Time Travelers vs History Pockets

[Annie Laurie]

For American history. Is there anyone out there who has actually used both and can share a comparison?

 

Two of my kids love paper crafts, lapbooking, and anything hands-on so I need to add one of these or both. We have only used HPs in the past.

 

TTs are about twice as expensive as HPs, and I understand why, TTs have a lot more stuff to do in them and a greater variety. However, we won't use the TT text and a lot of the other stuff so I don't know if I should just stick with HPs, since my kids do like them. I find HPs so easy to use and TTs look like a bit of a headache. I bought a ton of Hands and Hearts kits and have not used many, so I've learned that I won't do anything overly complicated.

 

On the other hand, variety would be nice, so maybe we should just choose a couple of TTs and a couple of HPs. Any opinions on which TTs are the best?

 

I was planning on just getting all applicable TTs and HPs and picking and choosing, but I have a problem with ordering every supplement under the sun every year, then feeling overwhelmed and not using most of it. My goal is to keep it simple this year.

 

So who prefers one over the other? And what were your favorite TTs? Pros, Cons?

[thowell]

I have not used TT but we are currently using History pocket for Native Americans and it is ok. For the money it is a good deal to fill in alittle extra info and craft. Now we are only on the 3rd pocket and doing them according to Guest Hollow so I can tell you about all of them but again they are just ok. I am hoping to add TT in the futur. I spoke with a rep and they explained that if you follow the schedule it would only take 1 month to finish each one but that is doing it everyday. We only do history twice a week so it would take us alot longer. If you print the schedule for the first series it will show you exactly what would be included. Alot more than the hisory pocket.

[PeterPan]

Well what ages are you teaching? The TT make a lot more sense if you use the text with them, since the projects come from the text and reinforce the text. If you have younger kids, I'd stick with the HP. You might find TT are a perfect fit later.

[iammommy]

TT is way more involved. The hands on projects are wonderful, but there is considerable teacher prep time. HP is simple. Cut, glue, color, and write a little. Not a lot of prep, other than copying the pages needed for projects. Here would be a typical difference. In Colonial Life, TT would have you make a little paddle out of wood (used for their primers in school), then do the writing on a sheet of paper and glue it to the wooden paddle. HP would have you cut out a paper paddle (They give you the pattern) and you would write on a paper and glue it to the paper paddle. Not as involvved, but not as "real". TT has lots of needlecraft/sewing projects. TT is way richer, I believe. It would really depend on how involved you want to get. TT also has more complex writing assignments, and includes penmanship, journal writing, copywork. TT includes a "party" at the end, using knowledge you've gained throughout the unit. Very nice, but again, pretty involved.

 

As the pp said, for the money, HP is pretty decent. But if you want more authentic, involved projects, then TT is the way to go.

 

HTH!

 

Nan

[Ali in OR]

I've only used TT. We have used Colonial Life, American Revolution, and I taught a co-op class with The Civil War. I choose to only do the lapbook activities--keeps it manageable. The quality of the materials is amazing, but it is time consuming. I think it would be reasonable to just do 1 a year. We did two last year and I wasn't willing to do another at that point. Having one going all of the time would be too much prep work for me. 4th grade and up is a comfortable level for these. For my co-op class I did 3rd-6th graders. For kids that are younger than that, you end up doing a lot of the assembly. Colonial Life is really good, and I enjoyed the Civil War one a lot too.

[Closeacademy]

We did about 1/2 of HP Pilgrims and we did the TT early 19th century.

 

HP are simple whereas TT is more complex. I think TT would work best with children who are older as there is a lot of information to go through and the lapbook is huge.

 

I have a 2nd and 4th grader that I did the TT with and it took us about 3 months to cover the 5 weeks worth of material. The lapbook pieces were really too hard for them to cut and put together themselves and I did all the work.

 

Basically, I'd sum it up that these need a child who:

 

TT--writes well, can cut and do lots of detail work, ready to know more than just the basics

 

HP--can be used for many levels, the child doesn't need to write well and not too much detail work

 

Just my experiences.:001_smile:

[corbie]

Just checked out the time traveler site. My kids were so excited! We have been doing SOTW for years but want to focus on US hist more. They are currently listening to SOTW v3: Early Modern Times. Of course, some US hist has been covered but not very thoroughly. We have also studied the pilgrim in a unit study. I really want to do a TT study. Where do you who have done one advise I start? My older girls are 10 and 8. They LOVE crafts, etc... That's the main reason we have stayed with SOTW so long. This year, however, they are just listening to cd's at home and doing the craft part at a co-op type situation.

 

Is TT a download? Has anyone ordered their maps? I'm just pumped about this now. I wasn't even looking for history stuff! Thanks!:001_huh: No, really, I would appreciate any input.

[Ali in OR]

Just checked out the time traveler site. My kids were so excited! We have been doing SOTW for years but want to focus on US hist more. They are currently listening to SOTW v3: Early Modern Times. Of course, some US hist has been covered but not very thoroughly. We have also studied the pilgrim in a unit study. I really want to do a TT study. Where do you who have done one advise I start? My older girls are 10 and 8. They LOVE crafts, etc... That's the main reason we have stayed with SOTW so long. This year, however, they are just listening to cd's at home and doing the craft part at a co-op type situation.

 

Is TT a download? Has anyone ordered their maps? I'm just pumped about this now. I wasn't even looking for history stuff! Thanks!:001_huh: No, really, I would appreciate any input.

 

I would do Colonial Life. It was more fun than the American Revolution because it focused on life rather than war. I don't know if you can download it, but they ship it very fast.

[Annie Laurie]

Well what ages are you teaching? The TT make a lot more sense if you use the text with them, since the projects come from the text and reinforce the text. If you have younger kids, I'd stick with the HP. You might find TT are a perfect fit later.

 

They will be 10, 8, and 6.

[Annie Laurie]

TT is way more involved. The hands on projects are wonderful, but there is considerable teacher prep time. HP is simple. Cut, glue, color, and write a little. Not a lot of prep, other than copying the pages needed for projects. Here would be a typical difference. In Colonial Life, TT would have you make a little paddle out of wood (used for their primers in school), then do the writing on a sheet of paper and glue it to the wooden paddle. HP would have you cut out a paper paddle (They give you the pattern) and you would write on a paper and glue it to the paper paddle. Not as involvved, but not as "real". TT has lots of needlecraft/sewing projects. TT is way richer, I believe. It would really depend on how involved you want to get. TT also has more complex writing assignments, and includes penmanship, journal writing, copywork. TT includes a "party" at the end, using knowledge you've gained throughout the unit. Very nice, but again, pretty involved.

 

As the pp said, for the money, HP is pretty decent. But if you want more authentic, involved projects, then TT is the way to go.

 

HTH!

 

Nan

 

Thanks Nan, that was helpful.

 

I've only used TT. We have used Colonial Life, American Revolution, and I taught a co-op class with The Civil War. I choose to only do the lapbook activities--keeps it manageable. The quality of the materials is amazing, but it is time consuming. I think it would be reasonable to just do 1 a year. We did two last year and I wasn't willing to do another at that point. Having one going all of the time would be too much prep work for me. 4th grade and up is a comfortable level for these. For my co-op class I did 3rd-6th graders. For kids that are younger than that, you end up doing a lot of the assembly. Colonial Life is really good, and I enjoyed the Civil War one a lot too.

 

Good information. I will have a 4th, 3rd, and 1st grader. I think the 3rd grader would be fine, she sews and creates a lot anyway. The info about one a year is really helpful in keeping myself in check, I'll just try one then. Thanks!

 

Basically, I'd sum it up that these need a child who:

 

TT--writes well, can cut and do lots of detail work, ready to know more than just the basics

 

HP--can be used for many levels, the child doesn't need to write well and not too much detail work

 

Just my experiences.:001_smile:

 

Now I'm torn! TT sounds like more fun, but on the other hand, we only have so much time in a day and we use SL which is already time consuming for history, so it may be a lot less stressful if I stick with HPs, which they can work on themselves while I read aloud. Thanks for sharing that.

[ChristyH]

I have used both TT and HP. I do like TT but I didn't use the text at all. I just used whatever I thought was useful out of it and when it went with what we were doing. I ended up using it quite a bit.