Unit Studies: The Creative Way to Homeschool
Unit studies are a wonderful way to creatively homeschool your children. You can make a unit study on any topic that you or your child are interested in and incorporate the study of your school subjects into that area of interest. Even the 3Rs can be studied in this way (although I tend to use textbooks or workbooks for math and some of the language arts). So through this lens I would like to tell you about unit studies and how you can bring the creativity of unit studies into your homeschool. We will look at what you can do with a unit study, how you can purchase them to take the legwork out of it for you, or how you can create one yourself through how-to books that are out there. Unit Studies can take you and your children on great adventures, by exploring ancient civilizations, amazing science facts, and other fascinating topics.
"I have no experience with unit studies. What could I put in a study on Ancient Egypt,for example?"
Well, Let Me Tell You What You Can Put Into A Unit Study On Ancient Egypt
An Example Of Activities and Assignments
There are many different activities and assignments that you can put into a unit study. Say you are studying Ancient Egypt.You could do the following:* For literature or history study through living books, you could read a book of literature set back in the times of this civilization.
*For writing, you could write a report on a topic such as the clothing that they wore in this ancient civilization.
*For an activity to study their culture, you could make a recipe of a type of dish that they ate back then.
*For science, you could study how the Ancient Egyptians made paper out of papyrus. Or how they made bricks out of straw so that they could build the pyramids.
*For history, you could learn about the Pharoahs that ruled and do a biography notebooking page on each one.
*You could study the ancient civilization's art and architecture for art study.
*For geography you could draw and/or label a map of Ancient Egypt.
*Also, for literature and history, you could study their gods and goddesses, reading the myths of Ancient Egypt.
The possibilities are endless.
Purchasing Preplanned Unit Studies
When You Don't Want to Prepare Your Own
Unit studies can be put together on your own or you can buy them already made, complete with lesson plans and resource lists. The choice is up to you. Some homeschool moms are new to homeschooling, may want to use unit studies, but don't know how to put one together or just want the work to already be done for them. That is why I started Hip2Homeschool Unit Studies. There are also other unit studies out there that are excellent and would be a great addition to any homeschool. These were a God send to me when I was just starting out with unit studies and didn't quite know how to put one together on my own. There are also books out there, like the series by Valerie Bendt (see below), that tell you how to put one together, what you can include in a unit study. They were another excellent resource for me when I decided I wanted to put one together for myself.
Amanda Bennett Unit Studies
Amanda has an excellent selection of fun unit studies. Here is an example:
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Other Unit Study Books and Resources You Can Buy
How To Books and Resources
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Sorry, there are no results available from Amazon.Prepared Unit Study Links
- Hip2Homeschool Unit Studies
- This is my unit study website. So far I have units on Christmas Traditions, Japan, The Middle Ages, Easter, Exploring the Deep Sea and Its Creatures, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Rocks & Minerals. All of my units include a book and resource list, as well as daily lesson plans with reading assignments and activities/crafts. More recent ones include writing prompts/assignments and vocabulary lists. Geared towards grade K-8 but can be used with the older grades as well. I try to include something for all ages.
- Konos Unit Studies
- This is a Christian unit study series.Each unit study topic is centered around a character trait, such as honesty or attentiveness.You can use their lesson plans or put together your own.There are book and resource lists and activities listed in each of the volumes.
- Learning Adventures Unit Studies
- This is a unit study series by Dorian Holt. They are history-centered unit studies complete with lesson plans that include assignments for all subjects, except math. I have used the first one called A World of Adventure and it is excellent. Each volume is a year long unit study.It is geared toward grades 4-8.
- Amanda Bennett Unit Studies
- This is a series of unit studies by Amanda Bennett, each focused on one topic. I used the Thanksgiving one this past fall and really enjoyed it. You can also get notebooking pages to go along with each unit. Now her units have daily lesson plans for the younger grades and the older grades.
- The Weaver
- This is a series of unit studies put out by Alpha and Omega Publishers and are written by Becky Avery. Each volume contains a year's worth of units centered on Scripture. Subjects included are Bible, history, science, language arts,and geography for grades K-6. These include daily lesson plans.
Another Great Unit Study Resource
Heart of Wisdom Internet-Linked Unit Studies
Heart of Wisdom Unit Studies are excellent units for those of you who would like a Bible- based teaching curriculum.
Adam to Abraham: An Internet-Linked Unit Study
Amazon Price: $22.00 (as of 12/29/2009)
My Online Unit Studies & More
These are a couple of unit studies that I have on the web. They give book lists and activities and crafts to do for each unit. Website URLs are listed for the units as well. There are also some that were put together by a couple of my homeschool mom friends.
- Creation Science Unit Study
- An online Hip2Homeschool Unit Study by Heather Langston on Creation Science.
- Early American History Unit
- An online Hip2Homeschool Unit Study by Heather Langston on Early American History, from the time of Christopher Columbus to Pre-Civil War, using The Light and the Glory series of books by Peter Marshall.
Note: I will be doing the daily lesson plans to this unit and selling the whole unit on my website and the CurrClick website. - Viva la Mexico
- A unit study on Mexico by Melissa Telling of Lilliput Station.
- Chinese New Year Unit Study
- This is a unit on the Chinese New Year by my friend Jimmie.
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- casamonika casamonika Jul 12, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
- Great lens with great tips - more power to homeschoolers and more power to you :)
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- LilliputStation LilliputStation Apr 2, 2008 @ 6:36 am
- Great summary! This looks very nice, Heather.
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- Jimmie Jimmie Mar 29, 2008 @ 5:14 am
- Hi, Heather! I just discovered you here! Nice to have you at Squidoo! I've lensrolled this page to my Unit Study and Lapbooking Themes page.
Unit Study Blog Posts from Google
- Our Journey Westward » Unit Studies Revisited
- It's been well over a year since I posted anything about the nitty-gritty planning of my unit studies. I've had several email questions lately wondering how I plan, so I thought it might be time for a new post on the subject. ...
- Mama to 3 Blessings - Our Homeschool Blog: Farm animals / farming ...
- We started our unit study off with my son's new game he got for Christmas. Uno Moo! We had fun as a family playing. This game was given to my toddler but he is too young for it so I will modify the game for him, for now he just helps. ...
- Understanding Unit Studies Workshop
- Have you been wondering about unit studies? Do you want to learn what they are and how they are used in homeschooling? Come join Amanda Bennett, author of Unit Studies 101, and learn the basics of this highly effective educational tool. ...
- Unit Studies and the Power of Homeschooling « Advance Your ...
- Then, through trial and error, we discovered unit studies-and the light turned on, and away we went. The choice of homeschooling is a wonderful choice to make for many families, and the combined power of learning and following interests ...
by Hip2Homeschool
Hello, my name is Heather L. and I love to use unit studies in homeschooling my 6 kids. So much, that I started my own unit study business back in Dec... (more)
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