Ancient Rome: A Hands-On Unit Study by HSITW

My children enjoy learning about history, and they’ve previously done 6 projects from Homeschool in the Woods, so when the opportunity came up to review Project Passport World History Studies: Ancient Rome by Home School in the Woods, they were very excited to learn more this particular period of history.

The periods available in the HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study are:

• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Egypt (read out review here)
• The Middle Ages (read out review here)
• Renaissance & Reformation
• Ancient Rome

What we received

Ancient Rome is a digital product for which we received a zip file to download that contained everything we’d need for printing.  Once unzipped, you’ll find the guide, photos of the projects, audio clips to listen to, and enough things to print that will keep you busy for days.  To print off everything for the full 25 stops, it took me about 5 or 6 hours, so you may want to set some time aside to prep before you start.  However, don’t let the prep and printing costs put you off as they are TOTALLY worth it!  After you’ve done a Passport Project or two, you’ll find your groove and the time it takes to do the prep will decrease.

Each of the 25 ‘stops’ is a lesson on one area of culture or history.  Each stop has 2-3 pages of text to read and detailed directions on how to complete each of the elements that are required for the stop.  A few of the stops also have audio files to listen to, and the links are embedded within the files you receive.

How we used Ancient Rome Unit Studies

My children are about 4 years older than when they worked on their first HSITW project so I thought I would try something new this time.  I have had a lot going on over the past couple of months so instead of me cutting all the pieces for the children to have ready, this time I did do the printing, but they were responsible for doing all of the cutting themselves.  Also, previously the children worked on every project together, but then the unit study sometimes would drag on for quite some time and they would find they needed a change in topic before they were done.  This year, the children did the first 5 stops together, and then one child did the even stops at the same time the other child did the odd stops.  This way they could each take responsibility for their own projects and complete the whole project in a shorter period of time when they are still excited about it.

They were working on this 5 days a week – some days were a couple of hours, while other days took much longer if there was a more involved project.  The children were able to do most of the work on their own, but when they needed a little adult help, Phil was able to help when he came home from work.  I like to see him get involved with school work so the children know that their education is important to him.

How HSITW Ancient Rome Works

There are several projects that are ongoing throughout the unit study:

• labelling maps
• adding characters onto a timeline
• create a fan deck of Notable Romans
• writing newspaper articles and drawing advertisements
• design the fronts of postcards that have been sent from famous characters

Each stop will also have at least one project, and often more to do.  You don’t have to do all of the projects – some may depend on the supplies you have, some may depend on what your children are interested in.  My children have completed a good portion of the big projects, and although they have gone through the 25 stops over the past 5 weeks, they are still working on finishing up a few projects before they put this unit study to bed.

What are some of the other projects that you will find?

• A menu with recipes
• Build a Roman Road
• Build a Senate House “Curia Julia”
• Pax – Romana – Emperors
• The Destruction of Pompeii volcano
• Trajan’s Culumn
• “All Roads Lead to Rome” board game
• Dress like a Roman
• and many more!

Both of my children enjoyed the hands-on projects and put their all into them.  They love crafts and being able to take out the glue gun and plaster of paris and have something really cool to show after was great.

At the end of the projects, you build a lapbook and affix all of the completed elements into it, which is a great final project to have to look back on as a summary of the history that’s been learned.  Lapbooks are fun to use, and HSITW has a good article about why you should teach with lapbooks. Some of the elements of the Ancient Rome lapbook are:

• Jobs in Ancient Rome wheel
• The evolving caste system
• Roman numerals
• Book your spa day
• The Punic Wars

The children enjoyed this unit study; it has a lot of detail, which Tristan, in particular likes, and the projects can be used in a variety of ways.  You can do every project, or you can pick and choose the ones that work better for your family and the supplies you have on hand.  I like that there are many different types of projects from food to clothing to science to art all incorporated within this unit study.  HSITW is our favourite homeschool history company, and we’ll continue to use them into the future.

Click here to read 70 more reviews about Homeschool in the Woods by the Homeschool Review Crew.  You will find their Timeline Collection: A Collection of Historical Timeline Figures, Time Travelers U.S. History Studies,  and Project Passport World History Studies projects.

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