95 each, or $28.95 for the set.  CDs are available for a dollar more.  I highly recommend these, and I've already seen that having the maps readily available makes it so easy to print a quick map, and the quality of the artwork makes my kids take it a bit more seriously than some other things I "just print off" in the course of our schooling.

Great samples are available at the website.  Check it out!

And you can check out what my fellow crewmates have to say about the Homeschool in the Woods at:



Any questions? I'd love to know what you would want to know in deciding whether or not this is something you want to purchase.

Disclaimer:  As part of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I did receive these products for free from the publisher.  The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.  It does guarantee a review. A fair review. But I am not going to praise something unless I think it deserves the praise.  If I don't like it, you'll hear that.  And hopefully with enough detail as to why so you can decide for yourself if what I hate about it makes it perfect for your family.  For more about my take on reviews, visit my blog post here.

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