Homeschool Happenings: August 2020

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Zig Zag Puzzler ~ A Timberdoodle Review

Zig Zag Puzzler is part of Timberdoodles, 9th Grade Curriculum Kit. Our family has had so much fun working through the 40 puzzles on the two sided puzzle board. On one side players will build 2-D puzzles and on the other side players will build 3-D puzzles. This is intended for grades 6+ and ages 12+.

Zig Zag Puzzler by Smart Games is a 3D puzzle game that has two modes of play. You can build a zig zag pattern on the white side or a pyramid on the blue side. There are a total of 80 challenge puzzles, 40 per side. There are two booklets with varying challenge levels. The first 8 levels are the easiest and is called Starter. The second level is called the Junior level. The third level of difficulty is called Expert. The fourth level is Master and the fifth and last level is the Wizard level. The second half of the booklet is the solutions for each of the 40 puzzles.

In the puzzles the white squares in any challenge indicate colors that are not shown. The individual has to use logic to figure out what colors should be in these places.

My 12-year-old daughter worked through the first 9 pyramid puzzles in a matter of

no time. I was shocked at how quick she worked her little fingers.

IN DEEP THOUGHT!

SUCCESS!

One evening my adult daughter and her husband came over and saw the game

sitting on the table and starting taking turns working the puzzles. They were both

really good at solving both modes. It kind of became a competition between the two of them.

First attempt at Zip Zag Puzzler.

I love this look, lol.

My son-in-law was able to figure out these puzzles so fast it was crazy!

Zip Zag Puzzler is a GREAT addition to any homeschool program. It challenges the mind and requires critical thinking. This would be a great quiet time activity for your child to work on during the school day during breaks throughout the day. This also makes for a great activity for sibling to challenge each other to see who can solve puzzles in the shortest amount of time. Set it out on the table when company comes over and see who takes up the challenge.

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Home School in the Woods ~ The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression - A Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Over the past weeks my 7th graders has been learning history with Time Travelers U.S. History Studies from Home School in the Woods. This hands-on history study is geared for grades 3-8. The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression in America contains 25 lessons and is intended to be spread upon 5-10 weeks of study. Each lesson contains reading, projects, writing, and quotes. There are over 50 activities in this Time Travelers history study.

The 25 lessons are:

Railroads, Gold, Snow & Fire
Wars in the West
A Gilded Age
Innovations and Inventors
Project Day - 1
Immigration Day in America
Work Conditions Worsen
The Arts
America Continues to Grow
Project Day - 2
People of Interest
War on the Islands!
The Progressive Era
Other Happenings - Part 1
Project Day - 3
Other Happenings - Part 2
World War 1 - Part 1
World War 1 -Part 2
The Roaring 20s
Project Day - 4
The Stock Market Crash & The Great Depression - Part 1
The Stock Market Crash & The Great Depression - Part 2
Project Day - 5
Pulling Together the Lapbook™
A "Depression-Era Dinner!"

Your child will create/make a:

Lapbook
3 ring binder of activities
3-D projects
Recipes
Games
Penmanship/Cursive pages
Timeline
and more...

Parents, don't worry about TEACHING because Home School in the Woods has you covered. What is unique about the Time Travelers Series is that older kiddos can pretty much do most everything on their own. For the younger child they will need parental assistance. Each lesson has a section entitled, "Lesson Projects" which gives the parent/teacher detailed directions as to what needs to happen for each lesson. It also has instructions and pictures for the activities. Home School in the Woods really could not make it any simpler. The ONLY WARNING I will give you is that their is A LOT OF PRINTING INVOLVED WITH HOME SCHOOL IN THE WOODS SO BE PREPARED TO PRINT!

Here my daughter is working on the Timeline for

The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression.

America Enters a Modern Age...

This is a page about famous Business Tycoons such as John Davison Rockefeller,

John Pierpont Morgan, and Milton S. Hershey.

My daughter learned some of the WWI products and foods sold along with

their prices. Some of the activities such as this one go in the 3-ring binder.

This was a list of vocabulary words that had come up throughout the

Lesson readings. The 3 sets were entitled:

Words of WWI

What was That?

Modern Century Vocabulary

This was a great way to review what was learned in the lessons up until

this point.

Did you know that the first car was referred to as a "horseless carriage."

Here my daughter is working on a fun flip book that will show people gazing on

as the Wright Brothers are flying their plane.

The Wright Brothers take flight!

My daughter can never wait until the end of the study to create her Lapbook

so we work on it throughout the study.

There is specific spots for each activity placement.

Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture.

We had fun listening to music by George M. Cohan

on You Tube such as "Over There", "Give My Regards to Broadway",

"Yankee Doodle Dandy", and "You're a Grand Old Flag."

Isn't this COOL!

U.S. Growth from 1850-1959

Once this is put together with a paper fastener it will be a People of Interest, Fan Deck.

Cutting these out was LABOR INTENSIVE, LOL!

Each lesson has a Lesson Project page which explains what the student needs

to complete for each lesson. Supplies are listed. Directions as well as

pictures of the activities are shown.

Each lesson has a 2-3 page student text for them to read. I find

the text to be quite interesting myself. My daughter usually reads these

aloud. This is her preference. She HATES reading and so for her

reading aloud is helpful. While she is reading I usually cut out the

activity materials for the lesson. I find this to be BUSY WORK and

I would rather my daughter spend her time on other more important school

work instead of cutting out all of the stuff that need to be cut out for each

lesson. There is A LOT OF CUTTING WITH Home School in the Woods.

I like that Home School in the Woods includes famous quotes

in their materials. Students copy the quotes throughout the lessons.

I absolutely love using Home School in the Woods for teaching my children history. I find that when children are actually involving physically in activities, projects, and play, and etc. they tend to learn and retain history so much better than just sitting down reading or listening to a teaching lecturing then on a period or time in history. Definitely check out what my Fellow Crew Members had to say about this Time Travelers Study as well as many of the other Home School in the Woods curriculum that was reviewed.

And be sure to check out the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak!