March 17, 2007

Time Warp Trio

I came across a site a couple of days ago that I really liked. Most of you have probably already heard of it, but I'm blogging about it anyway just in case. It is a kid-friendly history site called "Time Warp Trio" that is based on a Discovery Kids Channel show. We don't have cable, so I had never heard of the show before. The show is based on a book series by John Scieszka, author of "Math Curse," one of our favorite living math books.

The website has information, interactive games, activities, lesson plans, book recommendations, and website links for the time periods of each of the adventures. I am especially impressed with the Lesson Plans, and Books and Links sections of the site. The lesson plans contain historical background information, a couple of activities, and the same book and link recommendations at the Books and Links page of the site. The activities also list the curriculum standards covered.

The books sound a bit like the Magic Tree House series. Apparently, there is a book that causes people to be able to travel back (or forward) in time. I assume that the book is "magic" in case that is a concern for any families. The books are for ages 7-11 and look especially boy-friendly. I just checked out "See You Later, Gladiator!" from the library. Maybe I can talk one of my sons into reviewing it.

The author, Jon Szieszka, also has a website called "Guys Read," which is basically a boy-friendly searchable book list. You can search by favorite book title, favorite author, or subject. I searched for books about the Romans and the search generated 154 titles, many of which were excellent, some of which I had never heard of, and others I wouldn't recommend. The site does look like it could be helpful for parents who are willing to do a little research on the recommendations.

That's all for now. I hope this is helpful to someone.

~Andrea

3 comments:

  1. Richie is reading the book "See You Later Gladiator" He says he likes it. I really liked the lesson plans they offered for learning about gladiators.



    *Kristie*

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  2. I have just recently heard of the Time Warp Trio books and haven't had a chance to look at them yet but will have to go and check out your link to the website.

    My son LOVES the Magic Tree House book series and in addition to the regular books in the series there are about 10 of them that are actually written to be used as unit studies with factual information in them and more. Another thing that I came across to go with the Magic Tree House books if you interested is that the HomeSchoolEstore.com has book studies to go along with each of the books in the series. I just purchased one to try out and my son is really enjoying it. For each chapter there are 2 questions to answer and then there are fun sheets to do, like unscrambling words, using the new words they have learned by using them in sentences they have to create, drawing pictures to go along with different sections of the stories and more : )

    Blessings,

    BChsMamaof3

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  3. Oooooo more books lists and cool websites! I love love LOVE book lists! Especially now that I'm HSing a couple of boys (my older two are girls) and locating boy books are now kind of a priority. Thanks for sharing!


    Eagerly awaiting your TOG updates! :)

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