Á La Carte projects from Home School in the Woods -- A New TOS Review!!

We love when we can add hands-on projects and fun so we were so excited to get some of the new Á La Carte items from Home School in the Woods. These are downloadble PDF's that can add to your history learning with some fun creative games, timelines, newspapers, and other fun activities. We chose three of their offerings, but I am sure we will be going back again and again to add some of these to our home. 

The first one we chose was the a Timeline called The Progress of Faith from Europe to the Colonies. We chose this one because we had just finished the Middle Ages in history and we had been studying the beginning of the colonial time period as well as special studies on Martin Luther and Elizabeth I. 

I thought this would be a perfect way to remember what we had learned and see the full 'picture' of how faith had spread to the early colonies in the New World.   This timeline is wonderful because it comes with pages that have the dates already printed on the timeline and all the little people/important dates are printed below the pictures.  All you have to do is download it, print it, color it if you'd like (we chose to add some accent colors), and then you can glue the pieces on or tape them. I had leftover double-side tape so we chose to do that. The only thing I had to really help with (since my kiddos are all old enough to read follow the clear directions in the PDF) was to attach the pages properly so they'd fold like a fan.

The next  item we chose from their offerings was the Liberty at Last! File Folder Game.  This was also chosen because we have been focusing on the early American colonial time period up through the American Revolution. 

And I love history so a game about history was right up my alley. We've had fun playing with this one and can't wait to add some of the other File Folder Games from the Á La Carte projects when we get to those parts in history ... like Westward Ho! or A Trip to Town ... both will be coming up in the later part of our history this year. 

 

This was also an easy setup process. First you download the file and print out all the parts. The instructions are clear in the first few pages of the download. All you need is a file folder, the pages printed on cardstock and paper (which they tell you what to print on what type of paper), the game cards, markers, and then you have to provide a dice for rolling. I used my double-sided tape to put the game board inside the file folder and to attach the title on the tab of the folder and the instructions on the front of the folder. Next, my artsy daughter helped color the board and the marker pieces. 

All serious playing the game.

The cards we have left uncolored for right now ... that might change. They have had fun playing this together. You roll the di and move the number of spaces, but if you land on a 6 you pull and read a card. Once the Treaty of Paris card is pulled the game is over. It's a quick game (less than 30 minutes usually), but it's a fun way to go over facts from history that they may have forgotten. Hubby and I will also be enjoying playing with them as we hadn't had time to do that yet.

The last hands-on history project I chose was called The Art of Quilling. I have always admired this type of art, but my eldest daughter had gotten interested in it earlier this year. For Christmas she asked for a Quilling book and I knew she'd just love this project. Here is what it should look like when it's complete. 

This one takes a bit more time to complete, especially if you have never done it before. It is also for older elementary (3rd - 8th), but I don't think my 3rd grade son would have the patience it takes to do this.  LOL! I know both my daughters would love this, but only my eldest (14) did the project. She really has a knack for learning all these new hobbies. Here are pictures of her in progress of this quilling project. This is the same hobby nuns and monks had in the Renaissance.

She was showing me how to start a roll.

Here it is all rolled up.

Her finished project of the Forget Me Not flower - she ran out of purple so there is one yellow bud.

There are loads more in the Á La Carte. Some others we will be getting at sometime in the future are The Jamestown Replica, A Young Country Newspaper Collections, and also Martin Luther's 95 Theses File Folder Project. All of these fit into our year of history. Wish I had seen the one on Martin Luther before the 500th celebration this last year. And another great reason to check these out is price. All 3 of these cost less then $10. The quilling was only $1.95! That's an amazing price for a long lasting hobby.

As you can see they have LOADS to pick from covering many historic areas. You are going to want out to check out more of their Á La Carte projects. You will want to check them out by clicking the link below of the other Crew reviews. You can also find Home School in the Woods on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube so don't be shy - reach out and check them out!!