Time Travelers U.S. History Studies: A Review of the American Revolution Study

Dear Homeschooler,

What are you doing for history this year? We tend to follow the classical format of yearly cycles of ancient history, medieval history, early modern era, and modern era. This year, however, we are focused completely on American history. That is why I was so exited for the opportunity to review the Time Travelers U.S. History Studies: The American Revolution by Home School in the Woods.

The Product

The Time Travelers U.S. History Studies series contains seven unit studies that guide you through the history of America:

New World Explorers
Colonial Life
The American Revolution
The Early 19th Century
The Civil War
The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression
World War II

Aimed at grades 3 -8, each study has 25 lessons that can be completed in as little as 5 weeks, doing one lesson per school day, or over a semester, depending on your goals and schedule. Each lesson begins with reading the lesson’s text, which consist of two – three pages teaching the day’s topic(s), and are followed by fun activities and hands-on projects.

Here are some of the ways we learned about the American Revolution:

Timeline

As we learned about the American Revolution, we glued important events and people on a timeline. This allowed us to keep track of the order of events. Check out further tips on Teaching with Timelines.

Maps

We colored the maps of the Eastern USA, learning the different states, where important events took place, and mapping the movements of the different armies.

Daily Bugle

We pretended to be reporters during the time of the American Revolution. Given a headline, we would then write an article to go with the headline, reporting the different events and illustrating our stories like we were there.

Lapbook

We lap booked much of the new information we learned, such as comparing soldiers’ uniforms, comparing George Washington and King George, and learning about great people of the time like Benjamin Franklin. If you haven’t lap booked, don’t worry. All the instructions are clearly laid out.

Important Documents

Of course, we learned about many of the significant documents that were written at the time like the Mayflower Compact. We haven’t finished the entire curriculum, but the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are in the scope and sequence.

Penmanship

We got to practice our penmanship while copying quotes from George Washington, John Adams, Ben Franklin, and more.

Games and Projects

We were able to create our own game and had a lot of fun playing and learning about how taxes work. There are two more games in the curriculum — Battle Blitz and Liberty At Last — that we haven’t played yet, but are looking forward to them.

We did several quality projects. These range from building a 3D Jamestown to re-creating some of Ben Franklin’s inventions to candle-dipping. These were extremely engaging and definitely a highlight of the curriculum.

I have tried many different products from Home School in the Woods, and I have loved each and every one of them. And even more importantly, my kids have loved them, too. My son loves doing the timeline and writing articles for the Bugle. My daughter loves the projects and coloring the pictures. I love how learning history can be organized and comprehensive yet fun and hands-on. Check out other great tips for Using Time Travelers To Teach American History here. Take a look at some of my other reviews of other Home School in the Wood’s products:

Have you tried any of the Time Travelers U.S. History Studies? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. This is a great curriculum to teach American history. Check out other great reviews from the Homeschool Crew on these and other great products by Home School in the Woods by clicking the banner below.

Till Next Time,

Jennifer