Unit Studies

My grand plan for homeschooling includes unit studies. I'm really hoping and praying that they work well for our kids because I'm really excited about them! I've planned a few that we'll be playing with this summer to see how we work together as teacher and student and so I can get a feel for how the kids actually learn. I know how they play...loudly...but I haven't watched them in school so I don't know if my assumptions about their learning styles are on or not. We'll see...

But anyway, back to unit studies. Apparently I'm not the only one who likes them. If you google "unit studies" you get pages of links. Recently, though, I haven't had to google it. A few of the blogs I follow have written very helpful how to's. Tristan, whom I follow at Our Busy Homeschool, writes for Latter-Day Homeschooling and posted Simple Unit Study Planning a few days ago. And Samantha, of To Be Busy at Home, posted Planning a Unit Study Step By Step: Choosing Fiction Books. Check them out!

And if you do google unit studies or go to About.com or Suite 101, you can find even more info...including some already prepared lesson plans.

If you're not a homeschooler you can utilize all these great links too. One thing I'm learning is that I already lean this direction with my kids. When we go on trips we might read about where we're going first or they might color pictures of the flags of the states we'll be driving through. Those are exactly the types of things unit studies, and homeschooling in general, is about. So, with summer coming up, you might find some great ideas for things to keep your kids busy when they're bored...the second week of break!