This week I am reviewing a resource for families and individuals with a love for history and learning about obscure people who’ve made a difference in the world. This resource comes in the form of “Learning Guides” that help you dive deep into the lives of these historical persons and lays out a teaching plan of fun projects, books, and other resources to enhance your learning experience. Each packet is formatted as a tour through a museum of history, thus rightly titled THE MARVEL MUSEUM.
The creator of this content, Allison G. Martin, says:
- These learning guides are designed for a family to learn as a unit, about each person presented in “The Marvel Museum.” (A new person is added to the museum each month.)
- “All the recommendations for reading or viewing are collected in one place to make it easy for parents (and individuals) to explore the extraordinary lives of these amazing people as a family and be encouraged to persevere and press on to accomplish their own goals and dreams.”
- “The Iconic life portion provides a quick overview of the person’s life so that either a parent (or an older child) can become a resident expert on the person at a quick glance and then dive in deeper.”
- It is a great resource for “a history buff who would like to learn more about lesser known figures of history.” These learning guides are designed to propel a deeper dive into each person’s life than you’ve ever seen anywhere before.
- “They are great for homeschool families, research reports, or as a personal study.” They are designed to be open and go with the study, but flexible enough to pick and choose areas of interests about that person.
Each packet comes with a table of contents that includes your Exhibit Guide, Behind the Velvet Rope, Meet the Icon, Fast Facts & Did you Know?, An Iconic Life, and Horizontal History. Timelines, Dive Deeper, and Rabbit Trails are included along with all resources.
See the sample Table of contents below along with more of what’s in each download.
Each individual packet stands alone. You can buy one or two that interest you, or you could buy them as they come out each month. I personally, am buying them as they come out and filling a notebook with them for my studies. These packets are developed in such a way to make learning history fun, and I love the motivational aspect of seeing how one person can change the course of history.
The packets available so far include:
- Robert Smalls – “Did you know? Robert successfully disguised himself as the captain he worked for, safely commandeered and delivered a Confederate steamship across enemy lines to the Union navy, and ensured the freedom of his family & fifteen other enslaved individuals on board.”
- Gyo Fujikawa – “Did you know? Gyo was the first American illustrator to depict mulitcultural children playing together in her picture book, Babies.”
- Hedy Lamarr – “Did you know? Hedy Lamarr… was a Jewish-Austrian actress who fled a Nazi-sympathizing husband for a fresh start in Hollywood. However, she was not just another pretty face. Hedy Lamarr was an inventor in her spare time and came up with the concept for frequency hopping as a way to help WWII torpedoes hit their mark without interference from the German navy.”
- Chester Nez – “Did you know? As a child, Chester Nez was sent away to a boarding school where he was forced to… speak only English….Despite these orders, Chester secretly kept the Navajo language alive in his heart….His ability to speak Navajo (a complicated oral language with no written counterpart) would play a key role in the U.S. victory in the Pacific during WWII, as Chester joined 29 other young men to become the first group of Navajo Code Talkers.” In his packet you can “Use the Code Key to create your own code using letters or pictures.”
- George Washington Carver – “Did you know? Although born into slavery, George Washington Carver’s perseverance and ingenuity would help him go on to become one of the most renowned scientists in the world.” (The Marvel Museum, creator, Allison G. Martin)
Check out the following examples from the packets. These are a very small sample of what is actually in each pack.
As you can see from these examples, each packet has projects to expand the learning process. You can pick and choose which ones you would like to do. In the Gyo Fujikawa packet, you can study color theory and color swatching, then create your own custom color palette for personal illustrations. There are templates to design your own stamp, as Gyo did. Each packet includes recommended books to read for more information about the individual at various reading levels including adults, along with other resources like movies to watch that go along with the history.
A new packet comes out each month and you can purchase them for $8.00 as a digital download from Allison’s Etsy Shop, CedarBranchPress by clicking on this link. At Allison’s Instagram link, you can follow along to learn more about each person. For the Instagram link go to @the.marvel.museum (or just click).You can also follow Allison on her YouTube channel here at This Enchanted Hour — for more information on homeschooling encouragement, curriculum reviews, and homeschool advice.
Whether you purchase a favorite historical person or all of them, you will not be disappointed. You will be very encouraged to see what others have done and know that you can do similar things to make a difference.
Have a great week!