How We Use Time Travelers WWII History from Home School in the Woods

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Home School in the Woods. I received a free product in exchange for an honest review.

This year we are studying World War II for history. I am excited to be using the Time Travelers in America’s WWII pack from Home School in the Woods to add some engaging hands-on activities to our studies.

How To Begin Using Home School in the Woods Time Travelers in America WWII History Pack

Since all of the Home School in the Woods products arrive in a digital format, I find it helpful to begin by assembling my binder.

I print out all of the lesson texts and project pages in preparation for our studies.   I also print out the Lesson Plan Schedule, Additional Resources and Tips pages, and the Introduction page.  This year I included the list of all the quotes that are used for penmanship in each lesson.

I wait to print out the activity pages until we get to the relevant lesson. They include so many choices we often choose to skip some. If you choose to do one of the longer projects, such as the lapbook or the newspaper articles, I recommend you stick with it throughout.  My kids typically askew the newspaper articles, so we go the lapbook route instead.

Time Travelers Lapbooking Tip

If you decide to do the lapbook and follow the Lesson Plan Schedule, you do not assemble the lapbook until the very end.  While you work on projects to include in the lapbook, you collect them until the end and then assemble the lapbook.  I prefer to have my kids assemble the lapbook as we go along. Pieces get lost or ruined if we try to hold onto them.  Therefore, we utilize the built in Project Days to work on our lapbooks.

In addition to projects such as the lapbook, there are activities that are meant to go in your child’s notebook.  These include things such as the Timeline, penmanship pages, maps or other pages not meant for the lapbook, such as this page about Hitler’s climb to power:

Customizing Home School in the Woods WWII Time Travelers

One of the things I love about the products from Homeschool in the Woods is the ability to customize them for your family.  I am using this with kids ages 5-15, so obviously, needs are different.

For example, I do not have my older students write out the quotes.  They don’t need penmanship practice like the younger ones.  Instead, we discuss the quotes and how they might apply today.

In the first lesson there were two quotes by Adolf Hitler: “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” and “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”

We had a great discussion over these two quotes. They allowed us to connect the past to the present and discuss how this mindset may have affected those during that period in time and how it affects us today.

We are also doing the Timeline differently.  I had my oldest daughter assemble the Timeline for us to display on our wall and refer to as we go along, instead of having each child assemble their own.

While there are 25 lessons, you do not have to do it in 25 days.  We are adding in some extra reading and reports for the older girls, especially my high schooler, so that she can receive credit for it.

Right now the kids are working on an oral report that was prompted from the first lesson that gave an overview of the four main dictators during the time: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Hideki Tojo, and Josef Stalin.  Each picked a dictator and has been researching about them to share.

What We Love About Home School in the Woods WWII Time Travelers in America

I love the historical synopsis Home School in the Woods includes for each lesson.  It gives, in a compact manner, the most important parts needed for understanding that time in history.  For my younger kids, it is perfectly enough.  For my older kids, it is a great summary and jumping off place to see where they want to dig in further.

My kids are really looking forward to making their own souvenir pillowcase, trying out the recipes, and playing games that come in later lessons.  I enjoy the variety of projects and the thoroughness of the research done to put it all together.

Home School in the Woods is one of my favorite companies for a hands-on history curriculum.  They have multiple product lines including the Project Passport series which now includes Ancient Rome.  So head over and check them out!