Do Unit Studies

3 Wrong Ways to Begin a Homeschool Unit Study

April 24, 2015 | 6 Comments
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It is easy to get caught up in the hype of designing your own homeschool unit study before you have had a chance to explore potential mistakes that can be made when doing one.

Look at these 3 wrong ways to begin a homeschool unit study.

In creating a unit study, I had to decide which topics and subjects my children needed to cover.

Skinny It Up

My very first mistake was thinking I had to cover all the subjects in a balanced way. I did not.

Learning is about exploring subjects that your children are interested in or that you want them exposed to.

My beginning system wasn’t fancy, but it worked.

I simply took time to sketch out what subjects I needed to cover for that unit study.

Too, in my example above, I made the material have personal application to our family.

Meaningful Learning

That is the second common mistake to jumping into a unit study, which is not making the material personal to your family.

If you decide to use a prepared unit study, tweak it to fit your family’s needs.

Though children are interested in happenings on the other side of the world, learning comes alive when it is full of personal meaning.

For example, the first time I did the American Civil War, we lived in Texas and my boys needed more of an emphasis on learning about our home state.

I made the unit study to fit our needs because we took a trail off of the unit study to learn about Texas.

Curriculum Paradise or Pain?

Trying to cover two curriculum equally is the third mistake.

Why do we try to do that? It won’t work.

Well it might but then it might lead to homeschool burnout if you become too unbalanced.

There is nothing wrong with having more than one curriculum but the difference is that one curriculum is your main spine or focus.

The other curriculum simply supports or enhances your primary spine.

I have found that comprehensive unit studies are unlike short term enrichment projects.

In other words commit to a unit study all the way.

This means I don’t stress out my kids by going over other lessons in whatever laid our curriculum we are using at the time.

I simply move forward without feeling like we are behind.

Don’t stress you or your children either one by doing unit studies on top of what you are already using.

If you see something that is important to you to cover in your laid out curriculum, then fold that information into your upcoming unit study.

Grammar and spelling can always be applied to writing, atlases always fit geography and science and history can be hands-on activities.

Covering too many subjects, not making learning come alive by making it apply to your children and trying to do two curriculum simultaneously are sure ways to kill a unit study before you get started.

How about you? Have you made any of these mistakes?

Hugs and love ya,

Check out my 1o Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies : The Dos and Don’ts

March 6, 2015 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When I think about sharing what swirls around in my head and what I am so passionate about, I get plain giddy.

I want to share a few pointers from my sweat and tears to help you put together a unit study.

Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies: the dos and don’ts list type of approach keeps things simple for me to remember. I hope a short list like this will keep things simple for planning a homeschool unit study.

Do not think you have to incorporate every single subject into the topic.

It makes me exhausted thinking about it.

With the abundance of curriculum available, use what you have in your home already to cover subjects that don’t fit naturally.

Eliminating Meaningless Subjects in Homeschool Unit Studies

Covering topics that your family finds more captivating keeps the unit study meaningful.

Focus on what captivates you. Find your family’s groove and move on.

That simple tidbit keeps the stress level down and energy level up for learning.

Do not have an unrealistic view of the in-depth planning that may need to be done on the front side.

I know it doesn’t sound very flattering but I have to be realistic. Who is afraid of hard work anyway?

After all, we are homeschooling our kids, which a lot of people find over the top hard.

On the other hand, along with hard work comes a very REWARDING payoff.

My sons remember the material we cover from unit studies more than any other approach I have used.

For a lot of families, including us, unit studies have meant a level of mastery on the initial study.

Do not be setback, if at first, your children do not respond to this new way of learning.

The unit study approach has such wide spread freedom that not everybody feels so comfortable with it.

An older child may want a check off list for the day. Make them one or better yet have them journal what they learned in their student planner. I do not make my boys do this every day now.

You may want a check off list. You know how I feel about my 7 Step Homeschool Planner. I use it. At first, we all did journaling so I could gauge progress. I needed to see what we have done.

Do understand the basic definition of a unit study THEN redefine it to meet your needs.

One very simple definition of a unit study is to use any curriculum available {free or otherwise} to teach your children about a topic.

I can go one step further for you and define curriculum.

Curriculum includes books, workbooks, DVDS, CDS, a set of subjects, life’s experiences AND parental influences, social situations, hands-on experiments, games, lessons learned from everyday contact or modeled by peers, family or other adults.

Some homeschoolers use only real books and others will incorporate text books.
I blogged in a previous post what my definition is of a unit study. “I define a unit study as a study on any subject that delights us.”

True, while I lean more toward living books, I never close my mind toward a wonderful text book. Look at my post From Textbook to Homeschool Unit Study Starter to use what you have to start a unit study. No need to spend a ton of money.

Do recognize which subjects are easier to cover in a unit study and which ones are not.

Too, this depends on the topic. I have listed them here generally. Just remember this is subjective because some units can be very language arts or math oriented.

Subjects easier to cover: history, science, art, Bible, memorization, geography, art, vocabulary, literature, composition, character building, music, and physical education.

Subjects not as easy to incorporate are: math, grammar, spelling, and phonics. {books can be readers but learning how to read with direct phonics instruction is important}

I don’t force a fit if it doesn’t come naturally.

Do keep in mind introductions and first impressions are everything.The same is true with a unit study.

Though many unit study ideas say to have an ending event to culminate the unit study, I find it equally important to open with something that grabs your kids’ attention and whets their appetite.

With the FBI unit study, we watched a documentary on the FBI {pop some popcorn, oh yeah baby}.

On the Amazon rain forest we also watched a documentary about the rain forest.

On War Between the ‘Tates, we had my sweet sis come over who did American Civil War reenactments.

She helped us to step back in time. My sons remember those events.

It could be something as simple as reading a book, solving a mystery, playing a game or visiting a museum to set the mood.

Lastly, I put to picture, what I feel, is the process to a unit study.

The I SIP process stands for immersion, separation, investigation and personalization of the material.
I will be posting more about each of these steps in upcoming posts, but I wanted you to see how to funnel down the information to your family.

Understanding the process is key to developing a unit study that is memorable.

Don’t rush the unit study because you may miss out on how learning comes alive and actually takes place.

I am inspired by this quote today as we take responsibility in educating the next generation outside of the box when diving into homeschool unit studies.

“Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.

Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”

-Jim Rohn-

Are you following the unit study approach?

Hugs and love ya,

Also check out my 10 Days of Diving into Unit Studies by Creating One Together

20 Ideas for Bringing Writing Alive through Unit Studies

January 19, 2015 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether we are teaching handwriting readiness to our younger kids or how to form a coherent paragraph with our middle school or high school kids, writing is an essential skill to communicating.

Try explaining the value of this vital skill to a reluctant writer and normally the conversation just ends in moans and groans.

Unit studies have been a way to curb the fear of the writing process and blank paper syndrome in our house.

Today, in sharing 20 ideas for bringing writing alive through unit studies, I want to share ideas for writing assignments that not only make writing a joy but create value in the eyes of your budding writer.

As teachers sometimes we are all too eager to get our kids to meet our expectations of the mechanics of writing instead of instilling a passion for writing in the beginning.

The trigger for getting a writer to mind the details or mechanics of his writing is to get him to write something that is not only relevant to the subject he is learning about but to give him freedom to write about what stirs his soul.

Whining or Winning Your Way Through Writing

Writing is a subject where unit study topics are powerful motivators and where the unit study approach has an enormous edge over other homeschool learning approaches.

If you have included your children in the process of selecting a unit study, you already have a topic they eagerly want to know about.

Unlike boring workbooks or programs that focus first on the mechanics of writing and the subject or topic of writing is incidental, it is opposite with a unit study.

Choosing a topic for writing already has a palatable start because your child had a choice when planning your unit study theme. Your child’s freedom to choose a unit study topic gives you the necessary starting point to take a potentially stressful subject to teach and turn it into something they look forward to.

Instead of grouping writing ideas by grade level, from kindergarten to high school, I will leave that up to you. You know whether your young writer is doing more advanced work or if you need to have your highschooler focus on the basics of writing.

Too, from the list below, I want to encourage you to continue to give handwriting priority in your day instead of feeling defeated.

Look at this list of ideas as I use my unit study theme, Ancient Civilizations, as an example to plan related handwriting or composition topic.

Ancient Civilizations. Describe silkworms; explain the silk making process; explain the process of becoming a Samurai warrior; how would you compare the lives of Egyptian Pharaohs and Queens to the common people; list 3 facts that you learned from the life of Jonah; research about the animals of Africa and label the parts of an animal; write a quality paragraph about the art of mummy making; describe Hannibal’s trek across the Alps with elephants so that your reader can experience it and picture it; color an animal by number to strengthen fine motor skills or color an animal by letter recognition; write an essay about the Punic Wars so that each part of the essay is clearly distinguishable, which are an opening paragraph, three detailed body paragraphs and a closing paragraph; observe nature and write about the flora of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; show the relationship between Shang script or Chinese writing to cuneiform and hieroglyphics; do Ancient Greece copywork; use reliable and quality resources to research about Egyptian Gods; use time order to explain the days of creation; outline how to build the pyramids of Egypt; describe pieces of art from Ancient Civilizations; have a younger child edit a paragraph written by an older sibling; choose scriptures to narrow down a topic about the pagan practices of Ancient Civilizations; creative writing by using If I lived back in the times of mummies . . . or If I traveled back to the ancient land of Greece … or What I would wear to be part of the high fashion society of Greece . . . or What my weapon would be if I were training to be a Roman Legionary Soldier and copy one sentence or quote like “All Roads Lead to Rome”.

From a Word Rookie to Word Wizard

Don’t be afraid to put aside composition assignments that are meaningless in favor of choosing a topic with a meaningful message to your child.

Also, setting aside laid out curriculum and grabbing helpful reference books will allow you to create writing assignments for your family.

One resource I have used over the years and still use is Great Source Write Source. Matter of fact I like all their books. It has been easy to assign written work we choose following the composition types in these books.

Also, for a teacher reference, I really like The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible Quizzes and refer to this probably more often than some other references.

Another one that is timeless and has stood teaching all three of my sons with the fads of books coming in and out is If You’re Trying to Teach Kids How to Write . . . You’ve Gotta Have This Book.

Too, Mr. Senior 2013 preferred using the English handbook by Rod and Staff. It is a compact and very helpful tool at the high school level. If you have a highschooler who wants to quickly master some of the more important concepts of high school level writing, this is a no frills reference.

Writing topics are sparked from themes that make sense to your child because they are based on what topic you are learning about.

Smothering the Embers of Beginning Creativity

When emphasis is put first on the engaging process of the topic then a tool like grammar can be applied afterwards. Kids can feel crippled when they have to think about the mechanics of writing when thoughts should be flowing.

Working on the mechanics of grammar like the who and which clauses, studying nonessential and essential clauses, focusing on narrowing down topics, planning paragraphs and editing can be done after the child has composed what he finds entertaining.

Don’t stifle the love for writing by focusing first on the rules. Keep the teacher mom reined in for this subject.

Rules of grammar are important and you want them to be important to your children. The necessity of the rules can be seen when applied to something personal, which is their writing. Rules for the sake of rules without validity never made sense to anybody.

Does this list spark some creative ideas for writing on your present unit study? Do you want me to create lists like this for each unit study on my blog?

Hugs and love ya,

Check out these other posts:

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3

Dynamic Reader Question: Tips for Teaching a Young Writer to Take his Ideas from a Trickle to a Waterfall

Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together

February 5, 2014 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. Unit Study

Slice and dice of your unit study begins with being picky about sub-topics. One significant reason that could dampen a unit study is not selectively choosing sub-topics. Chiseling that main topic down into manageable planning sub-topics is the key to not covering “everything” and not being overwhelmed. Not only did I choose the topic of Oceans to do with you because it has a kazillion topics so I can illustrate a slice and dice method, but I also wanted to pull you in closer on the specific how tos of choosing a sub-topic.

Trim and Fit Unit Studies

From the beginning, it is important to brainstorm sub-topics that would fit naturally into your main theme. In other words never force a fit to make something fit into a subject for the sake of saying you covered something in that subject. It really makes for some awkward learning moments. I have done it and afterwards I felt like I was having an insane homeschooling day.

For example, I mentioned in Day 2. Tips For Choosing Unit Study Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together I chose Oceans not just because it will be part of our big move coming up, but because it is a science topic. I want our sub-topics to stay focused more on science. So if I was to try to tie in history by asking the boys how do they think the Oregon Trail pioneers felt when they arrived in Oregon and viewed the Pacific Ocean would feel awkward to me. On the other hand if I tied in the history of seafaring to our unit study, that would feel more natural.

Make sense?

Books and Guides Matter

Next, the very basic essential to planning an excellent unit study is having a hardworking spine which can be a study guide, teacher’s manual, textbook, pamphlet, living book or article on line. Start by looking over what you already have in your home library to choose as a guide. If you don’t have one, then make a visit to the library to find one or buy one if you think you will do this topic again and can use it with multiple children.

Though I love living books, I normally use them to include as our literature to read. Sometimes I choose a living book, but a lot of times I do not. Why? Because books that give me ideas for hands-on too from the very beginning sets me up for success by making the unit study easier. I want to work less in teacher prep so I chose books filled with facts AND that have hands-on ideas for projects. It really depends on what type of unit study also. For example, if we were doing one a famous person then a living book would be my number one go to book.

Also if you have younger children, then choosing a living book like the ones by Holling C. Holling like I have listed below are great story readers and make a useful teacher spine. It is easy too at times to find hands on ideas for younger learners, but not quite as easy for older students.

So as the teacher you decide what type of books keeps it easy for you and for the ages of the children you have. No need to dread hands-on because that is the life of a great unit study. Just be more picky about choosing the unit study guide. Instead of going with a living book for my Ocean Unit Study, then I am going with more of a fact book which already has ideas for hands-on projects.

I have mentioned these books before and now I gathered some of them up for you to see. Because hands on ideas are already included, they make WONDERFUL unit study starters.

Discover the Oceans is the one I will be using for this unit study from my favorite books above. This doesn’t mean I can’t add another spine. I had this one at home and it is a good jumping off point. Look below at the chapters inside the book.

I don’t have to fuss much because I already have a guide or direction to go with on this topic. Quickly glancing at the chapters I can tell which ones are the direction we need to go and which ones I may need to look over. The “maybe” chapters are ones I need to look at because I want to keep this a more science topic and I want to be sure they don’t pull us too far off that track.

Unit Study Course of Study | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(page from my Unit Study Planner)

Choose sub-topics that pique your children’s interests and then assign them to subjects. I will be doing this in the next post where I will have chosen all my sub-topics for the Ocean, but I have an example above from my FBI unit study to show you now. I have 3 sub-topics shown. Two that interested my boys which are J. Edgar Hoover and the effects of WWI and one I added, which is the U.S. Government. So I added something I felt like they needed to study about and grouped with the sub-topics that they naturally picked. On the right side I used a check to show which subject areas I felt those sub-topics met.

So up to this point, you need to

Pick a guide or two;
Look over the chapters;
Determine which chapters will help you in your topic and which ones will not or would the book serve better as a reader or literature.
Choose your sub-topics

Next post I will share my sub-topics on the Ocean Unit Study and then show you how to start pulling resources together.

Are you with me still?

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Day 2. Tips For Choosing Unit Study Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together

January 25, 2014 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The next big hurdle natural step whether you decide to use unit studies as enrichment or as a stand alone curriculum and after you adopt your definition of a unit study is determining a topic.

Sharing tips today on how I choose a topic, I hope you leave behind a bit of the fear that hems us in to using curriculum laid out by others and embrace the teacher in you. Yep, teacher mom is screaming to get out. Okay—screaming with shaking knees is fine too. Trekking this together, we’ll both have a step by step guide.

Avoid Capture & Release Tactics

One of the very first resources I turn to when deciding a topic is to my sons. For me, this is the part of unit studies that makes it child-led. Engage your children and from the beginning you already have a captive audience.

The first year I asked Mr. Senior 2013 who was in 3rd grade at the time and Mr. Awesome who was a 1st grader what topics interested them, I received some great ideas. Here are their answers: To blow up something (sounds like my kid), learn to weave or tie a knot, about bears, and grow crystals.

Sounds like a good plan to me. The next step is to turn their idea into a topic that is teacher approved for the year. When I mean teacher approved, it has to be something that we need as a family. Blowing up something told me that they needed more hands-on activities so we studied basic chemistry. (We did blow up corks in our kitchen and the indentations on my ceiling are there to prove it.)

Tying a knot was tied (pun intended) into our reading and study of Carry on, Mr. Bowditch. Studying about bears we covered in our Native American unit studies and we grew crystals one week for our science activity.

As you can see not every idea gets a full blown unit study, sometimes it is an idea that can be part of a unit study that you want covered too. Asking my sons is always my beginning point.

Some years, I too have kids that say: “I don’t know.” So next, I turn to the seasons and times in our life at the present moment. I like to teach in practical ways and learning becomes so much more meaningful when you are living and learning together.

Whether you choose to study a topic like snow flakes, the Winter Olympics, about the Arctic or how to survive in the cold if it’s the winter season or choose a topic for an event coming up in your life, moments that occur naturally have been some of our best learning moments in unit studies.

This is actually the choice I am using to determine the topic for our next unit study which is a study of the Ocean. With our move overseas, and because South America lends itself well to studying about the Ocean, that will be our next unit study topic.

Other factors I consider when choosing a unit study to coincide with our present family life is to determine what my kids know and don’t know, whether we want an expansive unit study that lasts weeks or even months or a mini-unit study. I always start first though with what we have previously studied so I can use that as a jump start into our next topic.

We have covered some of the Animals of the Amazon and about Coral Life so I can build on those topics when we start our Ocean Unit Study. Things like the Amazon River and the importance of coral will help them to recall some basic information.

Remember, unit studies is about connecting information together and it is not about being a study of disjointed topics or subjects. Try to use your previous studies of any topics to connect it with the current one or weave it together so that you help your children see connections.

Unit Study Textbook Tips – Uh?

It almost seems like an oxymoron to use unit study and textbooks in the same breath, but textbooks can be of practical use especially when you live in an area that requires stricter record keeping.

If that is the case, then use a text book or chapter from it to create a unit study which is approved for record keeping purposes.

Or, if you have purchased textbooks and feel more comfortable using it as you begin a unit study, it is a practical way to not waste what you have already purchased. Create a unit study from your textbooks on hand and bring the topics to life.

Basically a unit study from a textbook can become enrichment or it could be a lengthy and extensive unit study. You decide.

Tap Into Other Types of Unit Studies

Unit studies can also be prepared using a living book, based on a famous person, on geography, on a time period in history including persons like explorers, based on a family vacation, current news events, on an art topic, on an animal, on science and famous scientists, on life skills like cooking and choosing a career and on character traits like Konos uses.

Okay, I have my big general sweeping category of an Ocean Unit Study. But now, we need to trim this baby into something we can actually study for weeks. I need to determine what is beneficial for my family.

If you have chosen a much narrower topic, like the study of a famous person or even the study of an animal or time period in history, you still need to narrow down exactly what benefits you want your family to get from it.

Sub-topics to the rescue. I will share on Day 3 how to determine which sub-topics are important and which ones are not.

Are you with me? What is your topic? Can you imagine if everyone shared their topic or ideas? That would be a huge benefit to each other.

I’m stoked to share my sub-topics with you next.

Hugs and love ya,

Do Unit Studies

3 Wrong Ways to Begin a Homeschool Unit Study

Skinny It Up

Meaningful Learning

Curriculum Paradise or Pain?

Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies : The Dos and Don’ts

Eliminating Meaningless Subjects in Homeschool Unit Studies

20 Ideas for Bringing Writing Alive through Unit Studies

Whining or Winning Your Way Through Writing

From a Word Rookie to Word Wizard

Smothering the Embers of Beginning Creativity

Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together

Trim and Fit Unit Studies

Books and Guides Matter

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

Day 2. Tips For Choosing Unit Study Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together

Avoid Capture & Release Tactics

Unit Study Textbook Tips – Uh?

Tap Into Other Types of Unit Studies

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Do Unit Studies

Skinny It Up

Meaningful Learning

Curriculum Paradise or Pain?

Eliminating Meaningless Subjects in Homeschool Unit Studies

Whining or Winning Your Way Through Writing

From a Word Rookie to Word Wizard

Smothering the Embers of Beginning Creativity

Trim and Fit Unit Studies

Books and Guides Matter

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

Avoid Capture & Release Tactics

Unit Study Textbook Tips – Uh?

Tap Into Other Types of Unit Studies

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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