seemesew Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 I have been researching what to use next year for my 8 and 5 year-old while the older kids do their own history/science and I ran across "Passport to Adventures" from The Waldock way and I'm a little excited about it! It uses the Magic Treehouse books as a base for a history and science curriculum. https://www.thewaldockway.com/product/passport-to-adventures/ However, one of the reviews on TPT (its is sold on her site and TPT) said it wasn't as full as they thought it would be and I'm wondering if I'd like it... I don't mind adding things that I find but if I have to do all the work I'm not interested in that. I want a well thought out guideline, borderline tells me what to do each day/week. If you haven't l heard of it would you look into it and see what you think? DO you think I'd be just as well off making my own study using the books? It is $40 which isn't a ton of money for a year but still its money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 Do Magic Treehouse books have staying power in your family? Because your kids may or may not like having to "dig deep" with the Magic Treehouse books all year. What if they don't like the characters? What if they read the books in a day but don't want to revisit them for extension activities? I would trial making a unit study out of a 2 or 3 MT books to see if it's an approach and a series that you guys even enjoy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraClark Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 57 minutes ago, mathmarm said: Do Magic Treehouse books have staying power in your family? Because your kids may or may not like having to "dig deep" with the Magic Treehouse books all year. What if they don't like the characters? What if they read the books in a day but don't want to revisit them for extension activities? I would trial making a unit study out of a 2 or 3 MT books to see if it's an approach and a series that you guys even enjoy. My kids don't like the magic tree house books, so just seconding this: I would make sure your kids like the books before doing a whole curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 I just looked at it. It would not have done well in our house, especially as a promise to cover 3 subjects. The sample schedule :read chapters, read non-fiction book, vague "do activity/watch video/do worksheet" means a couple of things to me: 1. This is a sit down curriculum (strike 1 here) 2. The materials are not integrated into each other beyond a common theme. There's no matching of activity to what is actually going on in the spine at that time. 3. There's a lack of guidance for discussion or focus. It is an "okay" program, but when compared with similar ones: Story of The World, Moving Beyond The Page, Five In A Row, or even Homeschool Share units, it doesn't have the same put together feel and guidance for weeks when you don't have time to create all those individual connections yourself. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 One of my kids took a co-op class based around the Magic Treehouse books - they'd read the book at home and maybe parts of it in class (I don't remember - it was years ago) one week and do an intro to the topic and then the next week they'd do a bunch of extension activities - videos, hands-on projects, etc. Kid loved it, but that kid also read the whole series on their own. I'd sometimes pull a Magic Treehouse book as an intro to a topic, and kid thought that was fun. My other kid didn't like it, but they were philosophically opposed to reading anything that I picked out so I'm not sure that the books were the problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 My kids just read them for fun. We would talk about what they read, and sometimes it would lead to a look in an encyclopedia or another book to keep that spark going. But most of the time, they would finish a book and want the next one in the series. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seemesew Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, mathmarm said: Do Magic Treehouse books have staying power in your family? Because your kids may or may not like having to "dig deep" with the Magic Treehouse books all year. What if they don't like the characters? What if they read the books in a day but don't want to revisit them for extension activities? I would trial making a unit study out of a 2 or 3 MT books to see if it's an approach and a series that you guys even enjoy. This is a great point! Maybe I can do some this year before committing to doing it all next year. My 8 year-ol does like them but enough for a year I guess I don't know. and If I buy them I want to use them for the year so I don't buy anything else. Edited January 28, 2022 by seemesew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seemesew Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 7 hours ago, HomeAgain said: I just looked at it. It would not have done well in our house, especially as a promise to cover 3 subjects. The sample schedule :read chapters, read non-fiction book, vague "do activity/watch video/do worksheet" means a couple of things to me: 1. This is a sit down curriculum (strike 1 here) 2. The materials are not integrated into each other beyond a common theme. There's no matching of activity to what is actually going on in the spine at that time. 3. There's a lack of guidance for discussion or focus. It is an "okay" program, but when compared with similar ones: Story of The World, Moving Beyond The Page, Five In A Row, or even Homeschool Share units, it doesn't have the same put together feel and guidance for weeks when you don't have time to create all those individual connections yourself. Wow! This is great insight! I hadn't noticed any of that but now I can see it, thank you! I'll have to think if that will be something I will like or not...probably not, but at least now I can reread it with new eyes and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seemesew Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 5 hours ago, lmrich said: My kids just read them for fun. We would talk about what they read, and sometimes it would lead to a look in an encyclopedia or another book to keep that spark going. But most of the time, they would finish a book and want the next one in the series. I had though of that, my older kids devoured them so quick and didn't want to wait for me to read "for school" so that would probably be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seemesew Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 5 hours ago, Clemsondana said: One of my kids took a co-op class based around the Magic Treehouse books - they'd read the book at home and maybe parts of it in class (I don't remember - it was years ago) one week and do an intro to the topic and then the next week they'd do a bunch of extension activities - videos, hands-on projects, etc. Kid loved it, but that kid also read the whole series on their own. I'd sometimes pull a Magic Treehouse book as an intro to a topic, and kid thought that was fun. My other kid didn't like it, but they were philosophically opposed to reading anything that I picked out so I'm not sure that the books were the problem. Hahaha, I can totally see that 😂 I have a one of those too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneGG Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 (edited) We used it for a month before I decided it wasn’t worth the effort for *us.* It is not just the cost of the Passport to Adventure guide, it’s $20-100 for all the extras every week. I couldn’t keep up. I can search for books at the library and Pinterest activities on my budget with or without the guide. Furthermore, you can find much better worksheets/copywork/ templates on TPT for cheaper. I have some specific packs for books I anticipated DS loving and a general use with any MTH book pack. Bookish Violet was the TPT seller I believe. We did not end up doing a timeline but I had planned to use pictures of the book covers and have DS stick them on. The Magic Tree House books started driving us nuts after awhile. Jack said Annie said. Said said said said!!! Ahhhh!!🤪 Edited January 28, 2022 by AnneGG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seemesew Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 On 1/28/2022 at 3:20 PM, AnneGG said: We used it for a month before I decided it wasn’t worth the effort for *us.* It is not just the cost of the Passport to Adventure guide, it’s $20-100 for all the extras every week. I couldn’t keep up. I can search for books at the library and Pinterest activities on my budget with or without the guide. Furthermore, you can find much better worksheets/copywork/ templates on TPT for cheaper. I have some specific packs for books I anticipated DS loving and a general use with any MTH book pack. Bookish Violet was the TPT seller I believe. We did not end up doing a timeline but I had planned to use pictures of the book covers and have DS stick them on. The Magic Tree House books started driving us nuts after awhile. Jack said Annie said. Said said said said!!! Ahhhh!!🤪 Haha, I can see that! Your other things are what I was most worried about, that I would end up spending more and then be doing it myself. I think you guys have officially talked me out of buying it 😉 I can easily make my own its sounds like, or find something else I like better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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