We’ve used A LOT of curriculum over the years. Really good curriculum, mind you. But, when it comes to history and science in the elementary and middle school years, nothing has quite matched the success of unit studies in our homeschool.
The reasons? SO much learning can take place in a reasonable amount of time. We can read wonderful living literature, take amazing field trips, and include as many (or as few) hands-on projects as we like. We can include whatever lessons from other subjects that we like – research, writing, experiments, cooking, art, poetry – the possibilities are endless.
Unit studies can be fully planned from the beginning or flow based on students’ interests. They are wonderful to use with project-based learning. And, best of all, they can easily be used with multiple ages. In the articles that follow, you’ll find several unit study plans, how-to’s for creating your own unit studies, tutorials for project-based learning, and tips for successful interest-based studies. Have fun!
We’re more than half-way through our study of ancient history using Ancient Civilizations and the Bible by Diana Waring. As we’ve gotten to know the curriculum, I’ve found a few things to be extremely useful in helping my children “see” and understand the material. By no means are they necessary in order to complete the…
The history of Ancient Israel is now under our belts! I have to admit that I swerved from the textbook a tad during this unit to add several hands-on ideas that I simply couldn’t pass up from Old Testament Days. This unit study guide is perfect for active learning! Below you’ll find a mixture…
Ancient Civilizations and the Bible continues to be a huge hit – with me AND my children. There is so much more than we could ever use contained in the pages of this book! Since I last wrote about history, we’ve been on a journey through Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Below are a just a…
We are absolutely LOVING Ancient Civilizations and the Bible by Diana Waring! There is SO much to choose from for every single learning style. We’re only skimming the surface of the depth that could be reached with this curriculum, and we’re still diving way deep into Biblical world history! Here are some photos from our…
Our last night of hotel life in Virginia led us to Charlottesville, home to Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s homestead. We got into town late and were led by our hotel clerk to Charlottesville’s historical downtown mall for dinner. We ate outdoors and enjoyed their weekly Friday night music – this place was hopping and quite…
As with every single aspect of our vacation, we were completely impressed with the quality and child-friendliness of the Yorktown Victory Center. Hands-on exhibits, actors, camps, films and indoor walk-through museums made this yet another wonderful stop. In the Revolutionary War camp, we watched as a cannon was fired… plotted our war strategy… wrote journal…
Hang in there, I only have six parts in this series. On our whirlwind tour of Virginia, we visited Jamestown and Yorktown in the same day. In order to share several pictures from each tour, I’m writing two posts. Jamestown, VA has two attractions (each requiring their own ticket), Historic Jamestown and the Jamestown Settlement. …
One entire day of our vacation was spent in Colonial Williamsburg. This is a WONDERFUL walk-through town of real and replica buildings that house in-costume craftsmen who are working their trades… and allow you to help sometimes. Actors gather in the streets to reenact Revolutionary events… and play various parts as you tour magnificent buildings….
Tucked away in downtown Maysville, KY, overlooking the Ohio River is the National Underground Railroad Museum. My children had the pleasure of touring the museum located in the Bierbower House, which was a safe house for runaway slaves. Crawling through an underground tunnel that opened into a small room of four beds, runaway slaves could…
One of the end-of-the-year writing projects I gave the kids was to research any country of interest around the world and create a report and presentation. What resulted were some pretty amazing world geography projects! I only gave a few parameters for the world geography projects and reports: The report needed to include nice-sized paragraphs,…
ALL planned unit studies for the 2009-10 school year are finished! To wrap up the school year by the end of April, we’ll be completing plans and texts for all of our other subjects and adding in a few fun writing, science and art lessons. While the kids work, I’ll begin the process of putting…
I hate to admit that our study of the 50’s and 60’s was a bit more boring than the 20th century thus far. It’s partly because the gusto of school is waning as we see the end in sight, and partly because we covered most of this previously when we vacationed in Alabama last November….
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