Help! Project Passport or Notgrass history?

[jens2sons]

I have access to both Notgrass From Adam to Us and Homeschool in the Woods Project Passport: Ancient Egypt.  My son is in 6th grade and I’d like to know opinions on both curricula.  I’m so torn that I need help choosing.  For those that have used either, please let me know your pros and cons.  I realize that there is a lot of printing and cutting with PP but I’d like more info beyond that if possible.

 How is the history?  Interesting or dry?  How much time does it honestly take you to complete? Does it seem rushed?  Is it easy or hard to teach?  Etc.   We start school next week!  ?‍♀️

[Bay Lake Mom]

I haven’t used Project Passport, but I have looked into it.  My 10 yo is using Notgrass Uncle Sam & You this year. They are completely different approaches to learning. 

How does your child learn best?

If your child learn easier by using their hands, doing activities, and you have the time to invest, then Project Passport might be for you.  Also, it sounds like this only focuses on Ancient Egypt.

If your child wants to be more independent, and learns well by reading and completing one or more activities, then go with Notgrass.  This will teach a wider range of world history.  

 

[KrissiK]

We’re using Nottgrass. This is my second child on From Adam to Us. I think it is a great curriculum. It is well laid out, the pictures are gorgeous, the activities are more than just comprehension questions. And there are lessons that have more than a lot of typical history books. One lesson was about Iceland. When’s the last time you learned about Iceland? They also had a lesson on the Silk Road.  I learned a lot when DS was going through it. Now DD is, and she’s doing it all independently, so i’m Missing out on that. I also like that they have an extra book “Our Creative World” which is primary source material. They have artifacts, letters, etc. that go with the lessons.  They also have family projects that can be done. One of the first ones was an International Dinner. We raided the frozen food section of the grocery store that day and had all kinds of crazy things for supper.

Edited September 7, 2018 by KrissiK

[Andromeda]

These resources are very, very different. It's difficult to recommend one over the other. It depends on your and your kids' interests and how much time you are willing to put into printing, collecting resources, and managing all the projects.

We completed Colonial Life, which I believe is from the Project Passport series. It is beautifully done, and the giant box of completed projects I have really does look good. However. It took sooooo long to just print things out. The instructions went something like this: using dark green card stock, print page 4 on the back of page 1. I often get the orientation wrong for the printer tray, so I would have to print things more than once because one page was upside down, or I printed page 5 on the back of page 1 instead of page 4. You can't just print it all at once even if you are using all white paper or card stock and your printer has duplex capabilities. Each page is a different PDF file, unless things have changed since I used this product.

You need to find many different supplies. For instance, we did a small (fits into a standard binder) straw-filled "mattress" (muslin fabric). For that I needed to find some clean craft straw, but a very small amount. I didn't want to just pick up stuff from outdoors because the craft would be stored with our papers. So if you buy craft straw, what do you do with the rest of the bag? It's like that for other supplies, too.

Our projects turned out very nicely, but after this thing I am so crafted out. It's been a few years, and even though I sometimes check the creator's website for new things, I haven't bought any more. There is so much printing, organizing, cutting, gluing, taping, coloring, folding, etc. I enjoy all these things, but the product was mainly on me to keep going, even though my kids happily went along.

We also have and enjoy using Notgrass products. We haven't done the family projects or the craft projects (still crafted out, see above ?), but the format works far better for me. My kids would happily use either Notgrass or Project Passport, btw.

 

[alisoncooks]

We've used a few products from Homeschool in the Woods. I liked them; my kids...not so much. My kids do NOT want any part of cutting/pasting/coloring. None of it. Plus, it is a lot of prep work. 

This year we're using Notgrass AtB...and I don't love it. It seems very unconnected/disjointed. I do like that everything is laid out each day. My kids caught me researching a new history program but they said they wanted to stick with Notgrass. Fine. ? I suppose I can suffer through it, if they like it. 

[ktgrok]

12 hours ago, KrissiK said:

We’re using Nottgrass. This is my second child on From Adam to Us. I think it is a great curriculum. It is well laid out, the pictures are gorgeous, the activities are more than just comprehension questions. And there are lessons that have more than a lot of typical history books. One lesson was about Iceland. When’s the last time you learned about Iceland? They also had a lesson on the Silk Road.  I learned a lot when DS was going through it. Now DD is, and she’s doing it all independently, so i’m Missing out on that. I also like that they have an extra book “Our Creative World” which is primary source material. They have artifacts, letters, etc. that go with the lessons.  They also have family projects that can be done. One of the first ones was an International Dinner. We raided the frozen food section of the grocery store that day and had all kinds of crazy things for supper.

Yup. I held off using Notgrass for a long time, because they are more conservative Christian than I am, by far. And the son I was using it for first was an agnostic. But...it's so well done. SOOOOO easy to use. And the darned kid learned - which I can't say for much else we tried. I'm using their new elementary program now, Our Star Spangled Story, and held my breath as we read the section on Columbus and spanish conquistadors. Much to my relief they actually did talk about, in an age appropriate way, the mistreatment of the native people by the conquistadors. I was shocked. The material Memoria Press had us reading did NOT, at all. (one of many reasons we aren't using them anymore for history). The Notgrass book also several times used the works "enslaved people" which is the preferred term now, as opposed to slaves. (less dehumanizing). Again, color me impressed!!!!

And the extra lit books are usually great, the one we are reading now is PERFECTLY at my DD's level, and she is loving it. And the primary source stuff they include is also amazing. And the pictures!!! 

So yeah, I'm a HUGE Notgrass fan. Some people do the curriculum over two years, to add in more projects/documentaries/etc, so keep that in mind as well. 

[ksr5377]

On 9/7/2018 at 9:56 PM, Ktgrok said:

Yup. I held off using Notgrass for a long time, because they are more conservative Christian than I am, by far. And the son I was using it for first was an agnostic. But...it's so well done. SOOOOO easy to use. And the darned kid learned - which I can't say for much else we tried. I'm using their new elementary program now, Our Star Spangled Story, and held my breath as we read the section on Columbus and spanish conquistadors. Much to my relief they actually did talk about, in an age appropriate way, the mistreatment of the native people by the conquistadors. I was shocked. The material Memoria Press had us reading did NOT, at all. (one of many reasons we aren't using them anymore for history). The Notgrass book also several times used the works "enslaved people" which is the preferred term now, as opposed to slaves. (less dehumanizing). Again, color me impressed!!!!

This information is super helpful to me.  We are mainly using Memoria Press but classic history books are big no to me. I just found out about Notgrass and it looks so lovely, but this was a concern of mine.  Thank you for sharing the information.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

On 9/7/2018 at 9:56 PM, Ktgrok said:

Yup. I held off using Notgrass for a long time, because they are more conservative Christian than I am, by far. And the son I was using it for first was an agnostic. But...it's so well done. SOOOOO easy to use. And the darned kid learned - which I can't say for much else we tried. I'm using their new elementary program now, Our Star Spangled Story, and held my breath as we read the section on Columbus and spanish conquistadors. Much to my relief they actually did talk about, in an age appropriate way, the mistreatment of the native people by the conquistadors. I was shocked. The material Memoria Press had us reading did NOT, at all. (one of many reasons we aren't using them anymore for history). The Notgrass book also several times used the works "enslaved people" which is the preferred term now, as opposed to slaves. (less dehumanizing). Again, color me impressed!!!!

And the extra lit books are usually great, the one we are reading now is PERFECTLY at my DD's level, and she is loving it. And the primary source stuff they include is also amazing. And the pictures!!! 

So yeah, I'm a HUGE Notgrass fan. Some people do the curriculum over two years, to add in more projects/documentaries/etc, so keep that in mind as well. 

Thank you for posting this. We are starting Notgrass today - Exploring America and America the Beautiful. I almost didn’t go with it because I was concerned that it might have these issues. We are conservative Christians but I feel like most conservative Christian history curricula handle some of the messier bits of history somewhat dishonestly. I wanted that Christian perspective though and couldn’t find anything else I liked so I decided to go with Notgrass and then fill in the other details myself. It’s nice to know that I may not have to do that too much - especially since history is one of my weaker subjects. 

[ktgrok]

On 9/10/2018 at 9:02 AM, 2ndGenHomeschooler said:

Thank you for posting this. We are starting Notgrass today - Exploring America and America the Beautiful. I almost didn’t go with it because I was concerned that it might have these issues. We are conservative Christians but I feel like most conservative Christian history curricula handle some of the messier bits of history somewhat dishonestly. I wanted that Christian perspective though and couldn’t find anything else I liked so I decided to go with Notgrass and then fill in the other details myself. It’s nice to know that I may not have to do that too much - especially since history is one of my weaker subjects. 

The only issue we had with Exploring America was questions like, "if the law and the Bible disagree, which should you follow?" My son, being an agnostic, had a very different answer than in the answer key, lol. So we skipped those. 

Since you are Christian, shouldn't be a problem. 

(I'm Christian, but his father was Buddhist, and DS19 is agnostic)

[ktgrok]

This is a quote from Our Star Spangled Story, the one for grades 1-4. 

"Many of the Spanish caused great pain and suffering for people living in the Caribbean Islands. They killed some of the islanders in battles. They enslaves some islanders. Other islanders died of diseases they caught from the Spanish."

I personally find that age appropriate for the grades it is designated for. 

My only quibble so far is with this line at the end of the lesson, "The native people of the New World needed the Gospel of Jesus Christ." My faith teaches that even those who never hear the Gospel can be saved, if they act according to the moral compass inside of them, put there by God. So I explained that to my kids. 

It then goes on to say, " Some Europeans loved them and shared the gospel with them. Others acted shamefully. Each of us has the choice each day to do right or to do wrong."

I do find that moralizing at the end of each lesson to be a bit heavy handed, and don't remember it as much from the older levels, but other than that I've been pleased. 

The elementary timeline book is incredible - it uses some of the same pictures that are in the textbook so my daughter could recognize them easily. And although it included the tower of Babel and Creation, it left those undated, which was perfect for us as old earth Christians. 

[KrissiK]

Oldest DS is doing Uncle Sam and You this year. He finally does like history since we’ve been doing Nottgrass. One thing that’s different about Uncle Sam... is that every five lessons they have a lesson on an American Holiday. Ok, he has totally gotten into it. The first one we read about was National Aviation Day and we found some videos about the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels, which has turned into a trip with his dad at the end of the month to a Big Air Show in Salinas. He is so excited about it. Yesterday they had a nice lesson on Patriot Day. And Tuesday we read about the beginning of Labor Day. (The holidays are in a special section at the end of the book, so you can choose when you do them). TBH, Nottgrass is not as rigorous as other curricula. At all. But, it is extremely high interest and so well-formatted.....we really just love it!

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, KrissiK said:

TBH, Nottgrass is not as rigorous as other curricula. At all. But, it is extremely high interest and so well-formatted.....we really just love it!

But it gets done, and they actually remember it. All the rigorous stuff we tried got forgotten instantly - it was like drinking from a firehose for my big kid. He couldn't pick out the important parts, and was totally overwhelmed (looking at you, SOTW, Hakim's History of Us, Sonlight, Bookshark, Etc). 

With Notgrass he GOT it. And finally had a real grasp of history. 

With my youngers it is so engaging that they ask a TON of questions, which leads to rabbit trails, looking stuff up, etc, so again, tons of learning. 

Edited September 12, 2018 by Ktgrok

[KrissiK]

21 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

But it gets done, and they actually remember it. All the rigorous stuff we tried got forgotten instantly - it was like drinking from a firehose for my big kid. He couldn't pick out the important parts, and was totally overwhelmed (looking at you, SOTW, Hakim's History of Us, Sonlight, Bookshark, Etc). 

With Notgrass he GOT it. And finally had a real grasp of history. 

With my youngers it is so engaging that they ask a TON of questions, which leads to rabbit trails, looking stuff up, etc, so again, tons of learning. 

Totally agree. They remember it and that’s really what’s important. History is the only thing DS will bring up at the dinner table. Or anywhere for that matter.

[sbartow]

I realize this thread is a bit old but my son and I are finishing up America the Beautiful book 1 and I will say I really am enjoying and he is too. Some of the chapters he gets a little impatient with but for the most part he likes it. He asks to do history first every day and we both have enjoyed the readers. I will say that I didn’t notice at first that each chapter starts out with an overview which I find helpful and we’ve also incorporated some YouTube videos as well. It’s a really well done curriculum.