Day 8. Creating a Unit Study Lesson Plan. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

Creating a unit study lesson plan is the culmination of gathering all the resources of your hard work. Unless you are using a premade unit study, you will want to develop the art of lesson planning.  I have mentioned before in How to Write a Simple But Effective Homeschool Lesson Plan that lesson planning is nothing more than a visual map of what you want to accomplish for the day, week, or month. You can do this! The educationalese do not have to be so overwhelming.

Unit Study Lesson Planning = Visual Map

Today, I will create that visual map for you.  Look at it below.

I have created lesson plans for week 1 for my Ocean Unit Study coming up based on the information I created from Day 4. Finalize Sub-topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together and Day 5. Creating Unit Study Objectives. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

Key to successfully planning your unit study is not just organizing your information into a workable plan, but creating engaging lesson plans too.

(Note: The form is from my Unit Study Planner)

Teaching is a learned art and lesson planning is no different.  Beginning your unit study is just as important as deciding how to end it.  So take time to think about a lure that will hook your children on the topic being introduced.

Do You Make these 4 Mistakes When Lesson Planning?

• Notice that in my opening of the unit study I start with an edible tidal zone model. Though the idea is mine, the model is not.  The picture comes from a book that we already have at the house and we are going to make it an edible model.  So take your ideas for hands-on ideas from books that you have.  We are excited about making this and hopefully this will hook my kids on the topic of oceans.

The teacher in you may think that reading an opening chapter of a book is engaging. Though this may be true for some books, it is not the case with all of them.  I find that beginning my unit study with an activity creates the mood I want as we tackle another topic.  There is just no substitute for an engaging, interactive hands-on activity to begin your unit study.

• Using my main book that I decided on early as my spine and that I talked about in Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together helps me to piece together my beginning week.  There is no need to try to find vocabulary words that are a natural fit for my unit study because I did my work way early by choosing a superior book for my unit study.  Choosing a spine or main guide carefully gives you a huge boost and makes lesson planning a cinch.

Also, I looked back at the sub-topics that I wanted to stay focused on to decide my objective for the week. Since this is the beginning week, then I do want to focus on the basics of my topic. Think of the way a topic would naturally be introduced when lesson planning for the entire unit study.  Begin with the basics of a topic.

• Focusing on the basics in the beginning instead of jumping right into complicated sub-topics will help your children remember key points from other unit studies that you considered that are linked to this one.  Give them time to simmer on the subject a bit.  Don’t rush the meditation process.

For example, for week 2 I will want to fold in some facts, as a reminder, that we learned from our study of a Coral Reef.  Having time to adjust to the topic for a week, they can now brainstorm and connect it with information they previously know.

Then, reviewing your lesson plans and using my form above, look at how easy I covered a variety of school subjects for the week.

• Remember to not force a fit for the sake of covering that subject.  Though we do a unit study exclusively when we are focused on one,  I can have the boys supplement with math and grammar if needed.

Relax and design your lesson plans as an extension of your personality and with the unique strengths and weaknesses of your children in mind.  It is so much more enjoyable this way and meaningful.  As you can see from my form above that covering school subjects comes much easier than you think.

All of this looks good on paper right? Now, how do we execute all of this?  How does a day look in the life of a unit study family?  Next post, I will show you how we balance the day.

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together