Would you like a homeschool curriculum that can accomplish all of the following:
- Teach the same material to all the kids at once–even if you have multiple children at various levels
- Create one lesson plan for the family that encompasses Language Arts, Science, History and possibly art and music and PE
- Provides a rich learning environment for all the learning styles and keeps everyone engaged and involved
- Allows students with special needs to fully participate and learn from their areas of strength
- Aids students in learning from others who have different styles and strengths
- Helps to “cross-train” the brain, developing new pathways for information retention and retrieval so students can connect more readily to material previously learned
- Creates an exciting, dynamic opportunity to take the studies “broader and deeper” and stimulates greater analysis of the topic
These are some of the wonderful benefits of using unit studies in your homeschooling.
The key idea of unit studies, also known as Themed Learning Units, is to integrate several subjects into one theme. Students are able to engage in the topic from several different avenues of the brain, using a variety of real-life applications. This lays the foundation for greater understanding and retention. Material is presented in age appropriate ways, with the older students needing to complete work in a more detailed manner than the younger ones. Many unit approaches are very hands-on and practical.
This method of instruction exemplifies the Chinese proverb: Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”
I love unit studies, and created many of them when I was schooling my girls. Even when using a textbook, I would supplement the material with biographies, historical novels, original documents and writing assignments to go along with the reading.
Next Wednesday, July 8, I will be presenting a FREE workshop on Unit Studies, and will address the following:
- What is a Unit Study
- How it works
- Benefits of the Unit Studyapproach
- Comparison of the major pre-packaged unit study programs
- Utilizing Unit Studies as a component of other types of homeschooling frameworks
- How to create your own Unit Study
In addition, Barbara Powers, a reading specialist, will present some movement exercises which will open up new areas of the brain for greater receptivity of different forms of learning.
For a little preview of some of the pre-packaged Unit Study curriculum, please see my previous post
Location: Bookmans Entertainment Exchange
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