History Pockets vs. Time Travelers

[femke]

Can someone please compare these for me? Right now I think I prefer the History Pockets as I can order them through RR, but the Time Travelers Serie looks like a lot of fun as well.

 

Thank you!

[MissKNG]

If History Pockets are like the Literature Pockets, they take A LOT of prep work! We dropped Lit Pockets because I got sick of making all of it.

[thowell]

We have used both and while I prefer the TT we just couldn't fit it all in. The TT have alot more craft ideas added in (although you don't have to do it all). HP is more of a cut and paste study. My girls enjoyed both. You have a nice finished product with both. we use the HP as and add in to our current studies. When we used the TT it was enough to stand alone.

[femke]

I don't like a lot of prep. work :001_huh: I thought they were ready-to-go! I'm planning unit studies for the next couple of years, basically so that I don't have to do so much planning later on. Is TT ready-to-go?

[thowell]

I didn't find alot of prep work with the HP but maybe that is because the girls do all their own cutting. I print out what I need for each girl and place them in a folder. I print out my pages and place them in my teacher binder. With TT there is alot more printing and for me it did take a little more work but that was just printing and getting things organized. I buy my HP from Evan Moore in a pdf file so I can print what I need how I like. Again I think both are great.

[MissKNG]

I didn't find alot of prep work with the HP but maybe that is because the girls do all their own cutting..

 

I did all the cutting and I just hated making those folders for some reason. Maybe there's an easier way to make the folders though.

[thowell]

I did all the cutting and I just hated making those folders for some reason. Maybe there's an easier way to make the folders though.

 

Oh,yes I could see that. We actually paste everything to cardstock and place it in our history notebooks. We do not make the actually pockets. It is much easier without that!

[Wheres Toto]

We are doing History Pockets but I'm not making the folders. Instead I'm having the kids paste the finished items to cardstock and hole punching it for our History notebook. I like this better for organizing completed work. My kids are really young so I do most of the cutting but I didn't find it too bad. I also have the pdf file so it is real easy to print out the pages I need.

[MissKNG]

Oh,yes I could see that. We actually paste everything to cardstock and place it in our history notebooks. We do not make the actually pockets. It is much easier without that!

 

Ahhh...I followed the directions and made the pockets out of construction paper.

 

femke - if you go with HPs, find different (easier) ways to make the pockets!!

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

We used History Pockets Ancient Civilizations last year, and I had the boys do all their own cutting. They enjoyed it.

[femke]

The TT have alot more craft ideas added in (although you don't have to do it all).

 

Do you need a lot of supplies for these crafts, or simple things like paper, scissors, paint etc. ? I'm not good at skipping, so I'd rather buy something that doesn't contain all the 'fun' crafts, if I find them not really doable.

 

Not doing the pockets is a good idea! I wouldn't have come up with that...

[thowell]

Well I can give you an example from the Colonial CD. We made a bed similar to something that would have been used in Colonial times (i can't remember what it was called). We needed cardboard, fabric to sew the matress and straw to stuff it, string to make the bracing and a nail to make the holes. Alot of the crafts are more than just paper and paste but there are so many to chose from you could stick with what you have. If you do want to do everything you need to know that it will take you much longer than a month. Not sure which time period you are looking at but on their website they give you pictures of some of the crafts for each time period.

[blakereese]

I agree about the Pockets...you can make them fit your needs. I use colored file folders, make pockets on them, and hole punch them for DS history binder. I wanted something that fit the binder, and would be a bit more sturdy than construction paper.

 

A friend of mine doesn't make pockets at all, they do all of the projects and display them for awhile (either on a bookshelf or on posterboard). Then she takes a photo for school records and pitches them. :D Or recycles. :D:D

 

If you do the history pockets I suggest buying the e-book. I really wish I would have done that. It would be easier to just print out what you need instead of copying every.single.page of the darn workbook. :glare:

[Mom0012]

The history pockets are much easier to implement than the Time Traveler cd-roms. I think part of that is because you have the HP all in front of you in a book, so you can really see what is there. You just make as many copies as you need. Just navigating the TT cd-roms and trying to figure out what to print and on what color paper the first time can be overwhelming.

 

There is also just a lot more material in TT. We slowly worked on the lapbook only and began last spring and only finished about a month ago. We could have finished sooner, of course, but I was trying to make it as stress-free as possible. I think the final product with TT is far superior to HP, but I'm not anxious to do another one because it was so time consuming.

 

The only way I would use another TT product is if my child was old enough to do it completely on their own. (I'm saving the Early 19th Century CD-rom for my daughter when we do SL core 100 because she loves this stuff.) Or, if I was using it as my main curriculum and just adding in some additional reading. IMHO, it's too much to do on top of another full curriculum.

 

Lisa

[femke]

Guess I'll go for the HP ;) I like the idea of the E-book, and reading all your replies, it just seems a bit easier to do. Also: I can buy 3 HP books for the price of 1 TT-theme. But maybe I'll try the Artists or Musicians unit from Homeschool in the Woods one day.

[DragonFaerie]

We're using the Ancient History HP (and doing the pockets, which the kids think are neat). We're enjoying it as a whole but my DD9 is getting tired of all the coloring. Can you guys suggest some alternative to the coloring? Or some similar concept but without so much coloring? She'd be happier with color pictures and such that she could then just cut out and make the activities.

[blakereese]

We're using the Ancient History HP (and doing the pockets, which the kids think are neat). We're enjoying it as a whole but my DD9 is getting tired of all the coloring. Can you guys suggest some alternative to the coloring? Or some similar concept but without so much coloring? She'd be happier with color pictures and such that she could then just cut out and make the activities.

 

 

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for...but you could sometimes copy the page (or print it out if using the e-book) onto colored paper. I did this when we made the ziggurat pop up, and it looked nice and saved a step. :) I also have done this with the title rectangle that goes on each pocket. My son sometimes gets tired of the coloring, too. That, and I don't want history to take the whole day.

 

Sometimes I have him color while I am reading the history chapter. I feel like he retains more when he is doing this, and it shortens our lesson just a bit. Anytime we are doing the HP, I know that history will be a couple of hours, and anything I can shave off of that makes me happy. :D Hope that helps.

 

Oh, I thought of another book you might like. Famous Figures of Ancient Times. My son likes to make these and play with them. The good part is, for each person there are 2 versions of the "paper doll"...one that is already colored, and one you can color yourself. :) Use the colored ones, and all you need to do is cut out the pieces and fasten with brads. Obviously not the same as the various activities in the history pockets, but I am amazed at what my son has learned by role playing with these figures.

 

I'll be watching this thread to see other suggestions! :bigear:

[Woodland_Mom]

Technically, I have not used either product, but I'm getting ready to begin Time Travelers American Revolution. I'm going to use some of the handwriting pages, text pages, and projects to our MFW history studies.

 

TT has a very nice schedule that allows you to visually see the projects/activities/assignments for each week/topic. You then have the flexibility to choose the things you want to do. TT is similar to History pockets in that there is background info given about each topic, hands on activities, and cool lapbook-type projects. However, TT includes far more than History Pockets does. That could be a good thing or a bad thing--depending on what you want/need!

 

TT includes text pages, project overview pages (the schedule), lap book projects, recipes, science experiments, notebook timeline (with beautiful timeline figures to use) & activities. There are also factfile cards, three-dimensional paper projects and even a final project as an end-of-unit wrap-up. In addition, TT has a very good resource list for extra reading. If you're looking for hands-on projects and handicraft type things, then take a close look at TT. IMO, many of the activities/projects are twaddle-free. The CD-ROM includes pictures of every craft/project and there are also drawings to illustrate how to assemble the lapbooks and paper crafts. Generally, there are about 25 Lessons. Every lesson includes multiple projects to choose from, recipes, handwriting/copywork, text, etc.

 

TT is a product that will require some advanced prep and planning. You'll want to decide on the projects/activities that you want to include in your studies so you can gather the supplies you need.

 

If you need something that is less involved, then History Pockets is an excellent resource. I'm sure you need to do a little prep/planning with it, too, but not as much as TT.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Pylegang

[kangato3]

TT includes text pages, project overview pages (the schedule), lap book projects, recipes, science experiments, notebook timeline (with beautiful timeline figures to use) & activities. There are also factfile cards, three-dimensional paper projects and even a final project as an end-of-unit wrap-up. In addition, TT has a very good resource list for extra reading. If you're looking for hands-on projects and handicraft type things, then take a close look at TT. IMO, many of the activities/projects are twaddle-free.

 

We have used both, and we are definitely TT fans. My kids get bored easily with History Pockets - it seems like a lot of color, cut and paste. TT offers a variety of interesting projects, but it does require more teacher prep.

[lisak]

Here is a link for sets of printed materials and such for the TT series. http://www.winterpromise.net/product_info.php?products_id=882

 

I haven't used this company, just researched it and looked at their book lists.

 

We have used both History Pockets and TT in my house. My older daughter used History Pockets when studying Ancient Egypt. She was in grade 7 and is very artistic. So she didn't make the pockets. She mounted her work on card stock, colored it to match books with Ancient Egypt coloring, and basically merged her work into her notebook which contained maps, etc.

 

My younger daughter uses History Pockets as well. She likes the pockets. She just worked through Native Americans, which is labeled as grade 1-3. She placed her work in the pockets which we made smaller to fit into a 3-ring binder. She likes coloring, so this fit her well. She also added her artwork with Draw,Write,Now books into the notebook as well.

 

We have made others in past years where we finally used cardstock, rather than construction paper, to make the pockets. Then we used strong shipping tape to hold the heavier paper book together. It is still holding up well and is a few years old.

 

We began the TT Explorers last year, but didn't finish it. What we did, my daughter enjoyed, but I was getting bored of explorers as was she, so we just stopped and moved onto something else. It looks like a wonderful program and I might look at it again and see if we can incorporate anything this year.

 

As other posters, I began purchasing the pockets as a PDF file. It is nice to print as you need it and not stand at a copy center.

[OregonNative]

We do History Pockets. I copy the pages, so that takes a bit of time with an "all-in-one" printer. I also do most of the cutting with a paper trimmer-otherwise it would take longer to get thru that part during school. My kids LOVE them-but I have come to dislike the prep time, even tho it's not a lot. The next time we do EM Pockets, I will buy two books and use the original pages.

[Cindyz]

We are doing Ancient Times history pockets and enjoying them. I took a regular pocket folder and three hole punched it so that it would fit in the binder.

 

Here's a video of my son with some of his history pocket items. :)

 

http://www.whispersprings.com/homeschooling/mesopotamia-review/

[femke]

Love the video! he's cute! :D

 

Thank you all for your replies, still like them both. I might just prepare DH a lovely dinner, and then order both :tongue_smilie:

[woolybear]

I haven't read all the replies, but to me these two are very different. Although you can use TT for a wide age range, I would say it is better suited to upper grammar, whereas, HP can be used down to lower grammar. Also, HP is much more cut and paste and color kind of projects. TT includes so much more-- games you make, timeline, three dimensional projects, lapbook, notebooking. It really depends on both you and the kids. How much of that kind of stuff do they like to do? How much can you handle? History Pockets is definitely less overall. Both require prep, but from my perspective TT is WAY more, depending on how much of it you actually do. On the plus side, I find the final product from TT is a beautiful quality, HP just so so.

 

Good luck with your decision.

Edited December 23, 2010 by woolybear
added words for clarity/changed one