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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Aug 27 2006 at 6:05am | IP Logged
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I have always felt that the unit study method was most effective in teaching my children, and have used them off and on. My problem with unit studies is the lack of Catholic units. I'm wondering which unit studies you've tried that have been the easiest to incorporate the Catholic faith into? Which have been the most anti-Catholic? What are your favorites?
Thanks!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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stacykay
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I'm not sure that this is what you're after, but here is a for instance, for us.
We finished up last year with Japan. While looking at Japan, we were able to read about St. Francis Xavier (the patron Saint of Japan,) his pal, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who figured into the scheme, as we read about the Jesuits who survived the A-bomb, at Hiroshima. And as they were faithful Rosary prayers, we integrated the Rosary more. We also found beautiful artwork ("Japanese" Madonnas) by a Japanese Carmelite nun. We read about St. Paul Miki, and his fellow martyrs, and did a painting, based on an image we found.
We will be doing alot more of the same, as we wander through Europe, this year.
So, some country studies lend themselves well to incorporating our faith. Now I have to say, Tibet did not.  Although it was fascinating, there wasn't much we could tie in to Catholicism (at least that I found.)
What subjects were you thinking of, for your unit studies?
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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lapazfarm
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I think there are some History-based Catholic unit-studies called History links. Someone had then for sale on the trading post.I have not seen them myself so cannot comment, but they sound very good.
I know some folks here have used the Valerie Bendt units with much success. They are not Catholic, but are Christian.
We design our own units, so can't help you any further on pre-made units, but would be glad to help brainstorm adding some Catholic content to whatever you use.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Erin
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Jenny
Are you refering to a purcahsed unit study? Or are you refering to ideas for making up your own?
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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TracyQ
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Jenny,
You can see History Links here:
History Links
We've used them, and I think they're great for Catholic families! We learned a lot when using the General Studies about Archeaology, etc. It was really a great study.
Written unit studies are easily adaptable to take out anything that might not line up well with our precious Faith, and/or to insert more study on the Catholic faith into them. Most in fact, are easily adaptable.
Another one to look at would be here. They "specialize in chronological unit studies or thematic approach to teaching history." It's
RC History
I'd LOVE to see someone write Catholic unit studies. In fact, it's something I'd love to do one day (in all my spare time!  )
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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JennyMaine
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Well, I'm looking at premade unit studies. As a single working mum, there's no way on earth I can write my own units. Tweak, yes. But writing them from the ground up would be suicide.
I'm wondering, if using a premade unit from a Protestant publisher, do most Catholic moms keep a separate religion program going each day? It's easy enough to drop out things that aren't Catholic. .. much harder to add them in. So, for instance, if someone is using Further Up and Further In, they would have their kids doing Faith & Life (or whatever) each day in addition?
Thanks for the ideas everyone!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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cathhomeschool
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Jenny, if we were using something like FUFI we'd definitely keep Faith and Life or something similar going too. Another way of easily adding Catholicism to a unit is to assign chapter books (like the Vision books from Ignatius, Windeatt, Along the Paths of the Gospel, or Encounter the Saints books) to your unit. If you can choose one that relates to the unit, great! If not, assign one anyway (maybe tied to a feast day that's coming up). Copywork can be chosen from the saint chapter book and the kids can narrate (or draw pictures, whatever) for their notebooks. Windeatt even has coloring books about some saints and Our Lady.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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MaryM
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Heart and Mind Magazine includes a Catholic Unit Study in each issue. They are all very well done. The age range of units varies. Several of the units are archived here.
I did a co-op class this spring using Further Up and Further In. I also used Ascension Press Guide to Narnia as a supplement for Catholic perspective.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Kelly
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If you're talking about history or literature unit studies, it's very easy to "Catholicize" them by adding in studies of saints pertinant to the period you're studying and reading living books about those saints. When I first started doing unit studies, something that was VERY helpful to me was having a set of Saints Cards---they used to be sold at Emmanuel books---large 8x11 cards on a bunch of different saints, with their dates at the top of each card, followed by info about the saints, and some projects or questions to consider at the end. So, when we started studying, say, the Renaissance period, I simply flipped thru the cards and pulled out the saints who lived during that period. Ultra easy, and the kids like looking thru the cards--a goodly amount of info, not too much, not too little, very accessible for your age children (and *I* learned a lot in the process of pulling out cards ).
Bethlehem Books also publishes a lot of living history books that are about Catholics. Many of the main characters in the books are Catholic-and their books are ALL great! The folks at BB provide a timeline showing what period their books cover, by title.
For music studies, there's a book called "The Spiritual Life of Composers" (I think), that talks about their religion. The book isn't Catholic, but many of the musicians were-so it's a good book to have on hand to incorporate the Catholic faith into your studies.
For Geography, an EASY way to bring Catholicism into your studies is to enroll in one of the Geography classes at LPH (no, I'm not on commission...  ). But at $20, it's relatively inexpensive and the teacher makes a point to highlight Catholic history and influence what ever country they study. We are doing this with African geography this year, using the LPH course as a spine, and adding good African picture books and read-alouds for the little ones, and more demanding literature for the older ones. On this loop, there are several good lists of books for Africa, which I used, then added more booksm, mostly for the older set. While it's taken a bit of time to round up the titles (about 4 hours one evening), it was actually fun for me-sort of like a treasure hunt! On top of the LPH course, and the reading, you add a few salt dough maps and art projects (and they're are millions out there) not to mention some of the great projects someone listed on the Great Big World thread (I think it was Elizabeth, in any event, we're looking forward to trying that Groundnut Stew in the coming days..!), throw in some narration and voila: Catholic Unit Study!
For Science, I used to have a book about Great Catholic Men of Science, but I can't find it (grrr). Anyone out there have a title? You could use this book the same way as the saints cards, incorporating their lives and contributions into your studies.
For composition, you can incorporate any of the above subjects WITH your writing, or you can do it stand-alone using some of the IEW resources. They have three little books that I'm using with my reluctant writer ds11, entitled "Writing Trails with Men of Science", "Writing Trails with Great Composers" and "Writing Trails in American History". They also have one called "Immigrant Trails in American History"that I've not seen, and one on "Tales from SHakespeare". These utilize the Key Word Summary approach, cover some vocabulary, and generally talk about in some way whether the person under discussion was a Christian. WHile they don't necessarily say whether they were Catholic, they certainly don't go against the Catholic faith in any way that I've seen-and so far, I've found them very well done.
Like Tracy, I really like History Links, but they're not for everyone (is ANY resource??  ) but they are definitely Catholic and very creative, I think. The negative about HL for you might be that you have to go out and hustle more of the resources and art supplies than you have time for, but then again, you're probably doing that already. If you get a chance, you might want to take a look at one as a possibility for your studies, and add in Catholic "living books" for more reading.
Last but not least, you can always send up an SOS on this message board! There are so many creative people out there who have wonderful suggestions who will help you-it's been such a fabulous resource for me as we put together our unit studies.
Kelly in FL
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MaryM
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Kelly wrote:
| For Science, I used to have a book about Great Catholic Men of Science, but I can't find it (grrr). Anyone out there have a title? |
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Is 1000 Years of Catholic Scientists the book you were thinking of? (scroll down)
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Kelly
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Ah Mary, you are good!  Now I can get another copy to replace my missing one!
Kelly in FL
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Kelly
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When I was writing about "Catholicizing" geography studies, I forgot to mention that those saints cards (or any good saints book, for that matter) can also help you pick out saints from the country you're studying. When we studied Japan, we found out about so many saints that we really didn't know about before, and incorporated them into our studies. I foresee the same thing happening for our Africa unit study. Really makes you understand the meaning of the Church Universal!
Kelly in FL
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Unit Studies
