| Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp |
| Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp. All rights reserved. |
| about the book |
| The Homeschool Diner's Guide to Unit Studies for Homeschoolers by Julie Shepherd Knapp, copyright 2006 Unit Studies are a great way to encourage a love of learning. A Unit Study is a method of organizing a child's learning experiences within a framework of a single topic or theme. For example, a unit study on "horses" might include reading fiction about horses, studying horse breeds and anatomy, calculating grazing acreage and feed needed to keep horses, reading about the history of horse racing or horses in combat, a museum visit centered around horses in artwork, viewing movies about horses, writing poems and stories about horses, and drawing horses. Unit Studies can be adapted to appeal to any learning style and can combine a variety of homeschooling methods and approaches. (Let's Learn about Learning Styles gives a nice quick run-down of the different ways different kids like to learn.) Unit Studies are also a common choice for parents who need to teach multiple children at different grade levels because the children can read and do activities together but complete assignments at their own level. This form of "integrated learning" is very popular with homeschoolers of all ages, but especially with PreK - 6th grade. It can be used as the main method of learning, as a supplement to any method, as a fun "summer break" activity, or as the basis for self-directed learning projects. A Unit Study that is based on a child's favorite interest is a great way to start off a new school year, or to begin schooling with a reluctant learner. Try creating a unit study based on video games, football, Anime, hairstyling, or desserts - the possibilities are endless. Unit studies can be easily pulled-together using library materials, reference books, and Internet websites, so they are frequently parent-created. Unit Study lesson plans can also be purchased from several sources, such as those listed below. Curriculum Suppliers and Other resources: Here is a sampling of curriculum that incorporate Unit Studies and some independent suppliers of Unit Studies. If your child enjoys computer-based unit studies, you may find other interesting resources listed under the "Computer-Based Instruction" and the "Independent Research" sections. Home Schooling With Frugal Unit Studies by Nannette Gilbert Home2Teach.com has a free guide to help you plan and organize your own, parent-created unit studies, plus several free examples online. Homeschool Share -- an on-line cooperative of moms writing unit studies... because many minds make light work, over 95 free unit studies! Five in a Row - by Jane Claire Lambert - (preK - 6) literature-based unit studies, provides 5-day lesson plans and activities for each book covered, lessons for ages 2 - 12, arithmetic not included, optional Bible supplement available Ruth Beechick - in her book "You CAN Teach Your Child Successfully" educator Ruth Beechick describes her approach to a Christian-focused, literature-based, eclectic style of homeschooling that encourages unit studies and pulling together curriculum from the library. She also wrote the "Three "R's" Series" for teaching K - 3rd at home. Her books include when to teach various topics within the general subject areas. Moving beyond the Page - (currently K - 3) a literature-based approach, provides lesson plans and activity sheets that are built around four themes each year, incorporates a variety of children's books (fiction and non-fiction), that are included in the curriculum packages KONOS - (K - 8) character-building unit studies based on Bible verses, emphasizing hands-on activities and projects, provides flexible weekly goals and daily suggested activities, offers multi-grade options in each volume, math, phonics, and grammar not included, encourages discussion, emphasizes history-based dramatizations and dress-up The Weaver Curriculum - (K - 6) Bible-based unit studies contained in 5 volumes, teaches all grades at the same time, supplements available for PreK and 7 - 12, provides Day-by-Day lesson plans - the parent reads the lessons then presents to the students, lots of hands-on activities, science is related to the Bible theme of each chapter, optional tests provided, distributed by Alpha Omega Publications My Father's World -- Bible-based complete K - 1 curriculum, geography and history for 4th - 8th grades, uses hands-on and multi-age unit study approaches, integrates character development and Biblical worldview, Kindergarten includes a multi-sensory phonics approach to learning to read, aims for children to read short sentences by end of K Learning Adventures - ( 4th - 8th) history and literature based unit studies that incorporate Bible studies, a projected five volumes guide children thru history from anceint Egypt to (in the latest of three books) the 1860's, includes 180 days of lesson plans for all subjects except math, science is tied to topic being studied ArabesQ Islamic Academy - character-building unit studies based on Islamic Character traits or attributes of Allah, a "Classical Islamic Unit Studies " approach, provides lesson objectives and weekly lesson plans, options for multi-grade teaching (K-10) in each volume, math and phonics not included Homeschool Learning Network - a supplier of unit studies which include links to articles, music and art resources, list of books, provides no specific lesson plans - parents/students use what they want, includes multi-level teaching (for all grade levels). Most learning is online. Try some of their Free Unit Studies Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies - supplier of entirely Internet-based unit studies Learning from Baseball -- from TeacherFirst.com, links to lesson plans, websites, and online games that center on baseball, focus on math, science, or history... or create your own Baseball Unit Study Animals in Art: Animal Symbolism from The Incredible @rt Department -- a collection of resources (history, culture, artists) and lesson plans, all you need to create a unit study on animal symbols in art! Lego Lessons! from weirdrichard.com -- great ideas for Lego-focused activities you can incorportate into your own unit studies "4 2 Explore" Thematic Pathfinder - a collection of "lists of 4" websites useful for exploring over 200 topics, great for creating your own unit studies and webquests, arranged by subject area A to Z Teacher's Stuff Thematic Units -- dozens of themes with online resources listed for each (crafts, recipes, activities, printables, etc) PBS Art: 21 Online Lesson Library -- great ideas for constructing your own unit studies around art themes EDSITEment by the National Endowment for the Humanities - free K-12 lesson plans and unit studies TRISMS - Time-Related Integrated Studies for Mastering Skills - for middle and high school, can be student or parent -lead... options for multi-level teaching. Math not included. Science does not include experiments. Emphasizes critical thinking and analysis, provides structure but gives student choices, no textbooks, emphasizes research skills, students create their own course book, including a time line, biography questionnaires, worksheets, quizzes and tests, quite a lot of writing , uses readily available real books (historical fiction, biographies, and movies The Noah Plan - (K-12) Christian-focused, described as an "American" Classical Education Approach and Curriculum...but easily adapts to a Unit Studies approach, can be used to teach different grade-levels at same time. teaches French starting in K, includes online support forums and mentors and an optional online academy directed at teaching parents how to teach the curriculum. EDSITEment -- free lesson plans based on various and diverse works of literature, each would make a nice foundation for a unit study for the older student, a project by the US National Endowment for the Humanities Cadron Creek Literature-based Unit Studies --unit studies built around several bok series -- Little House on the Prairie, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Anne of Green Gables Lap Books -- a crafty 3-D way to display facts and artwork as part of a unit study, some examples can be seen at Scrapbooking to Learn, Peakmore Academy, Chavez Creative Publishing, Templates by Donovan has directions for various envelopes and folding elements, instructional books and supplies can be found at Tobin's Lab, there is also a Lapbooking Yahoo Group, Online Support Unit Safari -- a group where members contribute materials to form unit studies on a chosen topic, then a compiled list is sent to each member, Christian-focused Unit Study Collaborative -- members contribute suggestions to help each other create unit studies on a topic chosen by the group, Christian-focused, but others welcome |
| "People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing". -- Dale Carnegie "...since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned." -- John Holt |
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