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Alcat
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 7:44am | IP Logged
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Hi all!
I am a confessed unit study failure. That being said I am a planner failure  . I have tried for years to find the "perfect" way for me to plan and my dc to learn. It's not happening.
We continue to fall into the rut of worksheets and only hitting the 3-4 R's . I think a large part of the problem is me; a lack of discipline and a lack of order.
I love having my dc at home with me, but I feel as if we aren't getting anywhere. I have been thinking back on the times we have been really happy in our homeschooling and it was when we did a LOT of read alouds. The kids are older now and I would still LOVE to do that, but they now need to have something to show for it if we are going to listen to mama read all day long 
I have tried lapbooks, because I really like to craft- but they always fall flat, never get done... even notebooking tends to fail (mainly because I get board- I know a horrible example to give the kids!).
Any suggestions on how to do unit studies for the disorganized, flighty, undisciplined, would rather be crafting person? I was thinking of just reading our way through certain time periods but I'm wondering about what kind of work, projects to give the kids....
I loved the "Chunky" post. It really got me thinking about why we aren't having "fun" any more. I agree that the year needs to be done in chunks. It was a freeing feeling to hear that some of you don't do things in an orderly way but jump around in your subjects....
Thanks!!!
Alison
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mom to ds15, dd13 ,ds11, dd8, dd6, ds4, & dd18mos
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 8:31am | IP Logged
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Hoping you get some replies Alison. When my ds was in 3rd and the next child was just a "preschooler" we did lots of unit studies. That kid knows more about the Revolutionary War than any of my other kids because we had so much fun studying it. We did bugs, birds, all sorts of things. Now that I have 4 that I am teaching, I get overwhelmed and we use a boxed curriculum. I think my kids are learning all that they should, but the thrill is gone! The idea of doing a unit study is overwhelming to me, especially since my kids are all at different levels and have different interests now. I'm actually thinking of doing one based on a book I am reading, Animal Vegetable Miracle, but I'm not getting very far in the planning of it.
So, I'm no help but I'm just saying "I hear ya!" I would love to know how to make unit studies work again.
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Becky
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Alcat
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 8:55am | IP Logged
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Becky, I'm with ya. I have been loosely using MODG for the past couple of years because I can no longer do it all myself. We just need to make some things more.... fun/interesting? I'm thinking about my 2nd and 4th graders, they are easy to combine because the 2nd grader is advanced and the 4th grader hasn't gotten reading down pat yet. My dh took over schooling ds11 due to discipline issues (wonderful boy, but he didn't want to do his school work  )
Maybe it's just that time of year (normally it's Feb.) when we just need to spice things up a bit? I knew there was a problem when I didn't want to start school after Christmas
I just want to fall in love with homeschooling again. I don't want to have these days that just drag on with seat work. I want my kids to want to learn again- and not run away from me 
Alison
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 10:39am | IP Logged
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Alcat wrote:
Maybe it's just that time of year (normally it's Feb.) when we just need to spice things up a bit? I knew there was a problem when I didn't want to start school after Christmas
I just want to fall in love with homeschooling again. I don't want to have these days that just drag on with seat work. I want my kids to want to learn again- and not run away from me
Alison
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Yes! I agree. MODG worked fine for my ds when he was in 7th and 8th and it's working fine for my dd in 5th. My 3rd grader definitely needs more excitement though. He's not a reader like my older two. My K'er is mostly along for the ride at this point, but he's going to need more of a project or unit based curriculum too I think.
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Becky
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Tina P.
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 11:15am | IP Logged
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I'm no help, either, I'm afraid. When I want "spice," I generally start reading aloud. I know that sounds just dumb, but usually, we find something in each chapter we read that we can fly with. We swap classics with light, fun reading. For instance, I'll read Pinocchio or Secret Garden and then Freddy the Pig or Boxcar Children. We just sort of glean from each chapter (sans plans ) what we want to do with it. We discuss and then we cook a meal or bake or learn about Florida or India or England or the historical period in which the book is set or whatever. Because our "unit studies" (I don't even know whether you can legally call them that) are attached to day-to-day math, spelling, grammar, and usually science, we have to make the unit pretty unstructured so that we're not sitting around reading or studying for hours on end beyond the day-to-day stuff. Does any of this make sense?
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Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
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Tina P.
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 11:20am | IP Logged
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And as an addendum to my post (and after having read yours over again), I must ask, why *don't* you craft with he kids? I know that the Waldorf curriculum promotes hand work ... Either you could read a crafty book with them and craft as part of your unit or just do it on a daily, every-other-day, or weekly basis, depending upon interest.
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JuliaT
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 1:05pm | IP Logged
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I don't know if I am going to be any help, either. What we do is not a pure unit study as we use curriculum for the basics.
We use a chapter book as our jumping off point and we go from there. The liberating thing I have done this year is that I haven't planned the unit. I skim the book over to see what rabbit trails we might be interested in doing then I look over the web for any help in those areas. I go through the library shelves (ours and the public library's) for coordinating books and that is it. I only read the chapter over the night before and decide then what we are going to do for the next day. This has helped my enthusiasm as I am not bogged down on planning and then having the plans not happen. This is working very well for us.
Right now we are reading Chasing Vermeer for our chapter book. We have been doing pentomino puzzles, learning about Vermeer, reading about crop circles, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and other mysteries. We are also learning some map skills. My kids, who usually do not get excited about school, are quite enjoying our unit.
I do not do daily planning but I do have to plan what books we will be doing for a few months in the future so I can buy some resources. I wanted to do a unit on the human body next month. We will be reading Hachet by Gary Paulsen for that unit. We will also be learning survival skills furing our learning. March will be I am Regina (Native Americans, First Nations) and for April I wanted do a unit on Africa. I am not sure what book we will be using. I think I will buy King Solomon's Mines and Amos Fortune, Free Man and see which one will work for us. May will be for Carry On , Mr. Bowditch. I needed to know ahead of time what we will be doing so I can order some things from Rainbow Resource. I will just order a few books and a few craft and activity books for each subject.
This is getting long but I just wanted to say that this has put the life back into our learning time. I have the enthusiasm back. I thought I had lost that for good.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3 (10,8,6)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 1:53pm | IP Logged
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Julia, it sounds as if you've got a really great groove going on! Good for you!!! 
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Alcat
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
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Tina- I just talked with the kids about doing some projects from their reading... the dreaded diorama has them chomping at the bit I don't mind crafting with the kids if they want to craft. My oldest hates crafting my dd9 loves it and the 7yrold just wants to "build stuff" . I also have two pint sized wrecking balls (3yrold and 1yrold) so we try to keep the crafting free-for-all confined to their nap time  . We're gonna work on it
Julia- I love the books you've picked out! Dd9 wants to do a Native Americans study, so I wanted to find a chapter book that would go along with that. I am reading ds7 Treasure Island right now and I am hoping to follow up with some history with that.
I guess I'm also wondering about when you do a unit study if you have the children do some "work"... like copy work, narrations, artwork??? Do you require it? I feel like we should document the things we learn (at least for Daddy's sake If you do any "work" how do you "store" it- notebooks, file folders, lapbooks....
Thanks for making me feel less guilty for just plain old reading stories for school
Alison
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JuliaT
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 3:38pm | IP Logged
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Alison, this is a work in progress for me. I do have them do 'work' but I haven't figured it all out yet. I don't have them do copywork or narrations because that is part of our 'basics.'
I am concentrating on writing for these units. For my oldest, we are focusing on writing reports and stories. For this unit that we are doing now, she will be writing a research paper on Amelia Earhart. It will only be a page long but I want to introduce her on how to do research and how to organize her writing. My two youngest are working on making sentences. For every pentomino piece that Calder (Chasing Vermeer) pulls out of his pocket, the kids make a sentence with a word that starts with that letter.
We are also making a poster on the various mysteries in history and science. I am trying to get my ds ( my middle child) to write more, so writing little blurbs and putting them together for a poster is about all he can handle now. I also have a map skill workbook that the kids are working on.
It all depends on the book. For Chasing Vermeer there is alot of research and writing as that lends well to the rabbit trails. For Hatchet, it will be more hands-on as we will be learning survival skills. I will do some creative writing for that as well.
For the Native American unit, we will do crafts, art and research. The same for the African unit. I would really like to make a saltdough map of Africa as we have never done anything like that. Whatever pops into my head, I try to figure out if it will work into our unit.
As far as storage goes, I'm not there yet. Right now, all of the kids' work is schlumped together in a file folder. This is not ideal but I just haven't had time to thnk about this extensively.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of3 (10,8,6)
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Alcat
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| Posted: Jan 09 2010 at 8:09am | IP Logged
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Julia,
I like this controlled chaos approach  . I think that's what I'm trying to figure out- how to "do" a unit type study with out it being so... contrived?
I can't read from someone's unit and do it I just never seem to make it happen- I've tried  I love to come up with my own stuff, but with six children... I just can't do it all any more kwim?
So perhaps the (for me) answer is to continue to use MODG (it is gentle in the younger grades, though watch out for Jr.High!) and work off of more great books.
To tell you the truth, I can pinpoint when we left our read aloud adventuring- when I was pregnant with my 5th child I couldn't stay awake for read aloud time! Things didn't get any better once she arrived- she was a no sleep kinda kid . That is all it takes to disrupt a routine.
I hear what your saying about writing- we're working on it too. It's coming along. I was able to borrow the IEW dvd's and that was VERY helpful. I found it meshed well with MODG approach. My dd9 is very visual so the poster idea is great- but she doesn't mind copy work and writing... Take heart my ds11 didn't do any real writing until this year and he is doing a great job now (can't say enough about IEW!)
Theresa, I went to your blog (always love visiting it!) and looked at your son's pirate NB to glean a few ideas for my ds. Your son's work is beautiful.
Thanks ladies, I love hearing these laid back ideas!!!
Alison
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JuliaT
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| Posted: Jan 09 2010 at 12:32pm | IP Logged
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Allison, I have had similar experience with already-made unit studies. I always end up doing things my own way anyway. That is why I decided to make up my own. But I only have three kids. For the number of children I have, unit studies work real well cause we do everything together. When we do our writing activities, though, life can get a bit crazy as I have 3 different levels of activities. What seems to be working for us, though, is I help the youngest and help my oldest if she needs it for spelling. Then when the oldest is done, she helps my middle child. This has worked out well but I don't know what I would do if I had to add another 3 into the mix.
I hope you find the right fit for your family. Alot of times, it takes a process of trial and error to find the right fit.
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Blessings,
Julia
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Tina P.
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| Posted: Jan 09 2010 at 2:07pm | IP Logged
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JuliaT wrote:
| I don't know what I would do if I had to add another 3 into the mix. |
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This is my issue. We have going-on-9 kids. I can't seem to do anything with any consistency. So when we lose steam, that's when I change the method up. And there are kids who take to certain methods better. I have one who might have been a great unschooler. I have another who likes Waldorf. And there are two in between those who do well using a classical approach. I haven't figured out what style the other two who actually do seatwork are yet. 
Anyway, having said that, I just purchased History Pockets so that I have *some* format to follow. Might this type of thing be something like what you're looking for?
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Jan 13 2010 at 6:32am | IP Logged
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Wow, Julia, I really like your ideas. I've never really done Unit Studies, but I'm going to think about them using your approach. Thanks!
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 Paula
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: How do you Unit Study?
