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5 Advantages to Creating Your Own Homeschool Unit Study

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

5 Advantages to Creating Your Own Homeschool Unit Study @Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusBeing hooked on well-laid out lesson plans, I never thought I would be a homeschool unit study convert.

Planning seemed like a lot of time, which you know we all have very little of. And of course the other biggie you hear about in unit studies is the fear of missing something when teaching them.

Put to sleep the great missing something myth because no matter how long we teach, there is always something we will miss. Check out Am I Doing Enough When Homeschooling and Gauging Homeschool Progress – Masters of their Material to grab some tips.

Today, I want to share 5 advantages to creating your own homeschool unit study.

(1) Focus On Your Children’s Needs and Goals

Designing a unit study for the exact needs of your child is a huge advantage that stacks heavy against other homeschool approaches.

One of the supposedly negatives about the time that it takes to design a unit study can be a strength when it is suited to fit your children’s needs.

Check Out Books That Make Planning Unit Studies Eazy Peazy

(2) No Missing Books, Curriculum or Outdated Resources

The world of education can be a fast moving wheel and even the most well-staffed company can be hard pressed to keep their curriculum up to date with current resources.

Choosing current homeschool resources, library books and hands-on activities you find ensures that your unit study will run smoothly because all of your products are current.

(3) Lower Grade Unit Studies Are a Jumping Off Point for Higher Grade Planning

When I look back over my unit studies from the lower grades, I know I planned them with my children in mind.

When it comes to homeschooling middle and high school grades, previously taught unit studies become an unexpected advantage because they serve as a foundation or introduction to high grade unit studies.

When a child makes a connection to previously learned material it is meaningful.

Unlike subject areas where you are not sure what a child learned, your own well-laid out and planned unit studies are unique to your children. The bottom line is that you know what you taught them and can expand on those subjects in the upper grades.

(4) Learning Together as a Family is Easiest When Using Unit Studies

Like a lot of new homeschoolers, I started off with separate subjects for each of my kids. Insanity sets in and we learn that by having less curriculum, we can not only teach different ages together, but we cover content whether it’s science or history in more depth.

Teaching children together but on different levels not only fosters family togetherness, but forges a close bond between siblings.

(5) Challenges Learners Along With Encouraging Independent Learning

It is no secret in the homeschool world that we not only homeschool our special needs children who have unique abilities, but we have many advanced and gifted learners too.  Even special needs children can be advanced in some areas.

Because of uneven development in children, unit studies can challenge a learner at his level.

Project based learning is encouraged by unit studies because each child can delve into what interest him about the topic you have chosen to cover with your children.

Though you may be on one unit study topic, each child has the flexibility to learn as much or as little as he wants to.

Research skills are developed when using unit studies instead of following a spoon fed mentality.

Unit studies are hard work but the pay off through the years makes designing unit studies worthwhile to pursue.

There is no need to guess how to start one.  Do you want to create one now?

Look at my series of 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating One Together.

Began small by creating a simple unit study and it will grow into a comprehensive course of study.

Do you design your unit studies or use laid out unit studies?

Hugs and you know I love ya,

 

 Check Out Books That Make Planning Unit Studies Eazy Peazy

 

3 Wrong Ways to Begin a Homeschool Unit Study

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

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.

3 Wrong Ways to Begin a Homeschool Unit Study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
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,
2015 Tina Signature co

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

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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.

Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies The Dos and Don'ts @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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 and do not listv2

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 and do not list 1

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.

Whet their appetite for learning and they won't easily forget

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. Unfolding of a Unit Study I Sip - The Steps @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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,

Tina 2015 Signature

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

 

20 Ideas for Bringing Writing Alive through Unit Studies About Ancient Civilizations

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have 20 ideas for bringing writing alive through unit studies.

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.

20 Ideas for Bringing Writing Alive through Unit Studies About Ancient Civilizations

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.

They 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 relevant to the subject he is learning.

But also 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,

Too, 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.

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.

Too, you 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.

BRINGING WRITING ALIVE THROUGH UNIT STUDIES

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.

Writing topics are sparked from themes that make sense to your child.

Why? 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.

Too, study nonessential and essential clauses.

Focus 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?

20 Ideas for Bringing Writing Alive through Unit Studies

Check out these other posts:

 

 

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

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. Unit Study

Affiliate Link ElementsSlice 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.

how to use a chapter book to prep unit study

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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