Evan-Moor History Pockets : Product Review
Evan-Moor History Pockets are one of the first resources we purchased when we began homeschooling 6 years ago. We grabbed these interactive workbooks in hopes they would help spice up our history lessons with Amelia. Years later, we are still using our Evan-Moor History Pockets and have purchased additional editions over the years to coordinate with our history curriculum.
When we first started using the History Pockets, we were using the Native Americans edition. Amelia was only in 1st grade so we were just touching on the topic in history. She wasn’t very interested in listening to the textbook being read aloud so I wanted to find something she could work on while I read to her.
I came across Evan-Moor History Pockets and introduced the workbook to her. Together we set up her first history pocket booklet. After completing the first pocket together, she was hooked! She loved the interactive pages and she was very proud of the finished product.
We use and love so many titles by Evan-Moor (you can see our reviews on other Evan-Moor Products) and History Pockets are by far one of our favorites. I wanted to share a little on how the Evan-Moor History Pockets work, how we incorporate them into our history lessons, and why we love using them for homeschooling.
What Are Evan-Moor History Pockets?
History Pockets are an interactive way to explore historical events and time periods. Each book covers a specific topic or era and includes a mixture of writing projects, vocabulary, recipes, bookmarks, art projects, mapping activities, evaluation forms, and more.
Each History Pocket edition is designed to allow the student to create a History Pocket portfolio as they learn about that specific topic. I am a huge lover of unit studies and lapbooks and Evan-Moor History Pockets fits perfectly with our homeschooling style.
I will say, it seems like a lot of work at first – gathering your supplies, cutting and gluing your booklet together, copying and cutting out the parts – but once you get the idea of how it all comes together it’s actually a lot of fun to create.
Shop History Pockets
Each completed History Pocket portfolio will have anywhere from 7 to 11 pockets which focus on a different aspect or category within the topic. For example, the Native American edition features different tribes, the Life in Plymouth Colony edition has pockets titled “Building a Village”, “The Family”, “Working in Plymouth Colony”.
The kids will cut out many of the components and glue them into the pocket or onto cardstock or construction paper. There are several items to color or complete. Also included are short informational pages that they can decorate and you can read together.
I suggest using the 12″x18″ construction paper for the pockets. We simply fold over the sheet to create the pocket and glue the sides down. Then we attach the pockets together using yarn or binder rings. This saves lots of time when setting up your booklet.
There are also some recipes and additional activities that require other supplies or prep work. We skipped a few of these activities for time reasons and filled them in later.
Supplies You’ll Need for History Pockets
- Construction paper (we like the 12×18)
- Glue sticks
- Scissors
- Colored Pencils
- Crayons
- Yarn or Binder Rings
Evan-Moor History Pocket Titles
The titles available for Grades 1-3
The titles available for Grades 4-6
- Ancient Egypt
- Colonial America
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient Rome
- Explorers of North America
- Moving West
- The American Civil War
- The American Revolution
My Thoughts on Evan-Moor History Pockets
Overall, we love using the History Pockets. It adds just enough hands-on activity to our read-aloud time and allows the girls something to discuss further. Many times we have talked about something mentioned in one of the pockets and used that to follow a rabbit trail for further learning.
There is also a Words to Know section that will allow the kids to create a vocabulary flipbook or dictionary. This has been great for us because we add to it as we continue our lessons. Over time we end up accumulating flipbooks for each time period, location or event that we study.
I love that these are easy to pick up and start working in quickly. Other than having the supplies handy, there isn’t much prep work to the pockets. The additional activities and recipes may require some extra time and planning but you can always come back to those later or skip them completely.
We usually complete a History Pocket over a 2 week period. This gives us plenty of time to discuss the information and dive further into the topic if we want.
History Pockets will pair well with your current history curriculum. They are a perfect companion to use alongside a complete history program or as an extension activity. You could even easily use a history pocket to help create your own unit studies or in place of a lapbook.
Helpful tips for using Evan-Moor History Pockets
Purchase the e-book version
Unless you are dead set on having the physical copy of the book, I suggest purchasing the e-book copy. Once I realized that with the e-book copy I can just print the pages as we work on each pocket it cut the prep time to hardly any time at all.
Plus, if you are homeschooling multiple children, you’ll be able to reprint the pages as needed year after year. This was a gamechanger for our family as we like to revisit the history pockets every few years.
Once you have the e-book version, you can save it in your homeschool toolbox for years to come – which is going to save money in your homeschool budget when you realize later on that you need more activities geared around a certain time period or historic event
Make the pockets ahead of time
If you have older kids, you may not need to do this. However, if you have younger kids you may want to create the pockets ahead of time. This will save a little bit of time and allow the kids to jump right into the lesson.
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