Friday, May 6, 2011

I heart Unit Studies

We are winding down our school year and we have finished up a few of our subjects like History and Science.  Not Math. Math lasts forever in our house.  You have that problem too?

I have found several wonderful resources for Unit Studies. 

I love Unit Studies. They are short and sweet and to the point.  I'm all about short and sweet and to the point.  Cut out all the nonsense.  That's probably one of the reasons why I homeschool.

One of my favorite sites is CurrClick.com.  They have heaps of stuff on all kinds of subjects.




We finished up our World War I and II studies for the year about a month ago.  We had been hearing a lot about Egypt in the news lately and so I pulled up a study on Egypt.  We colored the map, found Egypt on the globe, found the capital, some key features, and we read about ancient Egypt from a BUNCH of books from the Library. We talked about the Nile River, about pyramids, tombs, Pharaohs, and early farming.  We had a mummy from National Geographic that we glued and painted and wrapped in gauze. 





It was an overview, not terribly extensive, but it was a great way to expose (or re-expose, it's been a few years since we touched on the Ancients) them to a country. We covered History, Geography, Geology, Agriculture, Current Events, handwriting, and drawing.  I love when we can cover a lot of subjects by studying one main topic.


We also studied Tsunamis and Earthquakes.




 CurrClick.com  has a unit study that combines both topics.  I like to study stuff that applies to real life. We were obviously curious and confronted with what was happening in Japan and the Pacific.  This was a great way for us to learn about real life events.



We also did a Unit Study on Nuclear Power Plants.




 I found a lapbook on CurrClick.com all about Nuclear Power Plants, how they worked and what they were all about.



 I cut out 4 sets of everything after I downloaded and printed it off their site  It cost me just a few dollars.  I love the ease of being able to print only what I want immediately after paying! I gave the boys the cut outs, some glue, and they each had a booklet to read from.



We took turns reading, answering the little cut out question flaps, and gluing them on to bright colored card stock.



It was so interesting and answered a lot of questions that we had about radiation and about stuff that was happening in Japan.

I highly recommend this source for lapbooks.

I think the right brained part of me really appeals to the cutting out, coloring, gluing, and arranging of information.  The things that I created as a kid still stand out in my mind. I really only remember the cool projects that I made. All the other stuff kind of just vanished. Sad but true.


I'm hoping that the visual things we work on at home will stick for my boys.  The nice thing about homeschooling in PA is that we have to make a portfolio every year.  Some folks look at it as a chore, but since we have to do this by law, I like to make it more like a Memory Book. 
The boys have one for every school year since they have homeschooled living in PA.  They love looking back at their work over the years.

It's nice to be able to educate my boys in an interesting and very relevant way.  Unit Studies are a great way to keep our learning momentum going as we wind down our school year.  They are not expensive if you use these pay and print services and supplement with library books. 

Free is me.
The Lunch Lady





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