Homeschooling with Unit Studies

Unit studies can be a wonderful way to homeschool different ages! They are also a great way to help your child really dive into a specialized interest.

If your child is interested in something, a unit study can be a great way to incorporate other related information that they might not have come across on their own. Plus, they are REALLY fun!

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So what is a unit study? A unit study is where you approach a topic from as many angles as possible. This leads to deeper learning because your child is getting a thorough grounding in the material and experiencing that subject in many different ways. 

For example, if your child expressed an interest in something such as ancient Egypt, you could create a unit study about that.

So how do you create a unit study? Just follow the steps!

1. Figure out your topic. Have your children expressed an interest in something? Do you find a certain topic fascinating and want to share your passion with your children? 

Can you use a subject that you were going to be studying anyway, such as a historical time period, a famous scientist, or a classic piece of literature?

2. The next step is to figure out how long you want your unit study to last. It can be anywhere from a day to several weeks.

After you know how long you want your unit study to be, you need to figure out how many hours you want to spend on the unit study per day.

What kinds of activities do you want to have each day? Do you want to have the same order of activities each day or make each day different?

3. Gather interesting books. Are you doing a unit study on a piece of literature? Then you probably only need the book you are studying.

However, you can always add in different books that go along with your main text. For example, if you were doing Charlotte's Web, you might want to add in some books about pigs and spiders, but Charlotte's Web would be your main text. 

If you were doing something with lots of recipes in it, like Little House in the Big Woods, you may want to get the Little House cookbook to go with it. 

If you are doing a unit study revolving around an artist or a historical time period, you will probably need more than one book. You are going to want books that are at different reading levels and depths so that all of your kids can learn on their own level. 

For preschool or early elementary you will probably want picture books. For late-elementary you would probably have easy chapter books (depending on their level). 

If you have junior high and high school age kids then you would definitely have longer novels. If the big kids want to sit and listen to the picture books, let them! A unit study is about family inclusion, so let them even if they are older.  

4. Once you figure out how many days you want to spend on your unit study you will need to figure out how many pages you will be reading a day.

First, figure out how many pages are in each book that you plan on using. Don't count things like the title page, table of contents, and index. Just count the pages you will be reading.

Then add the pages up and divide them by the number of days you are studying that topic. This will give you a solid number to help you stay on schedule.

If you have different ages that are reading different books, calculate the pages per day for each kid. This will give you a pretty good idea of how much time you will need to spend reading each day.

5. Since you already have your books out, now is the time to find related topics! Start by looking at the table of contents and the index. Does anything jump out at you?

You can also flip through the pages and make notes of any highlighted words. These can be a great source of ideas!

For example, if I was going to do a unit study on pirates, I might see things like pirate ships, sails, swords, sea battles, knot tying, etc. These are all topics that could serve as excellent rabbit trails or sub-units if the material was already available.

If you want to do any kind of copywork or vocabulary-building activities, now is the time to jot down ideas and page numbers so you have them ready to go when you begin. 

6. Find pictures that go along with your unit study. If you are doing a unit study revolving around an artist you would probably want to use art prints of the pictures they painted. You would also want a picture of the artist.

If you are studying a historical time period, you would want pictures of art, people, transportation, places of worship, architecture, maps, food, etc. You will most likely be able to find these in the books you are using, but if you wanted to hang pictures around the room during your unit you will need to either copy the pictures from the books or do a google search.

7. Find interesting movies that go along with your topic. This can be movies that are based on your literature selection, movies that take place in your historical time period, documentaries, how something is made or how something works, and interviews.

8. Are there any field trips in your area that you can take? Can you visit a farm, a planetarium, museum, or historical center? How about a reenactment? 

If these events are only running during certain parts of the year make sure to schedule your unit studies during the same time frame. Your kids will get a lot more out of their visit if the knowledge about that topic is fresh.

9. What about hands-on activities? Hands-on activities can really help to tie information together, especially for kinesthetic learners.

 Can you make recipes from the book or the time period?

How about sewing authentic clothing?

Can you learn a skill that was common in that era, such as weaving, riding a horse, knitting, or whittling?

What about building replicas of historical buildings or transportation?

 Can you make a map of a town or a battle from that era?

 How about trying to recreate art from that period?

You could even celebrate a holiday from that culture. 

10. Now that you have a list of hands-on activities, gather any supplies or directions you will need. This could be YouTube tutorials or a step-by-step instruction that you find on the internet.

 It is much better to have everything on hand when you start so that you don't have to interrupt the flow of learning to find things.

11. If you are doing unit studies as the main curriculum of your homeschool, you will want to write down a list of all of the subjects that your state requires homeschoolers to teach. You will probably also want a list of extracurricular subjects that you want to include as well. 

 Try to make the majority of unit studies have activities that fall under each category so that your children can get a well-rounded education. 

Unit studies can make up your entire homeschool curriculum. This is great for keeping the whole family learning together, but it can lead to spotty information in some subjects.

 If you choose to only teach by unit studies, you will definitely want to add in a math and a science program as well as anything else you don't cover on a regular basis.

Trouble Finding Ideas

Are you having trouble coming up with ideas for your unit study? Maybe you don't know enough about the topic.

Try educating yourself first. That way you can bring your new passion and fresh knowledge to the table. You can always search the internet and Pinterest for ideas as well.

One of the advantages of new knowledge about a topic is that it is easier to teach others everything they need to know. Many times experts have a hard time teaching beginners because they have been learning about their topic so long that they forget what it was like starting out. So don't worry if you aren't an expert in the area you want to do a unit study on!

Most curriculum companies let you see a sample online before you purchase. You can look at these samples and look at the table of contents to get some ideas of possible topics that would be appropriate to cover with your child.

Even though history and literature unit studies are the easiest kind to do, you could also have a unit study on any other topic you want.

A unit study doesn't have to involve all of the subject areas or even all of the children. If one of your kids develops an interest in butterflies, let them linger on it. Give them extra activities that they can do to further their knowledge and interest. Real, deep learning takes place when you are interested in something, so let them learn!

When It Doesn't Work Out...

If you spent a lot of time planning a unit study and after a week interest is waning, it's OK to drop some of your resources and finish your unit early. Don't be too hard on yourself.

You will get a better depth of learning if your child is interested in the topic than if you are pushing them to do it. Plus, you can always save the unit study and try again when they are older, or save it for a younger sibling.

Summary

So in summary, here are the steps to planning a great unit study!

1. Pick your topic.

2. Figure out the length of the unit study

3. Gather interesting books.

4. Figure out many pages you will read every day.

5. Find related topics.

6. Find pictures that go along with your unit study.

7. Gather any movies or documentaries you want to use.

8. Research field trips in your area.

9. Make a list of hands-on activities

10. Gather supplies and directions for the hands-on activities you will be using.

11. Make sure you are covering all of the required subjects for most of your unit studies.