LitWits - A Crew Review

Well, this is it, my last Crew review of the year, and we're going out on a high note. Literature is a favorite subject of mine, and I'm especially fond of children's classics. As a homeschooling mom, I love sharing old and new favorites with my daughters. Happily, my girls are just as enthusiastic about books as I am. The only downside to discovering a new read is when we get to the last page. We never want a good story to end. Sometimes, the girls and I talk about what life would be like if we lived a life like the characters in a favorite book. What if we could experience what they experienced? Well, while that isn't possible, we can certainly make a sort of study that provides a glimpse of the time period, culture, events and more, thanks to LitWits . They provided us with several of their LitWits Kits to use and review.

We were offered 4 different kits. We chose:
All of a Kind Family
Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Tom Sawyer

I'm so excited about our selections! For this review, we worked through our favorite of favorites, so far at least, All of a Kind Family. These kits were created as a part of experiential workshops that the founders would present, providing a multi sensory experience for students. Each kit provides suggestions for hands on activities that will relate to a specific book. In any given kit you'll get ideas for:

- Items relevant to the time period of the book for prop boxes
- Traditional music from the time period of the book to listen to
- Foods to make and eat that are relevant to the book, culture, time period of the book
- Traditional games to play
- Puzzles to complete
- Art projects
- Skits

These kits were designed for group use, so you may need to adjust certain activities to make them work for individual or small group use. Then again, if you have a large family, or use these in a co-op setting, they might be just right as is. I completed activities with my 14 year old, and we did just fine. These are probably more suited to a younger age of students, maybe elementary up to 8th grade. So, my daughter was definitely on the older side for these, but you know what? When you love certain pieces of literature, it's fun to include a hands on experience that stretches the learning, no matter the age. So there, lol.

When you purchase a kit, you get a pdf that has approximately 30-40 pages of activities. In addition to the pdf, you then also have access to the web page of that kit for the lifetime of the company. Nice. The pdf's are well organized, and are divided into the following sections:
- Welcome
- Overview
- Prop ideas
- Hands on fun
- Book bites, which is a food activity, so you can "taste the story"
- Takeaways - this might be a study of events of the time, the culture, political climate, etc.
- Handouts - vocabulary, creative writing
- Learning links - provides additional resources for further study
- Copyright information
What is NOT included is the book for each kit. You will need to purchase that separately, or check it out from the library.

Mama has the girls find a button as they clean.

In the book, Papa has a cup with the name FATHER on it. This is the closest thing we have, ha!

So, as I said, All of a Kind Family is an absolute favorite for me and our daughters. Our copy of the book is well worn. We used a few of the suggested ideas, and then added a cooking activity. Backing up for a second, the book is about a young Jewish family in the early 1900's. They are made up of Mama, Papa, and their daughters, Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie. It's a lovely story of their life on the East side of New York City. As many stories of the time, it's a sweet, slow paced story that any age can enjoy, nothing graphic or objectionable.

A favorite chapter in All of a Kind Family.

Some old fashioned candy tasting.

My daughter's favorite part of the book is when the daughters visit the candy store. They describe the many candies that they might choose to buy, and it's always been fun to think about what an old fashioned candy store would look like. So, we chose one activity where we collected some old time-y candy, and displayed it in some little liners to enjoy while we read. I only wish I could have found a little scoop to use with them to serve.

Letting the Challah rise before baking.

Pretty! And so good!

The family is Jewish, so there are ideas for traditional objects and foods to collect and study. There was a photo of Challah bread, and we decided to make our own loaf. C loved that, as she is the budding chef in the family. I think she did a very nice job with the braiding, too. It was really good!

We will be continuing with the other kits this Fall and Winter. In fact, I'm going to make them our Literature curriculum. I'm just going to add a few more complex studies, and include some writing exercises. Here are some of the activities that we're looking forward to trying in each of the other kits we have:

- Anne of Green Gables
We'll make a "gaudy" slate pencil for sure, since we like crafty projects, as well as the collaging, which I love to do! We'll try our hand at a homemade angel food cake too. Since I want to make this a major part of the curriculum, we'll be using the worksheets, which includes a breakdown of the story, and some creative writing and essay work.

Mmm, angel food cake  as we study Anne of Green Gables.

-Little Women
I listed this second, but we'll likely do this before Anne of Green Gables. It looks like we'll be in time to see the new movie version that comes out soon, although I'll have them read the book first, which I think is always better than film versions. I like the props suggested in this kit for a pretty tablescape. We'll also try our hand at sketching, and perhaps some watercolors too.  I also love the idea of writing to soldiers to encourage them, so that's on the schedule too. We'll include the worksheets and writing as with the others.

What a pretty tablescape for Little Women. 

- Tom Sawyer
Like I did with the other kits, I love the prop table for this book. There is a book cover to make where students make a whitewashed fence that looks like a fun project. I think we'll also need to make Aunt Becky's wedding cake. Again, we'll include the academic handouts to round out our study.

Make an ink stained book like the one in Tom Sawyer.

I am so excited about these kits! They are a great way to inspire a love for books, hopefully even for reluctant readers. The multi learning approach offers activities for every learning style. Families with children that span various ages will be able to use this with everyone. I can't say enough about how we enjoy these, and I hope you'll consider them for your school and/or co-op.

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