Regardless of the methodology you normally use for your homeschooling, unit studies can give you a nice break from the norm at times. They’re especially nice when you’re trying to teach your child(ren) to think a little more about how the different parts of life fit together, and they can also give you a break when you’re faced with a stalemate.
So how do you decide which topics to pursue when you’re ready to do a unit study? Well, take a look at your son and see what he is deeply interested in. Those are the topics to follow with your unit studies. Another way to decide what would make a great unit of study is to look through your year’s studies and note if there are any “holes” in the subject that you think should be filled. Once you find that “hole”, you can find a unit of study on that topic and take a week or two to teach it. For example, if your child finds black holes fascinating, but their science textbook covers them in only a paragraph or two, then this is the perfect opportunity to do a unit of study on astronomy.
Once you’ve decided what you’d like to make a unit study about, all it takes is a little time and creativity and you can create your own unit studies. Assembling your own curriculum around a topic sounds difficult, but if this weren’t the case, educational companies like “Teacher Created Materials” wouldn’t publish and sell as many great unit studies as they do.
There are 2 main drawbacks to designing your own unit studies. First of all, it takes time. If you’re a busy parent, this might be reason enough to take a trip to the nearest teacher supply store with your credit card in hand. Second, you may require access to a couple of grade level subject books (ie science, language arts, or math) so you know what skills are typically covered at a particular grade level. If you have a good library with an educational books department, then you might as well have the perfect excuse to spend a long Saturday with a pocket full of change in the library with a stack of books. Another idea is that if you have a good set of internet research skills, you can spend Saturday holed up at home.
Now that we see the drawbacks, what are the benefits of a unit study? You can teach whatever your heart desires. Also, if you decide to create your own unit study, you will find that it is cheaper and more affordable than tracking down a pre-made unit study. Also, no one knows your child as well as you do, and therefore no one can prepare a unit of study for your child as well as you can.
Whenever you are creating your own unit of study, you should keep in mind that your unit of study should cover all the subjects you would normally teach, unless you plan to skip a specific subject and continue to work on your regular syllabus for that subject. However , to create a complete unit study, you should include the first 2 tracks from the following list and as many other tracks as you can logically fit in there as well. Now for the list:
(1.) Math: You must create math problems at your child’s level. For example, if you are working with a young child on a unit study on baseball, then you might practice addition with bats and balls, write a story problem that talks about the number of pitches thrown until the team got to the final out, etc However, older children would need something more at their level. For example, you can talk about the speed of the bat, the distance the ball travels, or the number of hot dogs eaten by individual fans of the team.
(2.) Language Arts: This area includes reading, comprehension, grammar, and writing skills. While you don’t need to include each of these items in every unit study you write, you should have your child write something about it. A great suggestion here would be to have your child read a book on the subject and then write a narrative about what he read in the book.
(3.) Science: Sometimes a unit study lends itself quite easily to science, but other times you’ll have to do a little more work. For example, a unit study on insects will get you off the hook, since the entire unit study is about science. However, if you are doing a unit study on ancient Egypt, you may need to take some time to look at the creations of Egyptian engineers, study mummification, think about ancient medicine, or consider the tools the Egyptians used to make his work. .
(4.) Social Studies or Geography – This may be your main topic, but if it is not, you will need to incorporate some information into your topic. Some questions that can help you here include: Where was your subject first seen or invented? What culture surrounded the era or event? Where did this happen? You may also want to learn more about the people of that period and place.
(5.) Art: Take time to draw, build, act, design, or create. You could design a Roman mosaic, sketch the genetic makeup of an insect, build a temple out of clay or LEGO, create a tapestry to illustrate the unit you are studying (felt shapes work for quick tapestries when embroidery takes too long), or paint the flowers you are learning about.
(6.) Music: Sometimes music fits very well into a unit of study. For example, you can always listen to some folk music while exploring the civil unrest of the 1960s. However, if you’re studying something more scientific, you may need to work a little harder to include music in that unit of study.
(7.) History – Adding history to a unit study should be relatively easy, regardless of the topic. You could simply research when an event started or an item was invented or you could talk about the events and times that affected the inventor of an item.
(8.) PE – Here again, you may need to get a little creative. However, when you find that PE fits into your unit of study, you should definitely use it! For example, if you are studying the ancient Greeks, then you could run foot races like they did.
If you’re still not sure what to do for your first unit of study, try “tailing” your child(ren) for a couple of days and watch what they do. For example, if your child spends all of her extended time in books, then consider a unit study based on literature (ie, how books are made). On the other hand, your child can spend his time outdoors digging for rocks. So why not do an archeology or rocks and minerals unit study?
Of course, there are some themes that you can use multiple times as your child(ren) grow(s). These include:
(1.) Animals, horses, or mammals
(2.) Baseball, basketball, fencing, or sports in general
(3.) Kitchen or catering (which may include business and economic information)
(4.) Kites
(5.) Flight
(6.) Transportation
(7.) Time
(8.) Historical cultures (ie, medieval history, ancient Egypt, etc.)
The spark of a unit study is ignited every time your child(ren) mention(s) an interest. Whenever they do, you have to write it down somewhere. Keep a running list of interests and soon you’ll have more than you’ll know what to do with. However, even if your child only shows a deep interest in one or two topics, you should take the time to explore them. You may find that you can create several unit studies based on the first one as new interests develop.
