Ticket to Learning – a new curriculum! And you know that I love to discover new curricula options. Laura from Ticket to Learning reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to review her new curriculum. Of course! Say no more!
She sent me the Activity Box and access to the Digital Files for the unit “Light Comes to Shadow Mountain”. I have been able to explore the unit and now I get to provide my thoughts.
Ticket to Learning is built on a strong conviction that our world is full of beauty and diversity. We know it’s not possible for everyone to travel the world or for any of us to jump back in time, but through great books, we can experience the next best thing.
Ticket To Learning launched its first product, a unit called “Light Comes to Shadow Mountain”, for ages 8-12 and based on the book of the same name. In it you will explore the beautiful Appalachian region of the United States of America with Cora Tipton and her family during The Great Depression. Your children will also learn about electricity, electrical circuits and the electric grid, herbalism, depression and mental health, and journalism. It is ideally for ages 8-12, but you could accommodate older or younger children with some tweaks or changes.
KEY FEATURES:
- Literature based – the unit draws on strong literature that will hopefully promote discussion
- It draws from a number of different styles and philosophies of learning, so it really is for everyone.
- A great mix of reading, writing and hands-on activities. They are all designed to work together to bring the unit to life.
- It is almost a fully-complete unit subject wise. It does have some fun math activities but you would need to add a math curriculum for completion.
- You can do the unit as a whole or can use what you like from it. The unit can be done in about 6 weeks or can be stretched to 11 weeks. If you are doing it as an 11 week option, it would probably be more as an addition to the curriculum you are currently using (though I would personally use it as an 11 week curriculum as I feel that it contains a lot of great activities and the potential to really go deep).
- The activity box (more on that later) has the materials for the key activities provided. You will still need to provide a few more things, but it is wonderful to have so many resources provided for you.
- The Adventure Guide has all the lesson information, additional resources and information and allows you to pick up and go.
- Ticket to Learning is a secular curriculum, but it does not shy away from discussion about religion, as it fits with the text or lesson.
What is in the adventure guide?
The Adventure Guide is the teacher’s guide. It has the details for each lesson, along with additional activities. The main components are Watch It – a video selection, Do It – a couple of activities for the lesson, Think and Consider – deep discussion questions, and a Vocab list. It also has additional books, websites, unit studies, and more to dive even deeper into topics of interest, planning pages and sample schedules and a master Book List with all of the book recommendations arranged by target age group.
It is very thorough and very detailed. You can get it as a digital version, or you could choose to purchase a printed copy.
You also get the printable resources and worksheets.
Your online profile will have all of these as well as links and resources by lesson. This is super helpful.
Free samples of the first 3 lessons are available online.
What is in the language guide?
The language guide is a thorough Language Arts curriculum. It contains reading comprehension, vocabulary worksheets, word work and grammar, handwriting and copywork and games for vocabulary.
A free sample of the vocabulary game card pack is available online.
What is in the activity box?
The box for this unit came with what we needed for the main activities – including a bag of soil to plant the seeds! This was wonderful.
This specific box (as there will be future units) has:
- Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo, a hardback book
- Jack Tales: Folk Tales from the Southern Appalachians, a paperback book of Appalachian Jack Tales
- Two Reporter’s notebooks with press passes and pens
- Herbal Kit including everything needed to grow your own calendula plants and to make an herbal salve. (You will need to provide 4 oz of olive oil.)
- Herbal Roots Zine: Calendula (mini printed version plus PDF)
- Electric Circuit Kit which includes everything you need to create three different paper circuits
- Embroidery Kit with enough supplies for 2 handkerchief projects
- Six Recipe Cards that make it easy to try some of the Appalachian dishes from Light Comes to Shadow Mountain
- An exclusive letter from the author, Toni Buzzeo
COST
The Activity pack with the digital resources (adventure and language guide) is $120 plus shipping. You can add on the printed Adventure Guide for $15.
The Elite package is $150 plus shipping. It contains all of the above plus 2 additional recommended resources that are your choice. You can add on the printed Adventure Guide for $15.
The digital pack of the adventure and language guides is $47. This would mean you need to purchase all supplies and books.
MY THOUGHTS
- As a debut unit, this is an amazing unit. It uses quality literature and the activities cover a variety of different learning styles, and hopefully will get children interested in pursuing these areas more. I found the activities to be engaging and fun, and allowed us to try new things (like embroidery).
- The activity guide is easy to follow, easy to read and allows you to be open-and-go.
- You really could use this unit as all your subjects but math, but if you want more science or history (and that can depend on what you need to meet according to your requirements, or even just what you would like to do) you can add to this. Ideas and recommended resources are provided for you. I love a unit that encompasses all subjects and this is done really well.
- You can adapt the unit to suit your children and your needs – you can add, or you can skip activities.
- Right now the main limitation is that there is only one unit. You would need 3-5 of them (depending on how long you spread out the unit) to complete one year of school.
- I look forward to seeing more units come out.
- If you are new to unit studies and would like to try one out, this would be a great one to start with.
Check out Ticket To Learning here.
You can also check out other reviews that I have done.
Gather ‘Round
Five In A Row
Layers of Learning
Beyond the Page (new name. Prior name “Moving Beyond the Page”)
