Teaching Methods
Home School Marketplace - Homeschool Teaching Approaches
The Unit Study Approach
The Unit Study Approach integrates several subject areas around a common theme.
A Unit Study takes a
theme or topic (a unit of study) and delves into it deeply
over a period of time, integrating language arts, science,
social studies, math, and fine arts as they apply. Instead
of studying eight or ten separate, unrelated subjects, all
subjects are blended together and studied around a common
theme or project.
For example, a unit study on birds could include reading and
writing about birds and about famous ornithologists
(language arts), studying the parts, functions, and life
cycles of birds and perhaps even the aerodynamics of flight
(science and math), determining the migration paths,
habitats, and ecological/sociological impact of birds
(social studies), sketching familiar birds (art), building
bird houses or feeders ("hands on" activities) and so forth.
Several fine prepared unit study curricula are available,
but it is easy to prepare your own unit studies around areas
of interest. History is the logical core curriculum to build
ongoing unit studies around. History provides a framework
for all the other subjects because it follows a progression
and covers every other subject (except possibly math), like
art, music, science, literature, etc.
Here are some questions to ask yourself before trying unit
studies with your children:
1. Am I a creative person?
2. Do I like trying to make everything interesting and fun?
3. Do my children have a variety of interests and learning
styles?
4. Can I live with the fact that there may be “gaps” in my
children’s education?
5. Do I have the time and energy to be the driving, creative
force behind the development of units?
Strengths of the Unit Study
Approach:
All ages can learn together
Children can delve as deeply or as lightly into a subject
as they like
The family’s interests can be pursued
Students get the whole picture
Curiosity and independent thinking are generated
Intense study of one topic is the more natural way to
learn
Knowledge is interrelated so is learned easily and
remembered longer
Unit studies are fairly easy to create
Weaknesses of the Unit Study Approach:
It is easy to leave educational “gaps”
Hard to assess the level of learning occurring
Record keeping may be difficult
Prepared unit study curricula are expensive
Do-it-yourself unit studies require planning
Too many activity-oriented unit studies may cause burn-out
of teacher and student
Subjects that are hard to integrate into the unit may be
neglected
See Resources for each of the Home School teaching approaches
Other Resources:
Homeschooling Your Special Needs Child by Isabel ShawHomeschooling and Its Many Faces
Approaches to Homeschooling from HomeTaught
The
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