Trail Guide to Learning - Paths of Settlement {Review & GIVEAWAY}

For the 2013-2014 school year, we are excited to continue with the Trail Guide to Learning Series from Geomatters.

Last year we learned about explorers and pioneers with Paths of Exploration (POE). This year we will continue our journey with Paths of Settlement (POS). 

For those of you not familiar with Trail Guide to Learning, it is a history based, all-in-one program.  TGTL was created for students in grade 3rd through 7th, but it easily adaptable so that younger and older children can easily join in.  The series includes history, science, language arts, literature and art. 

The Paths of Settlement Complete Package

I have to tell you, this curriculum excites me like no other.  I actually considered skipping POE and going straight for POS last year.  I am so glad we didn't, but I am very excited to finally be starting Paths of Settlement!!

This year, Paths of Settlement has us studying some of the founding fathers and leaders that the Lord used to make our nation great!  We will be reading biographies of historical figures like...

• Abigail Adams
• Francis Scott Key
• George Washington
• Abraham Lincoln
• Robert E. Lee
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Clara Barton
• Samuel Francis Smith 
• Theodore Roosevelt

Reading these stories of these men and women will help us to see how they lived, understand the time period and remember the facts about America's history.  We will see how their lives and beliefs helped to shape our nation.  This is my favorite way to learn history, and my favorite things about Trail Guide to Learning!  

The Sowers Series, which I had never even heard of prior to TGTL, is amazing!  Currently, we are in the middle of reading Abigail Adams: First Lady of Faith and Courage, and we are loving it!  I love how this series shares how these people lived out their faith, and they even have scripture sprinkled through the books. 

Paths of Settlement also includes several great historical fiction books, as well as a Drive Through History DVD.

• The Courage of Sarah Noble
• Matchlock Gun
• Ambush in the Wilderness 
•  Munford: The American Revolution 
• Guns for General Washington
• The Cabin Faced West
• Justin Morgan Had a Horse
• The Eve of Revolution
• Janie's Freedom
• Samuel F. Smith
• Munford: The Klondike Gold Rush
• Yankee Blue or Revel Grey
• Cowboys
• Drive Through History, America DVD {my kids love this guy!}
  

Paths of Settlement continues its Charlotte Mason style approach by connecting history with science, geography, language arts and art. I think Geomatters explains it best when they say that they...

"Utilize Charlotte Mason's philosophy of developing thinking skills naturally through observation and narration, while connecting subjects in a thought-provoking way."

For science, POS focuses on Earth Science as it relates to geography. This study includes weather, rocks, minerals, the periodic table, and the natural features of the earth.  

We created Weather Watcher Notebooks.  Aren't they adorable!

Geography includes a study of states, this is another things that we are really enjoying.  Each week the kids study two states.  They do this by reading about them in the Children's Illustrated Atlas, completing state maps and state notebooking pages.  The kids like reading the facts about each state, and drawing the state birds and flowers.  Eating Your Way Through the USA has also been a huge hit!  Our goal is one recipe per state.  The blueberry pie that they made was out of this world delicious!  
 

These State Pages are part of our geography and history studies.  They are part of  our Student Notebooks.

Language Arts is a large part of the Trail Guide to Learning Series.  Daily copywork assignments are taken from their current student reader, which the students alternate with copying famous quotes.  The children complete oral and written narrations, and discussion questions.  POS focuses on writing mechanics, spelling and vocabulary words which are taken from our history studies. `

State Pages include map and fact page.  Science notebook pages include diagrams for the kids to color and label.

The hands on activities included in POS include several games like bingo, concentration, Quoits and Corn Hole.  Students learn how to paint with water colors, work on cooking, make a weather station, make candles, do soap carvings and keep create a history timeline.  There are plenty of hands on activities, but they are not to the point of overwhelming.  Just enough I would say.

One way that I incorporate my little guys is with picture books that coincide with the states or science topic that we are studying.

I am quite pleased that the worksheets and activities that we do with POS coincide with what we are reading.  Everything is done with a purpose, we are not just spending time doing busy work.  The science we study, the copywork, narrations and writing the kids do, along with the activities, they are all like pieces that make up one big puzzle. It is such a blessing to see the light bulb moments in my kids when they have connected the dots.

The Trail Guide to Learning teacher's manuals really could not be any simpler.  They are laid out day by day, and they are very easy to understand and implement.  Not only do they include daily lesson plans, but they also give teaching tips {which have been ever so helpful}.  

The student pages are found on a cd that I print off for each child one unit at a time.  These notebooking style pages are used to create a student notebook, which also doubles as your student's portfolio.  The POS Complete Package also includes a USA Activity cd that includes worksheets that work great for younger students.

We received the Paths of Settlement Complete Package for review.  The package includes the books I mentioned above, along with the other resources to complete the POS curriculum.  

We also received downloads for the POS Middle School Supplement and the POS Lapbooks.  The middle school supplement gives my 8th grader more advanced literature selections and additional activities that are more on her level.  The lapbooks, on the other hand, go to the other side the spectrum for my younger guys.  The lapbooks are a fun way for my younger guys to show what they are learning with less writing.

GeoMatters has allowed me to offer my readers $15 off of ANY Trail Guide to Learning Complete Package.  This would include POE, POS and POP.  Just use COUPON CODE: LSG15

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED.  THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

They have also graciously allowed me to offer a F-R-E-E Download of Paths of Settlement to one of my readers.  This includes the downloads for Paths of Settlement Volume 1 & 2, as well as the Student Notebook Pages.  This download is valued at $120.00!  This does not include the resource books, but it does include all of your teaching materials and student pages! 

The giveaway will run from now until August 17th, 2013, with the winner being announced on August 18th, 2013. To enter please use the Rafflecopter below! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies - Field Trips

 

If you have been following along with this series, then you know that we have already chosen our topic of study and gathered lots of good literature.  We have talked about adding in some notebooking or lapbooks and doing some hands on activities. 

Now what??? 

What I like to do is go on a field trip, either at the beginning of a unit to create excitement or at the end of a unit to kind of crystallize what we have be learning.  We do not field trip all the time or every month even, but I do try to do them here and there.  My kids and I always enjoy them.

When we were on vacation we stopped in to the Visitor Center at Assateague Island.  There was a lot to see and do, we even earned Junior Ranger Badges.

 We don't live to far from Washington, DC.  So, for our study of the Revolutionary War we might visit Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington or Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.  We would look for an opportunity to watch a war reenactment or we might even visit Colonial Williamsburg.  

This past spring we did get to check out NASA's Visitor Center.

If we were doing a study on Botany, we would visit the nearby Botanical Gardens.  The NASA Visitors Center would be on our list if we were studying space.  

I love this one!  The boys are learning how to spin at a historic mansion nearby.

This spring and summer we have done a lot of field trips.  Some were tied into what we were learning, and some were just for the "fun of it."  Either way, the kids were always learning something.  We have even gotten into visiting local historical sites, I had no idea of some the rich local history right here in my county.  

Maple Sugaring!

Another place that has become a favorite for us are the local {and not so local} nature centers.  We have experienced maple sugaring, as well as learned about various critters.  We have explored the centers, most are very hands on with tons of things for the kids to touch and feel, which my kids LOVE! We have done nature scavenger hunts and hiked a few trails.  I have also had the kids bring colored pencils and a notebook, so that they could pick their favorite thing to draw and write about.

Learning about scat, first hand!

 I am learning that there are a lot of learning opportunities out there, if we are looking for them.  I would venture to say that they are field trips for most things that we study.  Sometimes we might have to get a little creative and think outside the box, but they are out there.  And when you get out there, your kids will be learning and love it!

At the American History Museum in DC.  The kids got a lesson from a weather man from the early 1800's.

What was your family's favorite field trip? 

Don't forget to catch up with the other 89 TOS Crew Bloggers on our 5 Day Hop!