Archive for the ‘Unit Studies’ Category
The Winter Olympics - a current events lesson plan
The Winter Olympics offers a great opportunity to bring current events into the lesson plan. From the history of the Olympics, to modern day sports there are many great topics to teach about!
This is a great time for a geography lesson on world countries since children will be able to link the countries with the athletes. Math lessons can also be incorporated because each event deals with speed times, first, second, third and percentages. How much faster was the first place winner, what percentage of the athletes for that country competed in that event and more. Obviously sports lessons would work with this theme as well. The rules of the sports, the safety involved, the history of the sport - plenty of lessons could apply. For older students even a lesson on drug awareness can be brought in by discussing steroids and other enhancing drugs, why they are banned, what they would do to an athlete’s body and what has happened to athletes that have been caught using them.
By bringing current events into the lesson plan, children can associate what they are learning with the world in general, and can understand better when they see the event on television or in the paper.
For some great downloadable resources on the Winter Olympics click here.
History can be a subject that is overwhelming to learn. So many names, dates and events, it can cause children to shut down and not want to learn. It is important to make subjects like this come alive so that kids can enjoy studying them!
Plan a project on a favorite topic and combine historic elements into it. For example learning about horses can encompass many eras of history including medieval times and Native American culture. Field trips are also helpful for bringing history alive. Many historic sites have costumed interpreters that help kids understand how it was back then. Some places even have programs where children can dress up and “live” in history too! Art, poetry and music contain historic references that can be developed into a further project. And don’t forget unit studies, history can be followed in a unique way through a unit study. For example, early History of Canada can be followed through forts - this would take you through the fur trade, the War of 1812 and the North West Mounted Police encompassing all of the country!
Holiday time can be a busy time and put a strain on the scheduled school time. So why not take a break this holiday season?
Start your child on a novel study so they can read while travelling to friends and family. Give them worksheets of puzzles and games that they can do on the go. Or start a unit study that they can do on their own. Take educational board games with you when you visit so they can learn and play with friends and family. All these ideas still allow for learning but in a less structured way to allow for the breaks during the holidays.
Take an in depth look at the holidays around the world celebrated at this time of year. There are lots of crafts and activities that can be inspired from them.
December 6 is St. Nicholas day in the Netherlands. St. Nicholas gifts are meant to be shared - inspire sharing in your child by having them donate some of their toys to a good cause.
December 13 is Santa Lucia day in Sweden. Santa Lucia stands as a symbol of light and
hope to all mankind - her day is celebrated with lights and gingerbread cookies - you can bake cookies to help celebrate this day!
December 21 is the first day of winter. The Winter Solstice is a time to celebrate friends and family - make a wreath for the door so everyone that visits feels welcomed.
Chanukah starts December 22. It is an eight day festival of lights in the Jewish faith. Candles are an important part of this holiday - make candles to give as gifts - roll beeswax or make dipped candles
Kwanzaa is based on the Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles), one for each day
of the observance, and is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st - have your family create their own “rules/principles” to guide them through the new year ahead.
Make the holidays educational!
A homeschooling family enjoys having time together but adding in planning for each school year can be time-consuming. Here are some time-saving teaching tips to help give you more family time, and less planning time.
When you schedule a week of school make room for a day to do errands. This can become part of the lessons, or a day of project/research work. Setting aside this time allows you to get things done without feeling the crunch of time constraints. At particularily busy times of the year use unit studies, curriculum that is already set up so there is little or no preparation work but lots of educational benefits. On weekend getaways or family vacations incorporate some lessons on geography, culture, economics and more. Filling in education in these extra places can help alleviate some of the structured work that needs planning. Finally, teach your kids how to organize themselves, find answers for themselves and structure their days, that means you have time to structure yourself without having to worry about keeping them on track.
Sometimes school work can be boring. If a child is not enjoying the subject or is struggling with the lesson it can be hard to teach them.
Theme units are a great way to beat the boredom. Pick a theme your child enjoys and develop it into a lesson plan. Or find a theme unit that already exists and use it. Because theme units encompass cross-curricular activities all geared to that specific theme, your child can get a well-rounded lesson on something they enjoy. It is amazing how keen they will be to do their school work when pirates or princesses are involved!
Home educators have the ability to allow their children to learn each subject at their own pace. There is no need for specific grade levels across the board. Let’s face it, some subjects are harder for us than others and therefore may take more time to learn, or will be learned at a higher or lower level.
Students who struggle in Math may be advanced in English. Or, someone who enjoys Science may excel at it but not do so well in Geography. These variances in learning levels can be taught through unit studies. A unit study takes a topic of study and offers activities and worksheets across the curriculum. Many unit studies incorporate different levels of learning so that it can be used for various grade levels, or learning levels. They also offer a variety of lesson ideas to expand a child’s knowledge on the subject and a chance to study it further on their own.
A unit study, or thematic unit offers a comprehensive overview of a specific topic. It provides a variety of activities that cover science, math, language arts, social studies and fine arts. A unit on Vikings for example could contain a mapping activity for geography, a saga lesson for language studies, some math questions about how much a Viking ship can carry and more.
Not only do unit studies provide lessons and worksheets across the curriculum but they can also provide lessons for a variety of learning styles and levels. Unit studies are especially helpful for the reluctant learner because they can be about a topic that is a favorite and will therefore make them more willing to learn!