I am not an expert in using unit studies. I just learned about the idea of studying one topic at a time and trying to incorporate all of the major subjects into the learning. So, that's what we do. The more that I do mini unit studies with the children, the more that I find that the three R's seem to get covered pretty naturally without having to force anything. For example, it's not unusual for activity books to have all three of those elements in them.
I'm convinced that there is enough free educational material online that I don't have to pay for unit studies for homeschooling my little ones. Now, I do use textbooks for middle and high school. But mainly just for science, math, and foreign languages. Everything else I find from searching on Google.
So below you'll find the topics that we have studied so far or will be studying in the near future. Some topics are only a day long. And some take up to a week to cover. It really depends on how many resources I find. I'll add to this list as we do more unit studies.
Last night my five year old asked what a caboose is.So I told him we'd do a train lesson today. Here are the free materials that we used for the lesson.
Prep Work
Before we started the lesson I put together a coloring and activity book about trains. There are several trains printable activity pages from Homeschooling at About.com. I just selected a few pages that were age appropriate and combined them with a couple of trains coloring pages and this trains activity book. Then I stapled all of the pages together.
How it Went
First we talked about trains. Usually we read a book from netlibrary.org but I couldn't find one this time. So I just explained about the different cars and some of the people who work on the train.
Then we watched the following videos. I was surprised at how long the videos held the children's attention. While watching the videos I pointed out the tracks, different parts of the train, and some of the cars.
Then the children completed their workbooks.
And lastly they made a train paper craft from DLK-Teach. I printed out the pages that are already colored and let the children cut out and paste the train onto a sheet of construction paper.
While searching for printable comic books I came across The Adventures fo Buddy McNutty. That reminded me of a very educational activity book on peanuts that I printed out a few years back. That made me think that it would be fun for the little ones to learn all about peanuts. That could include learning about George Washington Carver and all things peanutty. Ha ha, I know peanutty isn't a real word. But it's fun to say. Really, try it.
So far I've found an activity book about peanuts called In a Nutshell. It looks like it's to be used for elementary students.
Yes! I found it. The worksheets I printed out for my son when we first started homeschooling is from AboutPeanuts.com. You can choose a lesson plan for grades K - 2 or grades 3 - 5. It covers subject areas math, science, social studies, geography and language arts. Love that!
The lesson plans in the teacher's guide lists several crafts to do with or about peanuts. But if those don't appeal to us we'll probably try some of the following.
And in our house no lesson is complete without a video, preferably a free one from You Tube. :) I submit to you The American Peanut Story, for your viewing pleasure.
I guess I'll pick up a bag of shelled peanuts at the store this weekend. They will be for the crafts. Two of my children are too young to eat penauts, possible choking hazard. So I'll have to keep a close eye on my two year old especially during craft time next week. Better yet, I'll probably have him play with Legos on the floor while the others use the peanuts at the table.
I didn't even know what a Ham radio was until I found a comic about them online a few years ago. Actually, I printed out the comic for my son and he schooled me on amateur radio. Homeschooling works both ways I guess. :)
Anyway, as of this post there are now six comics available for free online about amateur radio. And there is a seventh one underway. Reading all of the comics will provide a novice with a very detailed understanding of ham radio.
Of course, the solar system can be studied in depth for days, weeks, or months on end. But around here I try to keep the units short, fun, and educational for the little ones.
I am working on getting my son to the point to where he can brush his teeth well, independently. Hopefully this fun mini unit on brush your teeth will help.
A Child's Book of Teeth is a very entertaining book. It was originally published in 1918 by a dentist. The dentist warns not to waste your dental powder in the sink! Ha ha, thank God for the invention of toothpaste. But despite it's age, the book still has quite a bit of educational value.
Here are other booths on dental health. They are all in PDF format and are either coloring books, activity books or both.
