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3 Things To Remember When Homeschool Unit Studies Get Complicated

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3 Things To Remember When Homeschool Unit Studies Get Complicated @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool unit studies are a natural and relaxed way to learn. However, it is easy to get off track and create obstacles instead of keeping them simple. I know, why do we that?

Look at these 3 things to remember when homeschool unit studies get complicated.

1. Slow Down Momma!

I have the tendency to over plan, not just because I love to plan, but because we find so many fascinating topics to cover.

Pushing quickly through each unit study, we find ourselves at times exhausted. Reminding myself that our unit study topics fit my kids and so should the time we spend on them gets me refocused.

Determine what is a good pace for you and your kids because each unit study is different. Take a cue from your kids and slow down if they are immersed in a topic.

2. Steal Ideas From Other Homeschool Approaches.

When I first started unit studies, I had my boys writing about everything we learned.

Soon I realized that our time spent together was not about talking or interacting with each other about what we’re learning, but about writing everything down on paper.

Should Exploration and Discovery Cost?

Who was I impressing with all the mounting writing reports we had?

Adopting the narration technique from the Charlotte Mason approach was the wonderful gem we needed to add to our learning day.

See my tips at 3 Unexpected Benefits of Homeschool Narration and Narration – Telling Back or Testing.

And though conversations are exhausting with little kids because of their desire to soak up new things, teens are equally challenging because they want to let you know what they know. Let them while they want to talk.

It makes for some great debate at home. Of course, pick your times carefully to “discuss” because teens are almost always ready to question anything and there will be times you are mentally exhausted.

With all that being said, I would never trade our time together talking and recalling all that we learned.

Narration is a way for your kids to each share what they remember and when they do, all of your kids get the benefit of what each child is sharing. It’s mastery learning at its best.

3. Crafty, I am not.

No, I don’t long for or pine to stay tucked away in a room someplace and do crafts. I have friends like that and they make beautiful crafts and did I mention they are very creative? I am moved by different reasons to create or craft.

Crafty and hands-on are not necessarily synonymous as I have learned. Letting go of the thought that we have to do crafts with each unit study helped me to make unit studies adaptable for our family.

The difference between a craft and hands-on project is that hands-on learning is about making a learning connection between doing and reading.

Here is the clincher though and that is that kids that are motivated by the act or live for crafts and kids that want a practical purpose for a project both benefit.

Because I had always associated hands-on learning with a craft, I had put obstacles in the way of learning.

Oh sure, we love to have fun too and I realize now that having fun is a great way to learn. Letting go of public school mentality that learning has to be austere, severe and dry helped too.

Hands-on is a win-win because it doesn’t mean you have to do a craft, just find a hands-on project that your kids like.

I am so passionate about hands-on learning that I created an article, 365 Days of Hands-on Activities – One For EVERY Day of the Year. Grab an idea or two from there for your next homeschool unit study.

Embracing unit studies and making them fit the way my kids learn has allowed us to learn more thoroughly instead of constantly reviewing.

The key has always been getting back to simplicity when I find myself over complicating them.

Has that happened to you?

Have you seen my Ultimate Unit Study Planner? It is my way of tracking what we have learned.

Ultimate Unit Study Planner Store @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 600x

Also, you may like to read these tips.

Hugs and love ya,

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Beginner to Advanced: 9 Steps to a Unique Unit Study – Step by Step Example of How to Begin an Easy Unit Study on the American Civil War

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Beginner to Advanced 9 Steps to a Unique Unit Study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Bored with your present homeschool approach? Beginning or switching to another homeschool approach like a unit study doesn’t have to be daunting. I have plenty of ideas to help you out on that.

So today, in my beginner to advanced: 9 steps to a unique unit study, I have tips on things to do in a unit study, arranged in order from least difficult (for when you just want to tip toe over) to most difficult (when you want to plunge head first).

Even if never thought about switching your homeschool approach, one or two of these ideas may have you rethinking your course.

To illustrate this better and help you understand how a unit study is built layer upon layer, I am using the American Civil War as an example of a topic.

1.Read aloud a living book like The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad

Yep, that’s it.

Reading aloud a living book is a fun and easy way to kick off a unit study and it feeds your child about the unit study topic you will be considering.

Don’t make this process harder than it has to be. Jump out there and simply enjoy the process of reading aloud.

2. Read aloud The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad then do oral narration.

If you want to engage your kids a little bit more, try one technique that can be used in homeschool unit studies, which is oral narration.

Ask your child questions like: What was the underground railroad? What would life be like on a cotton plantation? What were slave catchers? Why is slavery such a sensitive issue today?

It is a great tool to substitute for test taking. Check out my article, Narration – Telling Back or Testing.

3. Read aloud a living book, do some oral narration, then add in ONE easy hands-on activity.

This step is where a lot of homeschoolers may cave, like me. I was the last person to view myself as a hands-on teacher and delayed trying a unit study.

Oh not that I didn’t like it, I just didn’t like the mess it created.

Understanding now that a mess is such a small price to pay for a giant leap of learning, I no longer feel that way.

However, I have also learned that learning doesn’t always have to be messy.

Even a simple puzzle can be a fun and interactive way to bring learning alive.

Check out my article, Easy Hands-0n Homeschool Ideas When You’re Not the Bomb Mom, if you want to be a hands-off mom.

For this time period, a recipe or craft works great. We made some easy hard tack.

4. Read a living book, do narration, do a hands-on activity AND add in some writing.

Reading is always my number one activity to include if I don’t have time to include another detail. Writing is my second activity closely behind reading. Also, up until this step, activities can be done in a day. With this Step 4, this normally blends into a second day.

After a child has been engaged through a living book and done a fun hands-on project first, they are primed for some writing.

Though our method of doing unit studies always include lapbooks, writing can be anything from a creative story to a history report on one of the slaves, about slavery, heroes of anti-slavery, about the lifestyle during that time, about art during that period and even about plant and animal life of the time.

You can even use notebooking pages. We did a Civil War lapbook.

5. Read a living book, do narration, do a hands-on activity, add in writing AND add in some geography.

Not that we don’t love geography first, but if I am limited on time, I always make sure I do skill subjects first instead of content subjects.

Check out the tips in my article, Skill versus Content Subjects: What’s the Difference.

Because the book is about a Canadian family, this a perfect time to contrast and compare Canada with the United States in your atlas.

The American Civil War is a great unit study to illustrate not just state lines, but to expand on the economy of each area.

How to Do A Unit Study In Record Time

Also, you could use a push pin to locate battles of the Civil War and don’t forget to talk about the famous submarines of the American Civil War like Raising the Hunley: The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate Submarine (American Civil War).

Geography is so much more than maps.

6. Read a living book, do narration, do a hands-on activity, add in writing, add in geography AND add in some history.

It doesn’t really matter which content subject like history, geography, art or science that you do first.

I follow my sons’ lead on what interests them at the time. Not all unit studies have history as a subject. If it doesn’t fit, then don’t force a fit.

However, because our topic is the American Civil War, history is a huge part of this unit study.

Not only talk about the causes and effects of the American Civil war, but read primary documents like letters will make history come alive for that time period.

Read about famous people of the war like Clara Barton, read about the music of the time period and read about strategic battles in war.

7. Read a living book, do narration, do a hands-on activity, add in writing, add in geography, add in some history AND add in some science.

Again, it doesn’t matter the order of the content subjects, if all of them, that you decide to do with your unit study. It’s justt that with each step your unit study becomes meatier.

Studying the science of the American Civil War is a great subject. Have you seen the surgeons tools used back then?

Also, read A Civil War Surgeon’s Diary Transcribed.

Then you can add in some ideas for learning about the constellations and how the stars were used to guide the slaves North.

8. Read a living book, do narration, do a hands-on activity, add in writing, add in geography, add in some history, add in science and ATTEND a field trip.

If there is anything that cements learning, it is being able to visualize what you are learning.

Short Cuts for Unit Studies

It is not necessary to attend a field trip with every unit study, but then again, it is a fun and memorable way to remember what you are learning about.

When studying the American Civil War, we were able to attend a memorable history reenactment.

9. Read a living book, do narration, do a hands-on activity, add in writing, add in geography, add in some history, add in science, attend a field trip and MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS.

Unit studies may get a bad rap because it is not as easy to tell what a child has learned or gauge progress. However, tests are no great measure either.

Look at some creative way at my article, Gauging Homeschool Progress – Masters of their Material for ways to test your child’s knowledge in this unit study.

I hope you enjoyed this quick glimpse of the basics steps to starting a homeschool unit study.

There are more hands-on activities involved in each step, but they are not necessary to do at first until you get a bit more comfortable trying one or two.

What do you think? Tempted to try a unit study topic or two?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Also, check out my 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies

From Textbook to Homeschool Unit Study Starter

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

In my post Homeschool Unit Study Textbook Tips – Uh? I wanted to encourage you to take a no holes barred attitude toward unit studies by even using textbooks.  Creativity in planning can be nurtured by anything and a textbook is no exception.

Today, I want to show you how to bring to life a unit study using a textbook by going from textbook to homeschool unit study starter.

Remember, normally at the beginning of a topic is where you decide if you are just going to do child-led interest on one topic as enrichment or if you are going to do a full-blown unit study.

Right now though for the sake of showing you an example, I am going to use a textbook page below and we are not going to worry about making that call right now.

Too, I took this page of a chapter because it is a great example of information that can be extracted to start your own study.

The copy is from a page about the French Revolution and actually when planning my unit study for the French Revolution, I gave it a glance.

Right away on Number 1, it gives you an idea of a time period to cover.

Textbooks cover broad strokes and this page is no exception because it gives you a longer time period to study about than just the French Revolution.It also includes the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

For my unit study needs, I preferred a more narrow time period so I chose only the period of the French Revolution, which was from 1789 to 1799.

Here you have several choices for your own unit study and questions I would ask myself when planning are: What interests my children? What topics have we not covered? What topics can I connect to previous unit studies?

All of these questions help me to narrow my topic to just the French Revolution so that I could focus on that significant event in world history.

How to Create a Unit Study Outline in 10 Minutes

Another way to grow this page into a unit study is if you wanted to do a unit study based on a historical figure like Napoleon Bonaparte.

Then you could zero in on the years of Bonaparte’s lifetime and use the events on this page of the French Revolution as significant events in his life.

Overlapping events is a strong point in unit studies.

To keep from being overwhelmed with events and information, focus on ONE main topic either the French Revolution or Napoleon Bonaparte and then use the other one you did not choose as a sub-topic.  Both of these topics are connected and you want to introduce them to your children.

The difference in a unit study is that you will work your way from the inside (or main topic) to connect it the outside (sub-topics) and sub-topics will normally have less focus or information.

Key is deciding which main topic is important to your family so that not all information gets the same of time and attention.

Number 2 or Key Events gives a starting point as to what sub-topics to include under the topic of French Revolution.

To use my choice of focusing only on the French Revolution as an example, I could use only the first two events as sub-topics to read more about or to learn about because they pertain to just the French Revolution.

When I research about those two sub-topics, other sub-topic will emerge.  But using two of the points under this sections gives me a point to begin.

Number 3 or The Impact Today gives you a starting point to making a connection today. It is not always necessary to make a connection to present time. This is a feature of a textbook because it gives you a lot of information to gulp.

You will want to decide with each other unit study whether or not it is necessary to make information connect to present day.  You may think that making a connection to present day is always a good idea but I have not found that to be so when teaching a unit study.

Because I kept my unit study of the French Revolution on a middle school level, I didn’t want Tiny to have to make a connection to present day.

Our French Revolution was his first introduction to it and I wanted Tiny to lounge in the time period for a while.  I created a board game so that he could become familiar with that time as well.

In other words, I am giving you ideas as to what goes on in my mind as I look at resources and weigh them against my objectives or goals.

There was no need for me to push Tiny to weigh all the political issues because this will be presented again in high school and at that time we will look at a connection to present day.

Too, if I was doing this unit study with my highschooler, I may grab one of the points to assign a persuasive writing paragraph or two to my highschooler.

The topics under this area are a natural fit for writing why my highschooler may agree or might not agree with one of the ideas.  In addition, if you decided to make a connection to present day, you could still use one of these ideas for a language arts assignment.

Number 4 or the timeline I would eyeball as making a helpful printable to remember some of the key events for my middleschooler.

Too, the events on the timeline could also be used as sub-topics to cover or if one of them interested my children, we could take our time reading about one of the events or key persons.

In addition, the timeline is helpful when deciding what topics to choose to write about.

How to Kill Boring Homeschool Unit Studies

From the timeline, I created a board game so that Tiny became more familiar with the events of the French Revolution.

Also, creating cards for memorizing these events, making a visual timeline, writing about the life of King Louis XVI, making French bread, making a French pastry, studying French fashion are also a few more ways to bring these events alive for this time period.

All of these ideas can be a springboard from this timeline.

Even the picture of the globe or Number 5 could be helpful here.

Taking out our atlas, we could look up this area and label the countries to get our geography bearings about where this significant event in world history took place at.

Creating a salt dough map (always a favorite of ours) can be another hands-on activity.  Also because geography includes modern day issues a country may be facing, we did make a quick connection to modern day France by highlighting one of their issues about energy by creating a solar oven.

Too, the solar oven craft would also be part of a science related topic for this unit study.

When looking at how to include geography remember that geography is not just about labeling maps.

Geography involves the culture, religion, food, present day problems and issues a country may be facing and products made by that country.

If you find a list of products made by a country, past or present, the list could be used to give you ideas for relative crafts and hands-on meals.  For example, when we studied Africa, we made a meal.

When studying about the country of France, this unit study could be extended to make a French crepe, study wine making or making a French meal.

To cover art, focus on famous French artists from that time period or architect designed during that time period.

As you can see, a textbook page just starts the ideas flowing for a unit study and your creativity is the only thing that will handcuff you in any unit study.

Once you start the creative juices flowing with a unit study, it becomes easier to do the next one.  Like anything, every day use of the lesson planning muscles strengthens with use.

Using something you have like a textbook not only lessens the lesson planning stress, but it is a frugal idea when you are a beginner at unit studies.

Planning unit studies from living books is always a great start but not having one should not hold you back from trying a unit study or two.

How about you? Have you tried making a unit study come to life through resources you already have?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina 2015 Signature

 

 

Homeschool Unit Study Textbook Tips – Uh?

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

Taking the leap from textbooks to planning an interest led unit study can be a scary notion.

Ruining your kids for life, being behind, not being able to measure progress and not having a starting point are all hurdles that hold us back from testing the unit study waters.

Using homeschool unit study textbook tips in one breath can seem like a contradiction, but today I want to show you how to use what you may already have or feel comfortable with as a launching point for unit studies.

Though text books are not my first choice for planning a homeschool unit study, most all of us have textbooks in our homes.

Too, being a firm believer in using fully what I purchased with hard earned dollars and with a bit of love for being creative, textbooks certainly can be a starting point for a unit study.

When I first started doing unit studies, I didn’t plan every day or every sub-topic.  Rather, I used textbooks to plan an interest led unit study as enrichment.

So the first step in using a textbook is to decide if you want to use parts of it as a springboard for enrichment or to only use the outline as a framework for a more thorough unit study.

The easiest tiny baby step is to use a point made in the textbook as enrichment.

Look at some of these things about a textbook that make them an easy bridge to unit studies.

Outline.  An outline of ideas in a chapter and a break down of chapters in the book gives you a framework to build on.

Public school teachers and homeschoolers both can spend hours and hours building outlines until they have a framework of main ideas and supporting details for a topic.

The outline in a textbook can make planning a cinch because the legwork is done for you.  Quit reinventing the wheel and step over into easy planning by glancing at the outline.

Broad Strokes.  One of the negatives about textbooks, which is that it has a slice and dice approach to the subject may be a positive because it gives you the broad strokes.

A unit study can have a flood of information which makes starting one overwhelming.

By using the subjects that have been whittled down to broad topics and comparing that with other resources you have gathered like living books, articles and dvds, you can compare topics.

Then, choosing topics that interest you and your kids, you can feel confident that you are covering some of the broad strokes of a topic.

Quiz, Self Checking, Other Activities.  Each textbook is different, but a lot of them have many different sections that you can pull from to enhance your study.

Quizzes and self checking tests are important especially if you live in a state where you have to do some kind of record keeping.

Living in an area that is more strict with record keeping or having a highschooler where there is more emphasis on testing can hold some back from doing a unit study.

Textbooks can ease you into unit studies because the quizzes and self checking tests can be done orally or still used after you cover the information in a unit study fashion.

Quizzes and self checking tests are just two parts of what a textbook may have.  Depending on the subject and grade, some textbooks also include activities for hands-on projects.

Vocabulary building sections and writing topics are also a few more examples of some unit study enhancing features of a textbook.

From Textbook to Unit Study Starter

You may have other sections in your textbook too that can be used as a tool to either include in your unit study or to give you an idea of what else to include in the topic that interests you.

When we use something that we are familiar with we ease into unit studies.

Whether you want to use your textbooks as stepping stones to trying a new homeschool approach or because you want to maximize your textbooks to the full, they can be one tool to jump start your unit study.
In my second post and because I love visual aids, I will show you how to take a page or two of a textbook and add in some creativity to spark a unit study.

How about you? Do you have plenty of textbooks that could be used as unit study starters?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina 2015 Signature

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

4 Secrets to Creating Your Own Successful Homeschool Co-op

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

Savoring the food of the Amazon region in a banana wrapped leaf, dancing the minuet like George Washington, creating Native American crafts with beadwork and studying the healing power of plants like Lewis & Clark did are just a few of the adventures that my sons and I have participated in as I led a homeschool co-op.

4 Secrets to Creating Your Own Successful Homeschool Co-op

In my many years of homeschooling, I have seen numerous elaborate definitions of a co-op, but in its most basic form a co-op is simply a group of two or more families meeting together to share their collective efforts in teaching their children all together.

Depending on your personal experiences in participating in co-ops, you may conjure up in your mind a picture of your children engaging in awesome hands-on activity along with socialization or you may picture a mini-version of a very regimented public school that you probably fled not too long ago.

Understanding some basic facts in how co-ops are developed will help you to determine if a co-op is a good fit for your family.

Enhance Your Journey or Encumber It

There is no one set of rules for any co-op. Co-ops can be very informal without many rules or it can be as formal as public school.

Take time to ask questions after you determine if you want to meet for socialization or to meet strictly for academic purposes.

One note of caveat for new and struggling homeschoolers is that sometimes you may join a co-op to ease the burden of teaching, but actually create an environment where you may feel trapped.

Regimented schedules, turning in homework assignments and preparing extra-curricular activities are a few reasons why some homeschool families find co-ops more stressful than helpful.  They can feel a little too much public schoolish.

Do not leave the rigidness of public school to trade it away the freedom so quickly to a very regulated co-op.

Co-ops can spring up or shut down at any time. Realizing that most co-ops are ran by homeschooling parents like yourself, you will appreciate that rules are made by the homeschooling parents as they lead the group.

Most co-ops expect all the parents to shoulder some of the responsibility of running the co-op whether it is teaching, supervising toddlers, cleaning or making copies.

Unless the co-op is being ran like a small private school, most co-op leaders welcome the help. Normally it is the few doing the work of the many.

Because there is so much variety in classes like teaching crafts to preschoolers to preparing teens for driving in high school, co-ops can spring up and shut down each year or at any time during the year.

Most groups try to have their goals written down by the start of the school year, but even that can change.

Clear expectations by either a group you create or either join will avoid a lot of misery down the road.

Homeschool Co-op Conundrum

Avoid confusion of which co-op to join by having clear in your mind your purpose for participating. For example, I knew when I formed our private local co-op that my main purpose was for socialization and enrichment.

I was not interested in anybody teaching subjects like the 3 R’s to my sons because I wanted to do that.

Did I mention teaching my three at home was way more relaxing too?

The co-op serves as a refreshing break in our routine so I didn’t want a weekly co-op, but one that met once or twice a month. In addition, I wanted like-mind parents who have Christian values and a place where my sons could make lasting friends and memories.

Too, I purposely kept the co-op small because it is easier to make friends in a more cozier environment.
Activities like doing a lab, presenting a geography report to an audience and drama are better done in a group setting. It is nice to have an audience for projects.

My sons have benefited from doing those activities and have become more well rounded out in their education.

In one area I lived in we had a homeschool mom who use to be a high school Spanish teacher. My older sons took her classes which was ran more like a mini private school.

Though I prefer a more informal and hands-on setting, I took advantage of local resources for enrichment. It has only strengthened my sons’ skills in foreign languages.

4 Secrets To Creating Your Own Successful Homeschool Co-op @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When You Gift Others

I can’t hum a tune, draw a beautiful portrait or shoot professional pictures, but none of those things are required to serve others.

Sharing with other homeschoolers and teaching is a gift.

It’s true that when you serve in a leadership position it can have trials. But I have a secret to admit and that is I am the one that always feels blessed after leading the co-op.

Over the years I have learned that each homeschooling parent possesses a gift or two whether they admit it or not.

You do not have to be a former public school teacher to teach a subject, but you do need to love the subject you teach.

Instead of looking into joining a co-op, can you form one near you? Beginnings are important. So start slow with a just few of your like-minded friends.

Meet once a month and use forums like yahoo to communicate and set up polls.

Avoid the modern day quick methods of communication like texting that interrupts your day schooling your children.

In the beginning, it’s easy to communicate like this, but as the group grows, your time can be consumed by taking care of the needs of others.

Don’t neglect your own homeschool routine and family.
When you use something like an online forum or email list, each teaching parent can respond to emails after she has taken care of her family for the day. It also trains others in your group that your priority is your own family and to be considerate of your time.

There are a wide variety of curriculum resources to use from laid out lesson plans to unit studies that make leading a cinch. Unit studies are my very favorite in teaching multiple ages because there is something for all ages to do.

Serving others is a joy and your blessing in giving will be immeasurable not only to your children, but for all others that come your way.

Creating the co-op we had took time. My first attempts at meeting with others wasn’t a fit for our family because of either the scheduling or activities.

Forming a co-op after my previous failed attempts ended up being a blessing for our family because we then met with like-minded families.

Shared experiences and fostering friendships for a lifetime have heightened our homeschool adventures.

Have you been part of a co-op that has changed your life?

3 Homeschool Co-op History Resources Worth Exploring

5 Days of a Homeschooling Co-op Convert