Our family decided that we wanted to review Rebecca Locklear’s mini curriculum book Exploring the U.S. Life-Saving Service 1878-1915 : 17 Student Workshops with 120 Activities. We like to learn about history so this was an exciting thing to be able to review. This book with the activities goes through different stories about lifesaving in 1878-1915 and allows you to learn about the times in a different way.
What kinds of activities can you expect
There are a lot of different activities in this book. Some of the things that you will find are backing and cooking activities. I think that these are absolutely genius because it allows the children to get really involved in something and it brings the past into the now. There’s nothing quite like cooking something that they cooked long ago to bring you back in time. It allows you to fill your kitchen with the scents of the past, you are truly smelling what they smelled. It allows you to taste the things that they tasted. For a few moments, it is like you are like in the early 1900s as you enjoy the gingerbread or Fish Hash!
Another great activity is the “Art Show” type activity and the photo card activity. I like these because they allow the children to see pictures of what you are learning about. I think that this is a neat way to present the photos instead of just having them in the book or on the table. I also like that there are YouTube videos provided about LifeSaving. My eldest son is a very visual learner so this is always important for us.
What do my kids think?
Kayden (Gr 4) – “I think that this was interesting. I like the stories. I liked the story about skunks.”
Emily (Gr 1) – “I didn’t really like the stories, I wasn’t interested. I did like the cooking though, I like that.”
Who do I think that this would be good for?
I think that if your child has an interest in LifeSaving, boat life, or American History this might be a good option for you. I think that it definitely helps if the student already has an interest in one of these things. This would be a great option for families that have multiple homeschool students that are in late elementary or early middle school. They would be able to do the activities and reading together and it would add another element of fun.
More!
You can find more books by Rebecca Locklear on the website. She has writen things like “Word Archeology: Digging Up Latin and Greek Roots” and The Mayflower at Cape Cod
You can buy print copies of these books from Amazon and printable copies from Teachers Pay Teachers.
Exploring the U.S. Life-Saving Service AND The Mayflower at Cape Cod
Hard Copy: $19.95 USD
Printable: $10.50 USD
To stay up to date with Rebecca Locklear you can sign up for her emails here, http://www.rebeccalocklear.com/contact/
You can find more reviews from other CREW members by clicking the picture below.
