My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas}

Start out a unit study or lapbook with something hands-on instead of something that could be boring.  Necessary background information on your topic or even studying dates can come after you introduce something engaging.

I want my kids to learn those necessary facts of a topic like the French Revolution, but starting them out on things like the causes of the French Revolution or talking about the 3 Estates of French society may put them to sleep.  It may put me to sleep too.

Hands-on Learning First

Make learning palatable by deciding the order you want to present printables and for most kids its normally after you have presented something that hooks them on the topic.  It doesn’t have to be a hands-on project.  When we started our FBI unit study we popped popcorn and watched a documentary on netflix to kick off our unit study.

That is why I delay some of the printables for the lapbook.  So now my kids have had time to play a game about the French Revolution and make something sweet tasting like chocolate sandwiches.  It just makes the formal part of learning a little more pleasant.

Today, I have minibooks 4 and 5 for you.  The above picture shows you where we are starting to place our minibooks.  Of course you can place them the same way or use part of our minibooks and others you find.  But my books are pretty easy and I like it that way since we do lapbooks for enrichment.

French Revolution Lapbook

Also, sometimes we add recipes that we did to our lapbook, but Tiny hasn’t decided yet if he wants to add them.  Even if you do add it later, you simply rearrange the minibooks.

Book 4 is an open face book to label the 3 Estates.  Class distinctions was one of the problems of the French Revolution.  The largest class was the common folks and most of them didn’t have the necessities of life, like bread.  So we looked up some scriptures about partiality in the Bible and discussed some about equality for all man.

Download Label the Three Estates minibook here.

Book 5 is a small layered book about the causes of the French Revolution.  You could add several more causes for the French Revolution than the 3 easy ones I included in this minibook.  The French Revolution is certainly a high school topic but chisel it down to make it an elementary or middle school topic like I have done here.  It certainly is easier to tweak it down for an age, than it is at times to flesh it out for a highschooler.

Download layered book Causes of the French Revolution here.

We have at least one more hands-on project we did while on this topic and then the next minibooks to complete this topic will come.

Hugs and love ya,

If you missed it:

Grab Book 1 Beethoven & The French Revolution? Minibook

Grab Book 2 French Revolution Unit Study + Beheaded. The Guillotine Mini Book

Grab Book 3 Free Printable Minibook–Timeline of Events Leading Up to the French Revolution

Tiny was all ears or is that all heads up (ha ha corny, I know I am a geek) when we studied the next sub-topic in our unit study.  When it comes to gore, why are our kids so heads up about topics like this?

Well it’s no doubt this topic was fascinating, but at the same time it would make quite the essay for a high school topic on capital punishment.  We touched on some of that in our school day, but mainly we focused on some of the science and history behind the guillotine because of Tiny’s age.

A lot of our facts and reading came from the Learning Through History magazine which is not printed anymore, but you can still buy the cds.  We have the issue on the French Revolution and it had some note worthy facts about the guillotine.

Here are a few:

• The machine weighed around 1300 pounds or about the weight of a small car.
• The guillotine metal blade weighed 88 pounds.
• The height of the guillotine was around 14 feet tall or about the top of a basketball goal.
• The falling blade had a rate of speed of about 21 feet/second, faster than a fastball thrown in a baseball game.
• The beheading took 2/100 of a second, quicker than you blink.
• The time for the guillotine blade to fall down to the victim took 1/70 of a second, quicker than you can say guillotine.

Because the guillotine remained the official French form of execution until 1981, when the death penalty was abolished, there is some footage about guillotines on YouTube.  At least one of them is real.

I really did not see the learning value of allowing Tiny to watch them, so I am not listing any here.

I focused more on the facts stated above.  There is a book that is for ages 12+ that was recommended in the magazine if you want to look at it.  We had enough information with the magazine, but it certainly is worth a look at the history of it and if you want something more age appropriate.

The guillotine is a noteworthy invention by the France to a terrible problem of how people were executed.  Prior to the guillotine, people were burned at the stake, drawn and quartered or pulled apart by horse or oxen.

I think that is enough to introduce at Tiny’s age and since I wanted him to focus on some of the science or facts behind it, it allowed us to study this topic and it not be all about the French terror.

Download the The French Guillotine minibook here.

Soon, I will be showing you the placement of the minibooks on the file folder.

Are you caught up with us yet?

Hugs and love ya,

See more of our posts about the French Revolution!

So I have the next minibook ready today. It is a minibook timeline French Revolution.  Basically, it is a mini timeline on the events leading to the French Revolution. Also, look at my page French Revolution 1789 – 1799 Unit Study & Lapbook.

Like a lot of my minibooks in which I am not testing my children’s scissor and cutting skills, this one is no different. 

So the first version has the pictures and information with the key dates already in it.

Because I do test my children on recall of information we have been reading together, I have a second version of this minibook that does not have any information filled in. 

It can be filled in with their own well researched facts.

You decide which version to use with your crew.

French Revolution Lapbook Minibooks

Next, look at the minibooks which come in this free download.

• Beethoven and the Revolution
• The Guillotine – The French Terror
• Timeline of Events Leading up the French Revolution
• 3 Estates – French Society
• Causes of the French Revolution layered book
• Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI
• What is the Directory, What is the Reign of Terror and What is the Sans Culottes

How to Get the Free Complete French Revolution Lapbook

This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

If you missed the other posts in this series, you can grab them below.