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kristinannie
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| Posted: June 04 2011 at 2:58pm | IP Logged
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I have always just passed over anything that was a unit study. I went to a HS convention and saw a talk on unit studies and I was definitely intrigued, but also overwhelmed. Anyway, I decided to design my own year of history this year for K (kids around the world) and it has quickly turned into a unit study approach. We talk about animals from the area, geography, do crafts, make food, read literature and stories from the region, talk about culture, etc. It is seriously a lot of fun and I can't believe how much the kids are retaining (even DD3). I am starting to think that I might be interested in doing unit studies (I will do my own math and grammar) for early elementary.
Have any of you used unit studies and do you like them? I definitely need lots of living books. I would like to purchase something already at least a little worked out since this has been A LOT more work than I anticipated this year. I was looking at KONOS, but was unsure if it would be appropriate for Catholics. I am strongly considering Paths of Exploration (and the other two in the series) for American history in late elementary since it is CM in approach and is completely nondenominational. It is much easier IMO to add Catholic stuff than to dance around Protestant stuff. Anything you have to tell me about would be greatly appreciated!
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Katherine Elizabeth 8 months
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JuliaT
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 8:12pm | IP Logged
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My children learn much better with doing unit studies but I have problems with being consistent with them so we do them sporadically throughout the year. The way we do them now is to base them off of a book. To start our new school year off in Aug. we will be doing a unit on 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret.'
When we first started, I bought some units but I found that I tweaked it too much to warrant paying that kind of money so now I just make my own. I consider this a creative outlet for me. I love having the creative juices flowing when I am figuring out just how I am going to carry this off. I usually just google the subject or book along with 'lesson plans.' I have found quite a few gems this way. Homeschool Share is another site that has been very helpful.
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mom of 3(14,13 & 11 yrs.old)
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guitarnan
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 8:29pm | IP Logged
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We have used them sporadically, especially when on extended visits to family. They're more portable than all those regular books...and brought a nice change of pace when we had to do school away from home.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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kristinannie
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 9:11pm | IP Logged
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JuliaT wrote:
My children learn much better with doing unit studies but I have problems with being consistent with them so we do them sporadically throughout the year. The way we do them now is to base them off of a book. To start our new school year off in Aug. we will be doing a unit on 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret.'
When we first started, I bought some units but I found that I tweaked it too much to warrant paying that kind of money so now I just make my own. I consider this a creative outlet for me. I love having the creative juices flowing when I am figuring out just how I am going to carry this off. I usually just google the subject or book along with 'lesson plans.' I have found quite a few gems this way. Homeschool Share is another site that has been very helpful. |
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I think this will be my problem. I love the planning and the tweaking. I am not a do it by the book kind of girl! I am doing my own thing this year, but it is taking more time than what I had hoped. It has been worth it though since we are having so much fun!
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John Paul 8.5
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Dove
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| Posted: June 08 2011 at 10:14pm | IP Logged
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I love unit studies. Although I must admit that I find it easier to explore a subject and write up which books we used, museums we visited, and what activities we did after the fact rather than trying to find everything up front.
Unit studies certainly lend themselves to field trips and to encouraging a child to dive into an interest they have discovered.
I tend to unschooling too, so a lot of my unit studies over the years have been created by the kids and I simply facilitate, transport, and write up their learning.
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kristinannie
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| Posted: June 09 2011 at 9:35am | IP Logged
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Dove wrote:
I love unit studies. Although I must admit that I find it easier to explore a subject and write up which books we used, museums we visited, and what activities we did after the fact rather than trying to find everything up front.
Unit studies certainly lend themselves to field trips and to encouraging a child to dive into an interest they have discovered.
I tend to unschooling too, so a lot of my unit studies over the years have been created by the kids and I simply facilitate, transport, and write up their learning.
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Oh my gosh, maybe I am a secret unschooler. I never thought of it that way! 
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Dove
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kristinannie wrote:
Oh my gosh, maybe I am a secret unschooler. I never thought of it that way! |
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I think that school/learning should be fun. Generally that means child directed, but as long is it is real world and the kids get involved I see them having a good time and can relax that they are learning something at least.
My favorite thing about a child directed unit study is I simply tell the kid, "hey, I need a handwriting sample!" and they decide what they will do as the subject for their handwriting assignment. It is so much easier to get them to write when the majority of what they are writing is theirs to decide.
It is also fun to ask if they can find a math assignment for me in a unit study that does not have any obvious math. I'm wicked but the kids sure can get creative when asked for something odd.
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time4tea
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I love the idea of unit studies, but they have never worked for me with my more "Type A" personality  I have tried more times than I care to remember to follow a unit study with my dc, but after about a week I lose it. I just cannot get comfortable with the open-ended nature of unit studies, I find that uncertainty very unsettling and unpleasant. But hey, if you can do it, they sound like a really enjoyable way to learn!
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EmilyC
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We do unit studies. I like to rotate topics monthly, and I rotate between geography, history and science. So one month we might study Russia, another month would be the American Revolution, then the next month would be Human Body. I've tried schooling where we study the same topic all year, and honestly, we all get bored. I think by rotating subjects, I'm able to keep it more interesting. I tend to come up with my own unit studies, I've never bought a prepackaged one. I get lots of ideas by googling and searching the forums here. We read lots of books, write, draw, do fun projects and science experiments, watch documentaries, play games, there are endless possibilities!
Everyone has their own math and language arts--I don't include those in our unit studies. That way everyone is where they are supposed to be grade-level wise and then we can focus on the fun stuff for our units. I hope that makes sense...
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My secular lit-based curriculum:
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Have any of you used unit studies?
