I had the opportunity to review a wonderful product that I had never seen before - Box of I.D.E.As. This company sends a box of learning to your doorstep (or a PDF file to download). It can be used as a unit study, a break from the regular routine, or as a supplement to something already being learned. The target age range is 9-16. They have a few different topics to choose from - World War II, Eleven (various events and topics where eleven is significant), salt, quilting, and laundry. They also have a variety of other topics in the works.
I received the Salt Box of I.D.E.As as a PDF file to review with my kids. The PDF file is $49.00. The physical box is $79.00 and comes complete with all consumable products. They also sell additional student modules for $4.00 of the consumables. The PDF tells you what and how many of each page needs printed out. I chose to simply read the facts to my kids from the computer so that I didn't waste ink or paper but printed out the activities. One of the activities was a matching game. I printed it out on card stock but lost two of the pages, so the kids didn't actually play the game. I tried to go over the information on the cards, though. I have a hard time with wasting ink. One of the other games had multiple choice questions on cards that needed to be printed out, so I just read them to my kids and had them try to answer the questions. For the reason of saving on ink, I would have liked to have the physical box.
There is SO much information about salt included in this Box of I.D.E.As. They have done a ton of research to put this study together. I have no doubt they have used the same amount of diligence with all of their modules. My middle child loves to fill his mind with facts and then share his learning with others. This study gave him a ton of facts.
This same child really enjoyed one of the first activities which had the kids look through the refrigerator or pantry for the sodium content of foods (or on a list that was provided in the PDF). We are all amazed by how much sodium was actually in the foods we were eating, but Nate made sure to continue the education days afterwards.
The lessons in this box are broke down into:
1. History of Salt
2. Language of Salt
3. Need for Salt
4. Preserving with Salt
5. Producing Salt
6. Science of Salt
7. The Salt March
8. The Salt of the Earth
9. The Wall that Salt Built
10. Very Salty
Each module, or chapter, has extensions for further learning. Simply because of the time we were working with, we did not do many of these extension activities. We did do some, however. They are very well thought out. They usually include a field trip of some sort (if it can be done in your area), some sort of a writing assignment, and research in order to answer some question. Other web sites are provided to allow the student to keep learning and are for science experiments and more fact gathering.
My kids learned a lot by doing this study. Nate kept asking to go back to it each day; that is how much he enjoyed it.
I don't like to use my own ink which is what is required with the PDF file. I would have preferred the hard copy. There are some absolutely gorgeous pictures provided for one of the last games, but my printer doesn't do photos very well. I would rather have the physical box if I were going to do one of their other studies. That way, too, it is all right there for me. I don't have to find something except for maybe some websites or prepare some field trips.
Again, I was amazed by the wealth of information contained in this study. This has been put together very, very well, and it is SO easy to use. I would definitely recommend one of these boxes.
If you have further questions about the salt box or any other boxes or what is included in them, you can reach Box of I.D.E.As at 1.330.506.9411 or by filling out their Contact Us page to ask.
If you would like to review what other TOS Homeschool reviewers are saying, please visit http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/786447/.
DISCLAIMER: I received this product free of charge in order to use it and provide an honest review.
