Regardless of what methodology you normally use for
your homeschool, unit studies can provide you with a nice break from
the norm sometimes. They are especially nice whenever you're trying to
teach your child(ren) to think a little more about how the different
parts of life actually fit together, and they can also give you a break
whenever you're faced with the doldrums.
So, how do you decide
what subjects to persue whenever you're ready to do a unit study? Well,
take a look at your child and see what he/she is deeply interested in.
Those are the subjects to pursue with your unit studies. Another way to
decide what would make a great unit study is to look through your
year's studies and notice if there are any "holes" in subject matter
that you think should be filled. Once you find that "hole," you can
find a unit study on that topic, and take a week or two to teach it.
For instance, if your child finds black holes fascinating, but your
science text book covers them in just a paragraph or two, then there is
the perfect opportunity to do a unit study on astronomy.
Once
you've figured out what you'd like to do a unit study on, all you need
is a little time and creativity, and you can create your own unit
studies. Assembling your own curriculum around one topic sounds
difficult, but if this wasn't the case, then educational companies such
as "Teacher Created Materials" wouldn't publish and sell as many great
unit studies as they do.
There are 2 main drawbacks to designing
your own unit studies. First of all, it takes time. If you're a busy
parent, this could be enough of a reason to take a trip to your nearest
teachers' supply store with your credit card in hand. Secondly, it may
require access to a couple of grade-level subject books (ie science,
language arts, or math) so that you know which skills are typically
covered at a particular grade level. If you have a good library with an
educational books department, then you may also have the perfect excuse
to spend a long Saturday with a pocket full of change at the library
with a stack of books. Another idea is that if you have a good set of
Internet research skills, you can spend your Saturday tucked away at
home.
Now that we see the drawbacks, what are the benefits of a
unit study? You can teach whatever your heart desires. Plus, if you
decide to create your own unit study, you'll find that it is cheaper
and more economical than tracking down a pre-made unit study.
Furthermore, nobody knows your child as well as you do, and therefore
nobody can prepare a unit study for your child as well as you can.
Whenever
you're creating your own unit study, you need to keep in mind that your
unit study needs to cover all of the subjects that you'd normally
teach, unless you plan to skip a specific subject and keep working
through your regular curriculum for that subject. However, to create a
complete unit study, you need to include the first 2 subjects from the
following list and as many of the other subjectss as you can logically
fit in there too. Now for the list:
(1.) Math - You need to
create math problems at your child's level. For instance, if you're
working with a young child on a unit study about baseball, then you can
practice addition with bats and balls, write a story problem that talks
about number of pitches thrown until the team reached the final out,
etc. However, older children would need something that is more on their
level. For instance, you may discuss the speed of the bat, distance the
ball travels, or the number of hot dogs that individual team fans eat.
(2.)
Language Arts - This area includes reading, comprehension, grammar and
writing skills. While you don't need to include every one of these
items in every unit study that you write, you should have your child
write something about the topic. A great suggestion here would be to
have your child read a book about the topic then write a narrative
telling you about what he/she read in the book.
(3.) Science -
Sometimes a unit study lends itself quite easily to science, but other
times you'll find yourself having to work a little bit harder. For
instance, a unit study on bugs will let you off the hook since the
entire unit study is about science. However, if you are doing a unit
study about ancient Egypt then you may need to take some time to look
at the creations of the Egyptian engineers, study mummification, think
about ancient medicine, or consider the tools that the Egyptians used
to do their work.
(4.) Social Studies or Geography - This may be
your main topic, but if it isn't, then you'll need to work some
information into your topic. Some questions that can help you here
include: Where was your topic first seen or invented? What culture
surrounded the time or event? Where did this take place? You may also
want to learn more about the people of that time period and place.
(5.)
Art - Take time to draw, build, act, design or create. You could design
a Roman mosaic, sketch an insect's genetic makeup, build a temple from
clay or LEGOs, create a tapestry to illustrate the unit that you're
studying (felt shapes work for quick tapestries when needlepoint takes
way too long), or paint the flowers that you're learning about.
(6.)
Music - Sometimes music fits into a unit study nicely. For instance,
you could always listen to some folk music while you explore the civil
unrest of the 1960s. However, if you're studying something more
scientific, then you may need to work a little harder to fit music into
that unit study.
(7.) History - Adding history to a unit study
should be relatively easy, regardless of the topic. You could simply
research when an event began or an item was invented or you could talk
about the events and times that affected an item's inventor.
(8.)
Physical Education - Here again, you may need to be a bit creative.
However, when you discover that physical education fits into your unit
study, then you should definitely use it! For instance, if you're
studying the ancient Greeks, then you could run footraces like they did.
If
you're still not certain what to do for your very first unit study, try
"following" your child(ren) around for a couple days and watch what
they do. For instance, if your child spends all of his/her time
engrossed in books, then think about a literature-based unit study (ie
how books are made). On the other hand, your child may spend his/her
time outside digging for rocks. Then why not do an archeology or rocks
and minerals unit study?
Of course, there are some topics that you can use numerous times as your child(ren) grows older. These include:
(1.) Animals, horses, or mammals
(2.) Baseball, basketball, fencing, or sports in general
(3.) Cooking or catering (which may include business and economics information)
(4.) Kites
(5.) Flight
(6.) Transportation
(7.) Weather
(8.) Historical cultures (ie medieval history, ancient Egypt, etc.)
The
spark of a unit study is lit whenever your child(ren) mentions an
interest. Whenever they do, you need to write it down somewhere. Keep a
running list of interests and you'll soon have more than you'll know
what to do with. However, even if your child only shows a deep interest
in one or two topics, you should take time to explore those. You may
discover that you're able to create several unit studies based on the
first one as new interests are developed.
