Homeschool Curriculum Review: My Favorite Homeschool Unit Study: A World of Adventure.
In this blog post, I am reviewing one of my favorite homeschool unit studies: A World of Adventure by Learning Adventures. This is a literature-based unit study based on a historical time period that includes almost every subject for 4th through 8th grade students for an entire year of homeschool. Does that sound like something you’d like to know more about? Let’s dive in!
Learning Adventures Homeschool Unit Studies: An Overview
Learning Adventures is a complete full – year unit study curriculum based on a time period in history. Currently they offer 3 volumes. Each volume contains 180 days of scripted lesson plans. The first volume is A World of Adventure (which is the one I used with my children) It covers the ancient world through age of exploration which I believe is the 1600s. There are 6 individual units that make up the entire one-year study. One on ancient Egypt, then one on Ancient Greece, the next on Ancient Rome, then the Middle Ages, the renaissance, and the age of exploration. Learning Adventures covers all subjects except math.
Volume 2 covers the colonies in the US through the revolutionary war and beyond. Volume 3 is called Westward and Onward and covers “Life in the Colonies, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, study of Thomas Jefferson, spotlight study of France, etc.
All units include Bible, language arts/literacy, social studies, science and fine arts.
Learning Adventure volumes are geared toward 4th through 8th grades. If you have more than one child in this range, you could teach them at the same time with the same curriculum. As a matter of fact, while I used this with my oldest, and I honestly don’t remember what grade he was in, (it was somewhere between 4th and 6th grade) I should’ve went back and looked through my records, anyway, while I was using this with my oldest, I still included the younger in most of the art projects and reading the literature and bible stories.
Learning Adventures Unit Studies: My Recommendations
There are some books and other items that are required when using Learning Adventures homeschool unit studies. To start with, you need the required literature books. You can either buy them, as they are fairly inexpensive paperback books, or you can check them out from the library as long as you can borrow them for the time frame needed.
You will also need to purchase some extra items or materials for art projects. If I remember correctly, there wasn’t anything too expensive. We were a one-income family at the time, so I wouldn’t have been able to afford any extravagant extras.
You can go to the learning adventures website and see sample pages from the volumes and see all the topics covered in each one. You can purchase the student pages to make the assignments a little easier to complete. They also offer a game for volume 1 to help with reviewing the information learned.
So, for a whole year’s worth of curriculum, you will spend about $150 or less and that includes the student pages and game for volume 1. You would need the required literature as mentioned above and some art supplies and maybe some simple science supplies as well. If finances are an issue, you can purchase items as needed throughout the year instead of buying everything up front for the entire year.
Learning Adventures Homeschool Unit Study, A World of Adventure: My Experience.
Now that I have told you what Learning Adventures unit studies are, I can tell you about my experience with volume one which is called A World of Adventure. This is the one that covers Ancient times through the age of exploration.
In short, I really loved this curriculum! I have seen lots of other homeschool unit studies that require or recommend lots extra books and materials. While Learning Adventures does have some required resources it is far less than other unit studies. Most of what you need in already included in the Learning Adventures volumes. In my opinion, the lessons were appropriate for the grades recommended, and it really did make learning fun for my son and other children. I liked that they could all join in on the literature if I read aloud and some of the art and science projects. I specifically remember the vocabulary and spelling exercises from the curriculum that were based on the lessons and literature that we were reading. This helped tie everything together.
I specifically remember my children making a plaster relief. (See the picture of my son holding this project and giving himself bunny ears above. LOL!)
For literature, some might think that there should be more reading, and some might think it’s just enough. As with any curriculum you are in control. You could add more reading if you find your child needs more.
I loved how it truly is an all-in-one curriculum! It really does include a year’s worth of lessons in all the subjects except math. The bible studies/lessons were well written, and my children memorized a lot of scripture.
So, if you like the idea of a literature-based unit study with 180 days of scripted lesson plan, and a curriculum that contains everything you need except for math, you should consider Learning Adventures homeschool unit studies.
Why Did We Only Use One Volume of Learning Adventures Homeschool Curriculum if It Was So Great?
You may be wondering, If I liked this homeschool curriculum so much, why did I only use one volume? That’s an easy question to answer. They only had one volume completed at the time. I was pretty disappointed when we finished volume one and the second volume had not been completed yet. I really did want to continue using this curriculum, but it just wasn’t to be. So, we had to move on to something else.
If you want to check out the Learning Adventures homeschool unit studies for yourself, go to their website here.
I also want to make sure you all know that I am not affiliated with Learning adventures, and I gain nothing from recommending their books except to help you find a great curriculum that would work for your family. If you have children in the 4th through 8th grade range, this could be your next homeschool adventure!
If you decide to purchase a Learning Adventures homeschool unit study, I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment or message me on Facebook or Instagram. You can also email me @ mary@whatabouthomeschooling.com.
When you purchase from Learning Adventures you are also supporting a small family-owned business!
~”…and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.” Prov. 16:21
Wishing you all the best!
~Mary