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unit studies

Day 9 Flow of Our Day with A Unit Study Schedule 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.

We’re on day 9 flow of our day with a unit study schedule. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. I’m doing 10 days of diving into unit studies by creating a unit study together.

Homeschoolers are anything but typical and that difference is reflected in the flow our day with a unit study schedule.

I cringe when I think about sharing “typical homeschool schedules” only because I don’t want to ever give you the impression that this is the best way for the season of homeschooling that you are in right now.

Day 9 Flow of Our Day with A Unit Study Schedule 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

But having said that, I would rather share with you how my unit study schedule works for my day so that you see how relaxed that it can be. 

I have had many schedules, even having to schedule to half-hour increments where needed.  And all of them have worked for the various stages of homeschooling that I have been at in my journey.

So sharing the groove to our unit study day, I am hoping that you see that when planning by “blocks of time” if you can, you have more control over your day. 

UNIT STUDY SCHEDULE

Freedom with a block of time still gives me boundaries and helps me to plug along in the day.

Too, it allows me to decide if we need to focus on a previous day’s assignment or work on the next assignment in our unit study.

The Flow of Our Day With A Unit Study Schedule

Too, I am an early riser and believe in the value of getting the day started early because I don’t want to waste any time. 

No, we don’t have to start schooling right then, but I like having a little bit more time to enjoy quiet mornings.  

Believe me, it was not always possible with little ones, but they grow up, trust me.

We start our day early most mornings with school too and I do occasionally begin our day with fun subjects like geography, history and science and especially if we feel a bit of burnout coming.

However, for a majority of our homeschooling years, we begin our morning focused on the 3 Rs. 

HOW A DAY FLOWS WITH UNIT STUDIES

I have read numerous articles throughout the years and we have experienced the same thing and that is my sons prime time for learning is first in the day. 

Tackling tougher subjects first instead of giving left over time to them allows them to not be frustrated on such essential life-long skills. 

For most kids tough subjects are usually math and some of language arts like writing.

It is especially important to me to cover math and grammar first because those subjects are harder to cover in a unit study and I don’t want them to suffer. 

For the little ones, you will want to focus on phonics first as well. 

Too, a fun hands-on project waiting to be done in your unit study is a great motivating factor for you for your kids to finish the skill subjects early.

Relaxing and savoring our moment with our unit study is more satisfying when I know that I don’t have to force a subject to fit. Get it done early and move on to the delight of the unit study.

It has been my experience to not labor subjects like math, grammar and phonics. If they fit in a unit study topic, then fine.  If not, always schedule time for them separately and move on to enjoying your day.

Blocks of time work for us. And I always make sure I have time to give to my youngest son if he is struggling and allow time for them to finish up an assignment that might have taken a little longer to cover.  

A block type of schedule allows us longer stretches of time to set up our hands-on materials, work on them and not have to put them away right then for the day. 

We can come back later in the day to work on them also.

10 DAYS OF CREATING A UNIT STUDY TOGETHER

As you can see from my schedule above, we are either together for out unit study from about 10:00 a.m.ish on or right after we finish our early lunch, which is normally around noon.

I decide each day how we will spend it depending on the previous day’s assignment.

A unit study schedule should have an ebb and flow, but be relaxed and flexible.

Do you think you can create an easy unit study schedule based on the tough subjects that you need to tackle first?

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Day 9 Flow of Our Day with A Unit Study Schedule 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

Day 7 Unit Study Activity Ideas 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.

On day 7 I have unit study activity ideas 10 days of diving into unit studies. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. I’m doing 10 days of diving into unit studies by creating a unit study together.

Today, I want to stretch and expand your knowledge of what other unit study activities and ideas you could use to enhance the topic that you have chosen.

Day 7 Unit Study Activity Ideas 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

One of the biggest fears about planning unit studies is that activity ideas may run slim to none (not ever the case, but it feels like it anyway) for your topic. 

So having your quiver full of ideas avoids stuck-itis when it is time to plan your unit study.

Also though depending on what subjects you want to emphasize in your unit study, the ideas here will give you options to choose from for each subject.

UNIT STUDY ACTIVITY IDEAS PAIRED TO SUBJECTS

In other words, I have organized ideas by subjects and have added activities for a variety of ages/grades. 

You can decide which activities works best for your children’s abilities regardless of age.

One last thing about the activities listed below and that is I have tried to keep the ideas as general as possible to use with any topic. 

But some ideas don’t make sense, unless I give you an example of how to use them. 

Day 7. Unit Study Activity Ideas. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

To make the ideas more clear, I give you specifics in how to connect that idea to an actual activity.

Let’s get started.

LANGUAGE ARTS IDEAS FOR A UNIT STUDY

  • Hands- On Book Report. Make a book report mobile hanger.
  • Make you own themed paper to illustrate/write. Decorate with stickers or draw an art border.
  • Do a skit based on any piece of literature. {Shakespeare}
  • Add grammar study points on a “O” ring and laminate.  Anything on an “O” ring makes it hands on instead of worksheets and you have that tool for a longer time to use with younger children.
  • Add bird seed, rice, or beans to a plastic bottle and make I Spy words.
  • Write backwards like Leonardo Da Vinci.  {Mirror writing.}  Find a penpal.  Start a cookbook.
  • Puppet Show. Create a timeline for events in a book. Round up famous speeches and study them.
  • Journal with art or journal by pictures only. Do Mad Libs for grammar.
  • Create a list of proverbs.  Add to it each day.  Do a noun hunt, verb hunt,etc. Do word dominoes.

Next, look at some hands on math ideas.

MATH IDEAS FOR A UNIT STUDY

  • Build a model bridge. Make your own abacus. Play Uno. Start a business for a child entrepreneur who sees no need for math.
  • Build place value models. Create visual number lines. Create calendars with number and values.
  • Make secret codes and decipher them. Make your own board game for math.
  • Make your own groups of ten counters by using popsicles and gluing beans or any other favorite object on it.  Skip count by actually skipping and counting.
  • Snowflake symmetry. Design your own tiling patterns.
  • Make an addition wheel, make a paper die to practice use of any of the basic 4 operations. Create your own problems on the paper die.
  • Draw and cut out templates to show Pythagorean theorem by making them puzzle pieces.
  • Play store. Create a math dictionary. (We did this one year and it is a great reference tool all year round.)
  • Math card games to teach fractions.
  • Kitchen geometry.
  • Plan, cook, and shop for a meal.
Unit Study Activity Ideas

Then look at history/geography and science ideas.

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY IDEAS FOR A UNIT STUDY

Now look at history/geography ideas.

SCIENCE IDEAS FOR A UNIT STUDY

  • Draw/Label a cell. 
  • Build a website. There are plenty of easy free website templates for new programmers.
  • Solar System Stickers (Dover Little Activity Books Stickers)
  • Take care of a small pet.
  • Do a report about a scientist (language arts & science).
  • Make charts & graphs instead of worksheets.
  • Do a YouTube video.
  • Illustrate an invention. 
  • Raise a tadpole, have a butterfly garden Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden
  • Create an ocean in a bottle. Instead of starting a garden, grow one vegetable.
  • Community service like a garden or visit a habitat. Do recycling projects.
  • Study an ant hill. Buy a kit for this unless you have a backyard full of them lol. Insect Lore Ant Hill

I didn’t list art or music because those subjects are a bit easier to find activities to do because by their very nature they are hands-on. 

I wanted to stick to subjects that took a bit more finesse on your part as a teacher to bring learning alive.

Also, don’t forget to memorize lists or things. For example, look at this list.

  • like continents and oceans,
  • Bible verses,
  • helping verbs,
  • skip counting,
  • quotes for history,
  • science songs,
  • months of the year, days of the week,
  • presidents,
  • 10 plagues on Egypt,
  • the 12 Knights of the Round Table, 
  • 50 states,
  • the wives of King Henry VIII (we remembered like this divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived),
  • 12 apostles,
  • the planets, types of clouds and colors of the rainbow as examples.

Collect items like rocks, postage stamps from different countries, arrowheads and coins.  Check out this List of items to collect.

Though certainly not complete, I do hope this expansive general list of ideas will help you to see how each subject can be brought to life through a number of activities.

10 DAYS OF CREATING A UNIT STUDY TOGETHER

But now that we have ALL of this information that we have been gathering, it is time to stream line this baby and create actual lesson plans we can use each day.

Next post, I will show you how to take the information I have given you and create a set of lesson plans!

What do you think? Are you starting to feel more confident about diving into a unit study?  If you have created one before, what advice do you have to add to this list?

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Day 7 Unit Study Activity Ideas 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together. On day 7 I have unit study activity ideas 10 days of diving into unit studies. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. I’m doing 10 days of diving into unit studies by creating a unit study together. I want to stretch and expand your knowledge of what other unit study activities and ideas you could use to enhance the topic that you have chosen.

Day 6 Unit Study Resources that Stir the Imagination 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.

Today is day 6 unit study resources that stir the imagination because supplementing is important. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. I’m doing 10 days of diving into unit studies by creating a unit study together.

You don’t have to be creative to create a unit study that sparks your children’s interest. You just have to be committed.  Like all things that are practiced, the more you design a unit study, the better you become at it. 

Day 6 Unit Study Resources that Stir the Imagination 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

Gathering resources plays a large part in whether your unit study is successful or just so so.

And gathering resources, for me anyway, is a constant factor in my journey. 

All teachers plan differently, but I prefer to plan as I go along.  For me, it keeps planning time to a minimal because I already have some basic resources to choose from.

I guess you can call the resources I gather my unit study starters.

You notice how I will change directions on you when we are studying one topic and post my resources that I gather up for another one.

  I just did it this week with the few resources I shared about a human body unit study. 

My secret to planning is to gather as I go and to plan one or many unit studies while I am doing another one.  It really keeps the planning part from being overwhelming when you can spread it out over a period of time.

Unit Study Resources that Stir the Imagination

Gathering resources is just one aspect.  Also, knowing which resources will help to create the love of hands-on learning and knowing which ones to ditch will keep your unit study moving along and not stagnant.

Look at my list of things that I got to on a regular basis for my unit study starters.

Day 6. Resources that Stir the Imagination. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

Choosing resources wisely that will capture your children’s interest is not the only caveat to be aware of.

Hands-on or Drooping Hands

While I do whole heartedly agree with the fact that hands-on learning is an inherent part of any well educated child, I do believe that an overload of them or complicated ones can exhaust both teacher and child.

As new unit study converts, sometimes they tend to go overboard with hands-on learning.

Hands-on projects are like seasonings that we add to our food.  Just a pinch of it enhances our food.  Hands-on projects should not be overwhelming or exhausting.

Planning too many or did other things that made them hard to fit into your day can make unit studies turn to blah quickly.

4 UNIT STUDY MISTAKES

Look at some of these tips for adding hands-on resources that will not exhaust you or your kids.

Day 6 Unit Study Resources that Stir the Imagination 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. You don’t have to be creative to create a unit study that sparks your children’s interest. You just have to be committed. Gathering resources plays a large part in whether your unit study is successful or just so so. All teachers plan differently, but I prefer to plan as I go along.
  1. Avoid insanity by doing one project per child or grade level. Do one project for ALL of your children. Aim for a project that satisfies the middle age range of your children.
  2. Don’t do complicated projects. Choose projects that require normal household items you already have on hand. It is okay to gather supplies you don’t have on hand too, but try to plan ones where you have a majority of supplies on hand.
  3. Weigh doing long term projects carefully.  If you have very little kids {mostly under 8 or 9 years old} choose projects that have an immediate wow factor, i.e. blow up something.  You won’t hook them on hands-on learning if they have to always grow something that takes weeks or months to build.  As they grow older, they develop the love of waiting, watching and observing and then you can choose longer projects.
  4. Avoid doing all the work. If you have older kids, let them gather the supplies, decide some of the projects and lead the projects. Even when kids are young, they can learn by gathering up items on your list.

Unit Study Resources Organized

Key to using your resources is being able to find them after you have gathered them up.

An easy system and one that you can retrieve quickly always works best. 

And though I love Pinterest, the Pinterest boards are not really able to be highly organized at this time.  Pinterest really needs sub-boards. I’ve used  Evernote in the past.  Evernote is free and I find it way more practical than bookmarks because I am able to copy/paste just about anything onto it.  I organize it and type whatever I need to remember.

My very favorite way to organize is my Ultimate Unit Study Planner.

Day 6 Unit Study Resources that Stir the Imagination 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. You don’t have to be creative to create a unit study that sparks your children’s interest. You just have to be committed. Gathering resources plays a large part in whether your unit study is successful or just so so. All teachers plan differently, but I prefer to plan as I go along.

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Then look at more tips.

10 DAYS OF CREATING A UNIT STUDY TOGETHER

Ocean Unit Study Resources Gathered

Here are a few of the resources that I have for the Ocean Unit Study.

Update: I have since completed this unit study and have all these resources & more on free my Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook page.

Ocean Lapbook Cover Option 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Yum. Edible Ocean Layers @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Ocean Vocabulary Words and Wave Pocket @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Message in a Bottle Language Arts Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Ocean Lapbook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
How Low Can You Go Ocean Lapbook Starter @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Ocean Currents Minibook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
What is the Ocean Minibook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Ocean Currents and The Galapagos1
Winter Homeschooling - Look to the Sea. 17 Hands-On Activities for Two to Teens @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured
Edible Geography Sea Levels
5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 1 Look to the Sea. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured

Though there are volumes of links, I find that by grabbing just a few of the ones that better suit us or the ages of my children keeps me from storing links that we will not use.

Gathering resources is a practiced art no less important than teaching the unit study.  Be selective and choose ones that you think will inspire your unit study.

Do you find it hard to organize your resources or find them for your unit study?

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Day 6 Unit Study Resources that Stir the Imagination 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. You don’t have to be creative to create a unit study that sparks your children’s interest. You just have to be committed. Gathering resources plays a large part in whether your unit study is successful or just so so. All teachers plan differently, but I prefer to plan as I go along.

Day 5 Creating Unit Study Objectives 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.

Today is day 5 creating unit study objectives. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. I’m doing 10 days of diving into unit studies by creating a unit study together.

Head on I want us to tackle another myth or challenge about creating unit studies which is that they are hard to grade and even harder to satisfy educational standards. 

That doesn’t have to be the case with unit studies.  But like any creative teaching tool, you need to put measured steps in place.

Day 5 Creating Unit Study Objectives 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together

Satisfying the educationalese of a state or country if you live in one that requires stricter record keeping is important.  Even if you don’t live in a state or country that requires strict planning like I do, it is very important to decide what you want to extract from any unit study.  A unit study is only beneficial if it serves your goals or objectives.

If you want to include goals or objectives, then you will want to do them at this point in your planning.

10 DAYS OF CREATING A UNIT STUDY TOGETHER

Exploring Unit Study Goals & Objectives

Goals and objectives are technically or educationally speaking two very different things.  I won’t bombard you with too many educationalese, but it helps to understand a bit about them so you can chart progress.

Objectives are tiny measured steps.  It is hard to boil down about what objectives are to a few sentences, but at the same time I don’t want you to think there isn’t a simple explanation either.

Objectives in the educational world are precise, measurable and specific steps or what you want your children to learn.  Taking this one step further you want a clear objective because lesson plans are based on an objective.   The lesson plan is the explanation of how you are going to accomplish that very specific outcome you described in the objective.

Make sense?

On the other hand, a goal is just a broad sweeping statement about what you are going to study.  It is not about how you are going to do it.  A goal is like a mission statement.

Having a non-public school teacher background helps me to appreciate that I can either set objectives first or like I did with you here, choose the sub-topics first and then create objectives. 

The second option may seem probably weird, crazy and far-fetched for a public school teacher who plans normally the other way around.  In other words, standards are in place first. 

So they would plan a course description or goal and then jot down specific, measurable objectives to reach those standards.

Unit Study Goals & Objectives

I don’t want to cloud the difference for you.  We have freedom as home educators when it comes to preparing objectives or goals of a unit study. 

We can choose child-led learning by focusing on unit study topics and sub-topics and not objectives. 

Then, write our goal and objectives. 

This is perfectly sane, unique, and creative because you are putting the needs and interest of your family ahead of meeting standards. 

If however, you want to write standards for each grade and plan the other way like a public school teacher, it is fine too.

Overall, the nifty tip to being a technical teacher when you have to be and you don’t have a public school teacher background is knowing that a transition into creating objectives can be done by choosing sub-topics first.

Look at my goals and objectives on the Ocean Unit Study that I started below.  I divided my objectives into 2 general grade levels.

My Goal for the Ocean Unit Study

“To provide a learning experience showing the importance of oceans to all life on our planet.”

That’s it! Easy.  I could stop there because it is simple enough. 

But, I also want to add in “To marvel at the vastness of the ocean and the creation in it.” 

In other words, I want to remember that one of my goals is to build in my sons an appreciation for creation too.

Extracting Unit Study Objectives

Now, look at some of these objectives I came up with.  Remember, the key to creating your objectives is to be very specific and describe what your child is expected to do by the end of the unit.

Lower/Elementary level

  • Students will know the approximate size of the ocean.
  • Identify the oceans of the world.
  • Students will identify some animal and plant life that lives in the ocean.
  • Compare and contrast the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
  • Tell what coral is.

Middle/High School level

  • Using hands-on ideas students will identify how water moves around the world.
  • Build a model showing the tidal zones.
  • Identify the composition of seawater, currents, tides, waves, and marine life.
  • Analyze ways to protect our ocean resources.

This is certainly not all I would want to add, but I wanted you to get a running start in how you could create objectives and be technical if you ever needed to be.

Unit Study Goals and Objectives Sample

I hope I didn’t lose you in all this.  My mind goes to  details of planning and I just wanted to arm you with some technical background in case you have been timid to take the leap into unit studies.

Unit Study Day 5. Creating Unit Study Objectives. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

Also, I have created an easy planning page for you when you need it.

Understanding that you can have both goals and objectives while you savor the engaging interactive part of unit studies helps the teacher mom in all of us.

Are you going to create objectives with your unit study? I think we are just about ready to start pulling resources together now.

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10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Day 4 Finalize Sub-topics On a Unit Study 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies

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

Today is day 4 finalize sub-topics on a unit study. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies. I’m doing 10 days of diving into unit studies by creating a unit study together.

Curb a potential time waster like determining sub-topics. Use the chapters found in a topical book on the theme you have selected. It’s quite the nifty tip because a lot of the ground work on a topic has been laid for you. 

It keeps the part that can be overwhelming, which is planning a unit study, to manageable.

UNIT STUDY PLANNING

Of course you determine if you want to cover those chapters as sub-topics or not. 

Mix and match those chapters turned sub-topics with other book. Too, look at articles or magazines you have on hand on the subject too.

Too, the process of lesson planning can be simplified. Below I show you how I created my draft planning page from just one book, Discover the Ocean.

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

I wanted to use one book to give you the basics of planning. 

After you plan a couple of unit studies, you will come up with your own sub-topics and like I mentioned add others from other resources you have too.

Unit Study Planning. Ocean Unit Study Planning Page

        {part of the form from my unit study planner}

Also, when it came to the literature column, I just dotted down what we have in the house already which fits nicely with this topic. 

Then, I researched the scriptures to find ones that applied to my topic of Ocean as well. 

And, you can take the Bible study one step further by adding facts about the parting of the Red Sea.

FINALIZE SUB-TOPICS ON A UNIT STUDY

Another reason I picked out this book to use as an example with you is because it has a glossary section in the back too. 

Right there I have my spelling and vocabulary section built in and to choose from for my unit study. 

I just wanted to show you that if you pick out a resource that is extremely helpful, it can make preparing unit studies a cinch. 

As you gain more experience and become a pro planner, it becomes easier to piecemeal a unit study from several different resources.

After choosing the sub-topics, then assign those sub-topics as subjects.  Now, you can glance at your unit study as a whole to see if your unit study will be lop-sided or if it looks like you have a nice balance of subjects being learned throughout the topic.

Remember, it doesn’t matter if it’s lop-sided because that may be your focus.  This unit study on the ocean is a bit more lop-sided intentionally because I needed it to be more science focused.

As you can see from the above example, I can still create another column for art if I choose to at anytime.  My primary focus for that column right now is to use the misc. ideas to focus on some vocabulary that I know Tiny needs. 

That is the flexibility of creating your own unique unit study because it can be slanted whichever direction your family needs or wants to go.

Unit Study. Day 4. Finalize Sub-Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

Remember this is my big overview and certainly I do not have to stop here with planning and wouldn’t want to. 

I can still add some art and keep on with sub-topics.  Having more sub-topics is another key to keeping your unit study moving along. 

10 DAYS OF CREATING A UNIT STUDY TOGETHER

Sometimes we will take a sub-topic a day and for other unit studies, we may take weeks.

Ease of Unit Study Planning

Flesh out your unit study with sub-topics generously because you may either move ahead faster or find some you don’t like as well.  You will have plenty to choose from if that becomes the case.

At this point too, I also look at other resources I may need.  I listed some here for you below that make studying about the ocean fun. 

The way I decide if I want to buy something versus borrowing from the library is if I know I will use that resource for many years like with multiple children or if it’s a resource with facts that can be studied over and over again throughout the years even with one child.

You have just created a course of study with relatively little ease as well.

I got so excited to show you all of this information floating around in my head that I got ahead of myself.  We are not quite ready for the stage of pulling resources together. 

I have one more post to show you about planning before we start pulling more resources.

Unit Study Planning

Pulling resources is still kind of like planning too, but I wanted to show you how you can satisfy the educationalese of a state or country if you live in one that requires stricter record keeping. 

If you don’t live in a place like that, then who knows you may astound folks with your teaching prowess after I show you the next post on this series which contains a few educationalese.

Did I lose you? 

Are you with me?  Have you grouped your sub-topics together for the theme you chose?  If you are using my unit study planner, then just pencil them in. 

If not, create your sub-topics some way that you remember them.

Are you having any problems creating any of the subject sub-topics from the resource you chose?

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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