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12stars
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 12:27pm | IP Logged
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So I finally decided that units would work best for us this way I can include more of the children.
But I would like to know in real life how many units can you do for the school year and what are some of the subjects.
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Claudia in Southern California
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Mom to DD 14, DD 10, DD 7, DS 4, DS 2, 1 in heaven, and now due 5/11.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 12:42pm | IP Logged
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That really depends. It depends on how much you plan for each unit, and how comfortable you feel deviating from your plans.
Some units may be more involved than others. For instance, if you did a unit on ancient Egypt, it could take months if you like. In contrast, a unit on a particular picture book may last only a week or two.
Sometimes a unit may be planned for only a short time, but end up taking longer if the children's interests lead on to more and more topics within the unit. Sometimes units planned for longer fizzle out sooner than expected. The beauty of unit studies is in their inherent flexibility.
As far as topics, anything is fair game. From frogs to Africa to the civil war.Whatever is interesting to you and your kids. Why not have them each pick a topic for you all to study together?
I know this probably isn't too helpful, but it is realistic in that there are no hard and fast rules for unit-studies.
Keep asking questions! We will do our best to answer them!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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MaryM
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 1:01pm | IP Logged
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I would second much of what Theresa said. It isn't set for me and varies from year to year. On average I would say we probably do about one per month. Some like Theresa said, might cover several months - others we focus on just for a week or so. We take lots of mini trails which may only be a few days. I like being spontaneous and often go off on something that is current (like elections - thanks Marilyn) or is available for a prescribed time (like we are doing Gold right now because our science museum has a travleing exhibit here for 2 months).
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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12stars
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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I have a few resources for ideas but what do you like to use? I am pleasantly surprised by all that is out there. I have to ask the girls what they would like. I know they like history I really like the middle ages and my girls have liked various science topics also so I will look more into it and how to set it up. Do you follow a format? Do you have lesson plans for the units?
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Claudia in Southern California
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Mom to DD 14, DD 10, DD 7, DS 4, DS 2, 1 in heaven, and now due 5/11.
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MaryM
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 2:30pm | IP Logged
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I was thinking about this more after I posted, and really would have to say we generally have more than one unit going at a time - they often overlap. If I had to narrow it down the unit studies would be in the subjects of history and science generally. Sometime a lit. study but that is usually as a part of a historic period study as well.
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mary K
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 5:57pm | IP Logged
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We try to do a unit each month, but will lengthen or shorten it depending on interest. We break our units up by season: fall-history, winter-science, spring-geography, summer-music/art. I ask my kids what they are interested in and use that as a springboard. This is for the 13, 10 and 8 on Thursday crew. My 18 and 15yo study on their own and my 5 and 2 yodd play and learn.
God bless,
Mary-NY
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joann10
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 7:09pm | IP Logged
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We are like most folks here and usually complete one unit a month. Our units often become lapbooks, this seems to work the best with my 6 and 8 year olds.
We have been working on a space unit for the past two weeks. This is the third week and I still a few more picture books to read and we are going to make a space mobile for our "grand finale." You can see it here, and here, and here.
Since we save our lapbooks I can go back and add things down the road. We made a Blessed Mother lapbook last year, but when good ideas come along (especially for this board)  we just add another element to our work.
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CandaceC
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| Posted: May 06 2008 at 9:07pm | IP Logged
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Well, I'll be the oddball...we rarely take a month on any one subject. That said, we use Five in a Row and HSS for literature based unit studies but I also add in some of my own units as well.
I am ready to move on after a good, solid week - at the most, 2 weeks on one subject.
Someone just asked on the FIAR board how many titles we rowed last year. I looked back at my planner, we rowed 35 titles 2 years ago. This past year we are finishing up 30 titles/units.
That said, next year, I'm planning on doing 2-3 books/units per month. And we school year round. So, that is minimum 24.
Of course, like I said, these units are smaller than a full-blown month long thing like some of the ladies are describing. We did do gardening for a month, however, I split it up into various books. 1 week we did Peter Rabbit, 1 week we did all about flowers, one week we learned about planting/seeds, etc.
So, there you have my eclectic answer! :)
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
His Mercy Is New
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: How many Units per school year?
