Unit Studies are a wonderful way to cover multiple subjects in one topic and make them relevant.
The combining of a variety of subjects into one is called a unit study. This can be anything you like. Pumpkins, Queen Elizabeth I, Australia, bubblegum, horses, mountains. The possibilities are so endless it can be either overwhelming or completely exciting. For me, it has become the latter.
I was introduced to a six-book collection of history books by Genevieve Foster. In each one there is a main character to whose story you return throughout the book, but unlike usual history studies, these show what was happening at the same time in other places or countries and with different people. She called this horizontal history, and that’s a great description of it. The books are about the worlds of Augustus Caesar, Christopher Columbus, John Smith, William Penn, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
This is our fourth year of using her books, and the journey has gotten more exciting. The first year, my husband read Augustus Caesar’s World to our children. I then picked up Columbus & Sons, giving the children pictures and maps relating to the book for them to color while I read to them. We then made our way through The World of Capt. John Smith during which I realized they would pay better attention if they were able to read along or do the reading aloud themselves for the group. I also added in recap worksheets which they now fill out daily according to the day’s reading content.
Our next (and current) study is George Washington’s World, and as we have a few more people in joining us on our Skype lesson, the book’s study is getting more fleshed out, thanks to the parents’ contributions. It is the combined effort of a variety of parents to put the study together. We created a workbook which includes a reading plan (which we follow because everything else is based on that), spelling and vocabulary, recap questions (worksheets of questions relating to what was done that day) and flash cards which are the maps, art work or photographs of places or people studied that day, as well as coloring pages of the time. We also have a list of documentaries, movies and episodes of Liberty’s Kids to watch when we get to those parts of the study. All these things combine into a multi subject, multi format way of presenting the information that will help them make connections.
Math is not covered (unless it somehow comes up) in our unit studies, but history, geography, music, art, handwriting, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, film study, research and maybe a touch of science, are all covered.
This is how we use her books.
We begin our lesson with an oral spelling test of the words from the previous day. The children then take turns reading aloud, and when a spelling/vocab word is in their reading, they get to read the meaning of the word. At the end of reading, they fill in questions relating to the work of the day, including copying spelling words (print and cursive handwriting), a sentence of grammar study, and the need to write 2 sentences using vocabulary words in context to show they understand them. All the spelling, vocabulary and grammar relate to the book we are studying, so they make more sense.
We do the reading and worksheets Monday to Thursday. On Fridays, we have a time of recap and finishing off things, which include going over the map, photograph and painting flashcards of the people and places we covered that week, which are printed in color. This year, the use of these will not simply be to insert them under the appropriate heading (a choice of 10), but they will be used as flash cards for quizzing each other or by a parent.
When their written work is done, there are many Liberty’s Kids episodes that relate to this period, so they can watch one of them before ending the lesson. We tend to find we run out of time, so get to watch them later.Even though the children have seen them all before, they enjoy watching them again because now their content is relevant to them.
We also have a weekly movie related to the current content of the book which we watch one afternoon. This week, because we just studied the Declaration of Independence, the movie is National Treasure! I try to include both some of the more enjoyable (but still related) movies because learning should be fun. By watching a movie or documentary related to the current study material, it further reinforces the things they have learned and helps them to identify differences between the book and the movie, causing them to be more critical and potentially to research which is more accurate. While we haven’t done movie reports on this, it would be a good place to use one. At the end of our John Smith study, several of the girls did a biography of Pocahontas. After they presented them, we watched the Disney movie of it and then discussed the vast differences between the movie and the various books they had read. It was enlightening to them.
Because learning to research is so important to me as a foundation of our homeschool (see the post on the 4 Rs), the children do biographies during our study. The current book study is spread over 17 weeks, so they have three biographies to do this time. We take a week off our usual course for them to have the time to read, make notes and assemble them to present a finished product to the group at the end of the week. This year they can choose people, battles, or towns/cities for their biography study, thus giving them the opportunity to choose. (See the post on interest-led learning)
The other new thing we added this year was to divide the children into 2 groups (boys and girls) and each group takes a turn on a Monday to cook dinner and dessert related to the time period. This is science, life skills, reading the recipe and following it, etc. And we all get to enjoy the fruits of their labor!
In a strange twist of events, the discovery of unit studies has tidied up my home. Now, instead of having books for each of the different subjects, it’s all neatly contained in one. With 4 children, I am thankful for the help and tidiness that unit studies add to my busy life.
