What is a Homeschool Unit Study and How Do You Make One?
A homeschool unit study can be a fun way to encourage learning connections and pursue interest-led learning. Read on for ideas on how you can develop your own homeschool unit study.
What is a Unit Study and How Do You Make One?
We love using unit studies in our delight-directed homeschool. I’ve even listed ten reasons why we think they’re great, which you can read here. A few readers have asked me about how they could make their own interest-led unit study, so I thought it would be helpful to take a closer look at what a unit study is, why this learning method is beneficial, and how you can develop a unit study for your family.
What is a Homeschool Unit Study?
Also known as a thematic study or an integrated study, the unit study is a way to combine a variety of the traditional subjects (math, science, social studies, reading, writing, history, etc.) around a particular topic of interest that all of your children will enjoy. You can utilize field trips, living books, activities, and other hands-on learning experiences to explore the topic.
What Are the Benefits of a Homeschool Unit Study?
1. They are very flexible. They can be as long/short or complex/simple as you want them to be.
2. They are hands-on, which makes things more interesting and engaging for your children and for you.
3. They allow you to dig deeper into topics. The more in-depth you get into a topic, the more your children will be able to retain the information.
4. They can be adapted to be taught to multiple age groups simultaneously. This is particularly handy for large homeschool families.
5. They can be adapted to many different learning styles, which is another benefit for families with multiple children.
6. They can include delight-directed learning across the major subject areas.
How Do You Develop a Homeschool Unit Study?
There are resources out there if you decide to use a prepared unit study, however, you can also create a unit study from scratch.
Step One: Choose a Topic
One great way to choose a topic to study is to think about what your children are interested in. For example, if one of them is fascinated by space, that could be a unit study. If another one is really interested in dinosaurs or Greek mythology, you could do a unit study on either of those.
You could also get ideas from fellow home educators, the curriculum of schools in your area, or by doing a quick Google search. There are so many interesting topics out there to explore. Your biggest job will be finding out which one you want to explore first.
You might find inspiration in something like this free calendar for homeschool fun days. I suggest using my free Interest Inventory printables to help you keep track of ideas! You can get those by joining my email list.
Step Two: Choose How to Present the Information
This is where you get to the fun part of planning. Think about how your children learn. Are they really hands-on? Do they love audiovisuals? Do they get really excited about field trips? Do they enjoy reading or listening to you tell stories? Take your cue from them and choose a variety of methods to get them involved in the topic you have chosen. If you’re not sure what your child’s learning style is, now is the perfect chance to experiment to see which style they seem to prefer.
Step 3: Plan Hands-On Activities and Projects
You want to be sure to plan an array of projects and activities centered around your topic that touch on the various core subjects. There are plenty of sources online to pull from when coming up with ideas. Personally, I love using Pinterest for just this purpose.
Step 4: Get Your Materials Ready
Once you have your topic, presentation methods, and activities all planned, it’s time to gather up all of your materials. This means printing out all of the cool printables you’ve found; checking out any books, movies, or CDs you found at the library; purchasing any supplemental resources; or even borrowing odds and ends from your fellow homeschoolers. Get creative! You can even create your own materials.
Once you have gotten all of your materials organized, take some time to go over them before introducing the unit to your children.
Step 5: Have Fun Learning
The final step is to simply have fun with the unit study. Yes, you are there to teach and your children are there to learn. However, learning can (and should) be fun and enjoyable! Don’t worry if you have to switch things up a bit. Be flexible! If you make mistakes, just make it a point to learn from them and apply what you learn in the next unit study.
We’ve done lots of unit studies in our homeschool, but here are just a few you might like to read about:
Tracks in the Snow {Winter Nature Study}
North American Forests and Woods
This is part of the 10 Days of Homeschooling with Unit Studies series. Read more in the series here:
- Homeschooling Through the Holidays: The Relaxed Approach - November 18, 2024
- Thanksgiving Mad Libs for Kids - November 15, 2024
- How Can Music and Movement Be Used in OT to Engage Kids? - November 14, 2024
