unit studies

Being 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(2) No Missing Books, Curriculum or Outdated Resources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

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