Our Journey Westward » Science

Unit Studies Revisited

Cindy — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:43:36 +0000

It’s been well over a year since I posted anything about the nitty-gritty planning of my unit studies. I’ve had several email questions lately wondering how I plan, so I thought it might be time for a new post on the subject.

The emails I’ve received have all been similar in the basic four questions I tend to be asked.

How do you choose what you study each year?
How do you plan your units?
Is there any sort of curriculum you follow?
How do you not overload?

I’ll take a few minutes to try to answer these questions in a way that makes sense. (Planning is a very personal thing, so I have a hard time articulating how I plan sometimes.)

How do you choose what to study each year?

Our unit studies typically revolve around history and science. Although I consider myself a Charlotte Mason style homeschooler, I follow the Classical model of a four-year cycle in the areas of history and science. Basically, that means every four years we will be covering similar topics with the depth of understanding and expectations growing each time around. Here’s the plan I’ve followed from the beginning:

Year 1 – Ancient History / Biology
Year 2 – Medieval History / Earth & Space Sciences
Year 3 – Early American History / Chemistry
Year 4 – Modern American History / Physics

Of course, I don’t limit myself to only doing these units or studies each year. I do make sure each of these are covered in their appropriate year, though. I also include nature study (biology) each and every year.

I used to follow The Well-Trained Mind’s plan of history three days a week and science two. For me, this seemed to drag each study out way too long. I opted to create my own units to cover the history and science concepts in blocks of time and I haven’t turned back. (With the exception of chemistry last year. We did chemistry a couple times a week while history units were done in chunks of time.)

My children and I really like delving into a particular history or science subject. We’re able to check out all sorts of library books, books on tape and videos that go with the theme. We’re able to include whatever math, language arts or other subjects that might fit with the unit. We don’t have to stop learning about something just because we’ve already done history three times in the week. And, we’re able to end the unit and move onto something else when we’ve soaked in all we can handle.

How do you plan your units?

I always start by gathering information and supplies. For instance, if I’m going to do a unit on Slavery in America, I’ll start by going through all my files, curriculum guides and bookshelves to see what I already have by way of ideas and resources. Oh, and I’ll also check my computer files for e-books and other resources I’ve stashed away.

I think I need to stop here and remind you that I keep fairly organized files, shelves and computer files, so the initial gathering of materials doesn’t take long at all. All my resource books for history are placed in chronological order on a bookshelf. I also keep file folders on various topics. As I come across a great idea that I don’t want to forget, I copy it or tear it out from a magazine and file it in the appropriate folder. You can get a glimpse of my file cabinet here. I also keep history related literature together on a bookshelf so they are easy to find as well. And, I suppose you might like to know that I have a folder on my computer for each academic area, so I can stash e-books in an organized way.

If I don’t have many resources on my shelves already, I’ll go to the internet next and type in searches for free units based on the topic I’m planning. This will usually lead me to more information than I care to have, so I limit internet searching as much as possible. From my resources, I start a list of important topics I feel need to be covered. I simply jot them down in a notebook. As I make topic notes, I’ll also jot down great activity ideas or literature suggestions I run across from the resources.

All of this eventually fleshes out into a full unit! I NEVER get to all the activities that are jotted down in the initial planning. As the unit progresses, I pick and choose what will work best based on how my children are responding to the study.

I might note here that during the planning stage, I almost always pick out one or two pieces of living literature for my children to read during the unit. Plus one or two that I will read aloud and/or we’ll listen to on tape/CD. All of our units rely heavily on living literature!

Either as I’m planning the unit or as we come to the end of it, I’ll be thinking about final projects. You can read more about our projects here.

(I know this seems confusing. I’m trying to write it clearly, but it would be so much easier for me to have you over for some tea and cookies and just show you this process. It really isn’t as hard as it looks!)

Is there any sort of curriculum you follow?

When we’re talking about unit studies, the answer is yes and no. If I come across a really great curriculum guide or library book with most of my topics covered, I’ll often make that my “spine”. In other words, I will use that book for the majority of our studies, but I never hesitate to add or take away from that book. An example of this would be using a prepared lapbook unit. That lapbook unit will provide much of the material for our unit. If I come across a hands-on idea that seems like it will help the children understand something better than the particular lapbook activity, I’ll ditch the lapbook activity and do the hands-on idea instead.

I have used in the past, and probably will use in the future, some really good curriculum for my unit studies. I just rarely use them “as is”. In other words, I use them in ways that meet our family’s needs rather than how I’m “supposed” to. Some examples of great unit study type curriculum would be Story of the World, Mystery of History, prepared lapbooks from any company, Apologia Elementary Science, Considering God’s Creation, Diana Waring elementary materials, and Beautiful Feet units. I’ve never used any of these “as is”, but they have each been great “spines” at one time or another.

How do you not overload?

Well, this question could actually have two meanings: How do I not overload myself as I go about planning and preparing units? AND How do I make sure not to overload my children with the unit?

1. How do I not overload myself as I go about planning and preparing units? I’ve been doing this a long time. In the beginning, I did overload myself. I spent WAY too much time planning, preparing, scouring the internet, searching the library, etc. Overplanning will burn you out on preparing your own units faster than anything else!

My best tips are:

Don’t plan too many units per year. (I only plan approximately six per year.)
Use a good spine like a prepared hands-on curriculum and tweak it to fit your needs.
Don’t try to pull in too many resources for ideas.
Try to get as much planning done as possible during school breaks. (I get the basic planning done for all units over summer break.)
Don’t try to teach everything about a subject and don’t try to do every wonderful activity you come across.
Keep units shorter, rather than dragging them out too long.

2. How do I make sure not to overload my children with a unit? Oh, I have! And, believe me, I knew it! When you’ve planned too much or the unit has gone far too long, your children will not hesitate to let you know they’re tired of the subject.

I’ve tried to keep my units shorter and save project time for the rabbit trails that interest my children most. This way they get the basics, while delving deeper into parts of the unit that are most meaningful to them. We all win that way!

Please feel free to ask questions! I’m sure I haven’t covered everything.

Update: You can find answers to several questions from this post by visiting Unit Study Questions Answered.

A Thanksgiving Getaway

Cindy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:16:23 +0000

My 87-year-old Granny isn’t well. She lives in Alabama with my aunt and uncle who are doing a wonderful job caring for her. We were so blessed to be able to visit, along with most of the rest of my extended family, for a Thanksgiving reunion.

We took the opportunity on the way home to take a three day I-65 mini-vacation. First stop, Birmingham. We visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which is a wonderful walk through the Civil Rights battles of the 20th century. Photos weren’t allowed in the museum, so I don’t have any to post. You’ll have to trust me that it’s an excellent field trip if you’re ever near Birmingham! We also walked through the Kelly Ingram Park just across the street from the museum and viewed the outside of the 16th Street Baptist Church where four children were killed during a violent bombing by the KKK in 1963. Unfortunately, we also had the opportunity to view several homeless people in the area, too.

Second stop, Huntsville. I can’t tell you how much all of us from the two-year-old to the 39-year-old enjoyed the US Space and Rocket Center! Real rockets, hands-on exhibits, life-size models, demonstrations, 3-D and IMax films, three rides, a playground, a rock climbing wall and more kept our attention from open to close. This is a trip my children will talk about for quite some time!

Third and final stop, Franklin, TN. It’s a beautiful little town with lots of character! I wish we could’ve spent more time touring and meandering, but a Civil War reenactment was taking place at the Carnton Plantation and that took up most of our day. Plus, the troops were beginning to wear down and we knew too much more touring and hotel hopping would send them (and us) into grump city – a place we didn’t want to visit!

Sorry for the picture-intensive post. I hope it didn’t slow down your computer too much!

Simple Machine Stations

Cindy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:58:10 +0000

We started our short and sweet simple machines study yesterday. As an introduction to simple machines and for self-discovery of how machines work, I set up some little centers. The kiddos had to visit each center and complete a few thought-provoking questions about what they learned. Afterward, we talked about each machine type more thoroughly and thought about when, where and how we use simple/complex machines daily.

Center #1 – Levers

We practiced using several levers like hammers (both ends) , can openers, bottle openers, nut crackers and paint can openers.

We also experimented with the fulcrum of a lever placed in different spots to see at which point the lever was easiest to move and how much work the lever was able to do at each point.

Center #2 – Wedges

We had a nail with a sharp end (wedge) and a nail with a blunt end and tried hammering both to see which wedge was easier to go through the wood.

Center #3 – Inclined Plane

Using a stack of books with string tied around them, we pulled them up a simple ramp made from a piece of scrap wood, then we pulled the stack straight up into the air. Since we don’t own a spring scale, we tied a rubber band to the string and measured the stretch for each of the attempts to get the books to a certain level. Upon seeing that the rubber band didn’t stretch as far when the books were pulled up the ramp, we concluded that less force was necessary using the inclined plane as compared to pulling the books straight up. (Make sense??)

Inclined planes were further studied as we took two screws – one with threads very close together and one with threads far apart – and noticed how many turns it took to get each in the wood. More turns were required for the closer threaded screw, but the job was much easier than the screw with threads far apart.

Center #4 – Wheel and Axle (along with Pulleys and Gears)

Using the same rubber band trick as mentioned above, we determined whether or not less force was required to pull a piece of wood using wheels.
For gears, we pulled out the gear set we have in our toy closet and closely observed how they work.
For pulleys, we simply talked about how they work. My children are around pulleys all the time on the farm, so they were pretty familiar with their function. As a side note, you can find inexpensive pulleys for experiments at a tractor/farm supply store.

I had a discovery booklet made up with leading questions for each of the centers. Since I used so many ideas and clip art from various books I have around the house, I don’t feel comfortable placing the booklet on Homeschool Share. I will, however, plan to post the test I give at the end of the week. I’ll let you know when it’s up.

Inventors/Inventions Unit Study

Cindy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:36:18 +0000

I can’t believe we’ve knocked another unit out! I was somewhat dreading this unit because the topic seemed rather dry and dull, but I was in for a pleasant surprise once we dove in!!

The A Journey Through Learning lapbook was an outstanding spine. I had never used one of their lapbooks before, but it won’t be the last one! It was put together in a very organized, simple to implement way – refreshing!!

We also completed some of our own inventions using ideas from the Teacher Created Materials Inventions book. (You can find links to the books I’m mentioning below.) The kids LOVED creating their own inventions. I’ve put together a little slideshow of our lapbooks and inventions….

Below is the list of resources that have been in the sidebar. We read a few more great books from the library, too…Lights Out,So You Want to Be An Inventor?, I Is for Idea: An Inventions Alphabet, The Berenstain Bears Fly-It! Up, Up, and Away!

Inventors and Inventions

Lesson Idea Links from The Homeschool Mom

Lots of Links from About.com

Next stop, Simple Machines! You can find the resources for that unit in the sidebar very soon.

Magnet Unit Study

Cindy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:00:04 +0000

Our study on magnets only took a week – but a fun, hands-on week it was!

Magnets

Lots of Free Lessons

Even More Free Lessons

Nature Study – Pond Resources

Cindy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:53:22 +0000

What a wonderful month studying ponds! Here are the resources that have been in the sidebar.

Pond Plants

Cindy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:32:24 +0000

Our nature topic of the month is ponds. We’ve been having so much fun studying plant life, water birds, erosion, pond sources, pond health and so much more! Our most recent trip to a pond focused on pond plants. Below are some pictures of the wonderful finds – even in October!

Algae

Duckweed

Rush

We think the foremost plant might be water buttercup.

Pondweed

Possibly hornwort

Measuring the perimeter of the pond

This particular pond is stream-fed and a stream leads away from it, too. We followed the stream and the kids decided to build a bridge across with some downed limbs.

Just a little quiet time. Oh, how I wish there were more!

An underwater root

Tons of ideas for learning about pond plants can be found in the NaturExplorers unit Peaceful Ponds.

Energy

Cindy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:45:11 +0000

Well, another unit bites the dust! We had a great time learning about energy, with a main focus on heat and electricity. This slide show gives you just a glimpse into some of our hands on experiments.

What turned out to be THE BEST of all the curriculum we used was the Electric Kitbook. In fact, I liked it so much, I’m going to do a review about it soon at The Curriculum Choice.

At the end of the unit, I gave the kids a test that you can find on my Homeschool Launch page. I’ve been enjoying adding more tests to the curriculum this year. It keeps everyone on their toes!

Below is the resource list that’s been in my sidebar. I hope you find some treasures the next time you need to plan an energy/electricity unit!

Energy

Moving Beyond the Page Energy Unit

Electricity Lessons

Heat Lessons

Next stop – Presidential History!

Ending our Month Spent with Wildflowers

Cindy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:38:48 +0000

I admit that wildflowers are quite possibly my favorite of all nature studies. I’m always in awe of God’s creativeness, beauty and majesty through such delicate little things like wildflowers. I’m also amazed at how each season presents me with new flowers that I’ve never noticed before – each with awesome characteristics that are different from any other flower.

A field of wildflowers can move me, while a single wildflower observed closely makes me marvel at the constant, yet diverse design that makes a flower a flower. And to think that wildflowers are “planted by God” reminds me that He cares about me enough to bring me flowers!

Last week, we took a very up-close and personal look at wildflowers through comparisons and dissection. There was no long nature walk involved – only long enough to collect several flower samples to bring back inside. Since the yard wasn’t off limits for picking, the kiddos brought in a couple of flowers that aren’t considered wild. No matter, it made for a great opportunity to discuss the difference between the two!

The first activity was to compare two completely different flowers for similarities and differences. This is another of the notebooking pages that comes with the Wonderful Wildflowers NaturExplorers unit.

The second activity was flower dissection to identify all the parts of a flower.

We own a very old dissection kit that made the dissection not only easy, but exciting for the kids.

We were able to see the ovules (eggs) in the ovary on this hollyhock (not a wildflower).

Eli always gets in on the action!

The third activity was drawing the cross-section of a flower and labeling all the parts.

And the final activity was to complete a watercolor still-life of wildflowers. We have been studying Cezanne, who painted several still-life works, so this tied art and nature study together quite well. And to get composer study in the mix, we listened to a CD of Chopin (our composer of the month.)

“Wildflowers in the Rain”

Great Spring Nature Finds

Cindy — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:20:05 +0000

Here are some more very cool discoveries from a recent nature walk.

Can you see inside the hole? The picture below this one shows the mushrooms that were growing in the hole – and they were huge even if the picture doesn’t show that very well.

We wondered who enjoys this cozy little burrow.

Ants were busy, busy, busy going back and forth on this little path they had created between two ant holes.

Conks aren’t a good sign for the health of the tree, but they sure are pretty to look at!

We have several old brick piles from a house we tore down on the farm. Take a look at this amazing and fuzzy orange fungus! We believe it might be called Spreading Yellow Tooth.

Can you see the puff of pollen floating off of the plant? Every time we stepped on one of these plants, pollen dust went flying through the air like a little bomb.

What cool nature finds have you made lately?