Unit Study Planning

Does the thought of planning a unit study give you the heebie jeebies? Do all the amazing morning baskets on instagram make you feel inferior? Does the idea of brainstorming and idea mapping give you anxiety? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this post is for you! Here is a look at how I, the non list making homeschooling mama, approaches the planning of unit studies.

Unit studies can feel very overwhelming. What topics should you choose? Where should you begin? I felt the same way when I started approaching unit topics on my own. There are many resources out there to help you brainstorm the units, but those didn’t seem to help me. I attempted to use the brainstorming trees, checklists, and organization sheets and it left me feeling even more overwhelmed. I finally admitted defeat and embraced the fact that I am not a list-maker. After jumping in with both feet, along with years of trial and error, here is what I have found that works for me.

Step one: Identify the Main Topic

The main topics vary greatly in our house. It may be something that ties in with a current history, geography, or science topic, it may be a random subject that my kids have shown interest in, or sometimes I come across a resource that looks amazing and it sparks an idea. We do curriculum as a spine for most of our main subjects, so I will use those as a jumping off point for history or science many times. Often, my morning basket ideas come from a game I see that looks amazing, or a book I want to read, and then I will build my unit studies around those.

How I track these: I keep a spreadsheet in a homeschool folder on my computer of topic ideas.

This was our space unit, chosen to go with a moon book (the one opened above) we found and loved. Find some of our favorite resources here

Step Two: Collect Topic-related Books

When beginning to build our unit, books are the most important thing for our family. We do many read alouds, picture books, and everything in the middle. If it comes with pages, words, or pictures (bonus), it will find a home in our unit study. Books are the number one way we like to enrich our learning environment. Don’t ever underestimate the importance of reading aloud, even to older children. Picture books have fabulous vocabulary and can be a great tool for older children as well.

Want to learn more about the benefits of reading aloud to children of all ages? Check out this podcast by Sarah Mackenzie, or better yet, buy her book, The Read-Aloud Revival. This book was life-changing for our family.

I like to collect a variety of books. I usually begin with non-fiction books, ones that will bring the topic to life in an educational manner. Living books are always a fabulous choice. Next, I will collect some picture books that make the topic fun and mixes things up with beautiful illustrations. Finally, I will try to find a chapter book or novel that ties into the topic in some manner, and that will be our family read aloud that the topic will center around. Sometimes I may cull a few additional shorter chapter books that my kids can choose from to read alongside our unit, especially if it ties to a historical event. I find it's my favorite way to bring history into our homeschool.

How I track these: I have a wish list at my library that I save books to. Anything I cannot find at my library, I drop into an Amazon wishlist like this one.

Step Three: Collect Games and/or Puzzles

Some other items we love to add to our unit topics are games and puzzles, so I try to search out games and puzzles that will fit our theme. If the games are super education based, it’s a bonus, but keep in mind that all games have an educational aspect to them, even if it is not readily apparent. Learning to take turns, be a good sport, think analytically, count, organize, and think strategically are all skills that can be gained by playing games. So, finding a thematic game is a great way to add fun and learning to your day.

Puzzles are also a fabulous way to improve skills like cognitive reasoning, spatial awareness, and problem solving, just to name a few. Think outside the box when looking at puzzles. A flat table jigsaw puzzle is always amazing, and there is a pretty good selection, but if you cannot find one that matches your topic, try a 3d puzzle like these amazing dinosaur ones from Amagoing, or some sort of stem building kit like this fun robotic arm by Thames and Kosmos, that will also provide a puzzle-like experience for your kiddos and maybe even add a STEM aspect to your study.

How I track these: I add these to my Amazon wish list.

One of our space puzzles. Find more fun space themed resources here

Step Four: Choose Hands-on Activities

When looking for hands-on activities, I take into account a few things. First, I consider what items I need and if I already have them on hand. I have found when the items I need are few or easy to obtain, I am more likely to follow through with them. If I shoot too high, and it is an overwhelming activity, I tend to procrastinate on either collecting items, or setting it up and it frequently doesn’t come to fruition. Second, I take a look at what other learning opportunities are available. Will it qualify as a handicraft, art, or science enrichment? I like to find hands-on activities that will fulfill another learning category so we are getting the biggest bang for our buck. The third thing I ponder is whether it will be a good activity for them to do while I am reading aloud. My kids love to have something to entertain them while I am reading, so coloring pages or painting ceramics like these from Art In History (which are a favorite in our house), are great activities to complete during our reading time.

A ceramic pot to go with our Native American read aloud.

There are a few ways I find my activity ideas. Pinterest is a great way to collect, as well as track, activities in an organized fashion. I also like to hunt down hands on activity books that are topically based. There are a number of series' that have great hands on activities, and many even overlap with educational reading topics. Some of my favorites are the Hands on History series, Explore your World Series, 21 Activities for Kids series, and the Build It Yourself Series. I also enjoy searching topics on Amazon. I type in hands on activities and the name of the topic and sometimes I will luck out and find a neat interactive book, project, or interactive learning item, like this magnetic animal cell. Finally, Instagram is a great resource for finding ideas. If you use the hashtag option, you can find some fabulous ideas other moms have already put together and shared.

How I track these: If it is on Pinterest I add it to the board. If it is a book, I add it to my library or Amazon wishlist. If I find it on Instagram I save it.

Plant cell model for science

Step Five: Find Documentaries/Educational Videos/Movies

We are not huge screen-time folks, however, we do office school three days a week and it is a good tool for the kids when we have some downtime. So, I like to compile a list of educational videos from a range of video apps we have, and then provide it to the kids on office days. I let them choose which ones they want to watch and in what order. They love the freedom of choice and I love that they are occupied while learning something worthwhile and topically related.

Some of my favorite sites for videos are CuriosityStream, Smithsonian, Youtube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video.

How I track these: I log them in a spreadsheet so they are easy to print out for my kids when we begin the topic.

Step Six: Plan a Celebration

I love finding ways to take a topic and celebrate its closing as a family. I will research and include one fun movie that is topically related that we can use to celebrate. We plan a food item (or two, or three) that we can tie in as well and spend the day making the goody (or goodies), playing games, and then settling in to enjoy a movie as a family. Nothing says success like a fabulous celebration!

Our Peter Rabbit unit celebration

Step Seven: Take Action

Now it is time to put the plan into action. Order your library books 2-4 weeks ahead of time (especially if it is a holiday-based topic others may want also) so if any are put on hold, you have ample time to receive them. Order the items you need. Amazon is always my fallback for books, but I will search other sites like Abe Books and Thriftbooks for possible discounted books as well. I order my craft and hands on activity supplies from Amazon most of the time as well. I print out my list of documentaries, and I put all items into a storage bin like this so they end up in one place. If I don’t do this step, I tend to forget about resources I want to use. This is the best way I have found to stay organized without lists.

My South America Unit resources

Step Eight: Celebrate

I like to make unit studies feel like a celebration. We celebrate the start of it and then we do it again when we reach the end. It brings excitement to the topic and draws the kids into it.

Some great ways to celebrate the beginning of a unit is to set out an invitation to play, sensory play, play dough bin, or other fun hands on introduction to the topic so you can introduce it in a fun, interactive way.

Introduction to our mini beast unit

Some Additional Things to Remember

Something I have discovered, and learned to embrace with unit studies is that they may not fit the time frame you envisioned, and that is okay. Remember that this is supposed to be a fun learning experience for your family. If you are super captivated by a topic and it runs longer than planned because of rabbit trails, embrace it. If you need to order more books or research more documentaries because the kids are so invested, push your other plans out and let them explore the love of learning.

On the other hand, if they don’t seem to be loving the topic, its okay to let it go. Sometimes it is just not the right season. We tried a pirate unit about a year ago, and after a week, my daughter was completely lacking enthusiasm for the topic. Rather than fight it, I put the resources away and plan to pull them out again at the end of this next year with my son and see how it goes. My topic list is so vast we will never run out of ideas, so I just moved onto the next topic (Detectives/CSI) and she ended up loving it! If they are not in embracing the topic, they are not learning as much, so find something that draws their attention and start the planning all over again.

Our CSI lab to go alongside our Detective/CSI unit - one of my daughter's favorite units to date. Here is a CSI kit for you to try

Unit studies are such a fun way to explore topics as a family. It is one of our favorite ways to spend time together and learn.

Our first family style unit, Robin Hood and Medieval Times

As I mentioned, I am not someone who does well marking things off a list. This has been a great approach for me. If you feel like you are in the same boat, give this process a try and see how it goes. If you do, I would love to hear about your experience.

Do you have any other questions that I didn’t answer in this blog post? Drop a comment below!