Creating a Unit Study

There are plenty available. Just do a quick search and you are bound to find more than one unit study for the very next topic in your lesson plan. Some will cost you. Some are free.

One of them may just be perfect for you and your family. The topic, lessons, and activities are spot on. It couldn't get any better. After all, the work is done for you. You just have to implement it.

But what about those of us who actually want to plan our own? Maybe customize it completely? How do you plan a unit study?

Today, I'll walk you through a few quick steps to planning your own unit study. These steps will work for almost any unit study, whether it be a multi-subject unit study or a simple history unit.

How to Plan a Unit Study

1. Pick a topic. Perhaps you'd like to study a time period in history, a specific culture, or science topic. Maybe you would like to build a unit study around a book you will be reading with your children.
2. Find one main reference book, resource, or website. This resource will serve as a guide or starting point, depending how you choose to use it. Generally, if you want to build a unit study based on a piece of literature, this becomes your reference book.
3. Create a list of subtopics. Good reference resources can be used to glean subtopics or areas of further study within one main topic. Some can be used as spines for the entire study. Usborne, DK, and other books like them lend themselves well to this usage. Their typical one topic per two page layout easily creates an outline for more in depth study. Unit studies based on literature, might use elements from the plot, characters, setting, and author. For instance, a unit study on Charlotte's Web could include subtopics like farm life, barns, spiders, farm animals, rats, and fairs.
4. Collect {or create your own} ideas. Find books, projects, activities, and worksheets for each of the subtopics. Be sure to include ideas below, at, and above grade level. Generally, anything can be altered a little, and sometimes you may want an activity to serve as a review or a challenge for your child. In the past, before Pinterest, I used to collect all my ideas in a file. Now, I simply pin the idea onto a board.
5. Find field trips. List local places and events which could relate to one or more of the subtopics. Check into virtual tours as well. Sometimes it may not be possible to visit a place, but students can 'tour' it through a website.
6. Outline the order of study. It may seem backwards to place this step so far down the list. However, once you have the details collected, then you can decide which of the subtopics you'll likely spend more time covering or which are more important in the unit study.
7. Assign a schedule for the unit study. Judging by the ideas you have found or created, you can decide how much time to allow each one. Be sure to keep it flexible and include a few extra days for topics of interest. Children often want to explore a specific topic further. Allow them the freedom to do so, by setting aside extra time.

If you are creating a unit study which is cross curricula, then you will need to pay careful attention to include subtopics, activities, and field trips which are indeed cross curricula. Balance your unit study by finding or creating lessons which include all the areas of study you want to cover.

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Dorie and her drummer husband, Jerry, began the homeschooling journey over ten years ago. Currently, they home educate four children ranging from early elementary to high school. Dorie can be found at Homeschooling Just Next Door, Facebook, or Pinterest.

Planning a Homeschool Year with Pinterest

Are you on Pinterest?


How do you personally use Pinterest?

• Do you pin great ideas to later incorporate into your homeschool lessons?
• Have you pinned full lesson plans or resources?
• Do you pin all of the homeschool ideas onto one board?

Whatever way you use Pinterest, it can be a great organizing tool for homeschoolers. In fact, last year, Sam wrote an article listing ways homeschoolers can use Pinterest to help find and organize ideas. You can read it here. I'll wait.

Personally, I use several of her suggestions. Many of my boards are set up for subjects, units, and special days.

The more I use Pinterest, the more ways I find to use it. I have even started using it to plan our next school year.


Using Pinterest to Plan for an Upcoming School Year

I know it sounds a tad crazy. It is only February and I am planning next school year!

However, I keep running across some great ideas which I want to remember for subjects we will be studying next year.

Not only that, I opted to create curriculum boards for each grade I will be teaching and another for multiple grade classes. On these boards, I pin curriculum or ideas which will be helpful in planning the upcoming school year.

I consider these boards my brainstorming. I add to them when I come across an idea or book I could use. My goal is not to have a million pins, but actual useful-to-me pins.

My plan is to have one place to store all these great ideas. Then, when I do begin the hard work of making actual decisions for next year, I can weed through the pins and decide which ones to include and which ones will not be used.




A word of caution: Pinterest has a lot of ideas and resources. One can easily get swept up in all of it. I try to pin only ideas and resources that my family could actually use and do. Though that trip to Australia does look mighty nice...and it is summer there now...

Five Reasons To Try Notebooking

Notebooking, or (or lapbooks, as they are often called) can be a great addition to your homeschool.  Here are five reasons we tried to (and will continue to) notebook in ours.

1)  Notebooking is a great tool for retention, as well as encouragement toward further learning on a topic.  Notebooking is a way of retelling what has been learned in a way that appeals to a specific child's learning style.

2)  Notebooking has no rules.  Whatever your child likes best (coloring, writing, drawing, painting, cutting, pasting) can be included.  However creative or utilitarian they desire their work to be is just fine.

3)  Having control is inspiring.  The less direction I have given my children, the more elaborate and detailed their notebooks have become.  I have also been shocked at the amount of work they will do without being assigned.  My dyslexic/dysgraphic child is writing up a storm.

4)  There are endless ways to add to a notebook.  One of my favorite resources has been this list of suggestions from the Notebooking Fairy.  There are also reams of Pinterest boards and web sites dedicated to notebooking ideas.

5)  Notebooking is fun.  So much fun, that my children have been working on their notebooks in their free time.  Notebooking is fun because it, like homeschooling itself, can be tailored to the needs, desires and talents of the individual child.

Have you tried notebooking as a part of your homeschool?

Homeschooling with Google (and online resource list)

Back when my mom first began homeschooling me over 20 years ago, the choices for curriculum were much different. You either bought the same materials used in the schools (public or private), or you made your own from what you could find at the library and at garage sales.

Today, there is the internet—and oh, how that has changed the homeschool scenery! High speed information just a click away. With all of the resources of the internet, it really is doable to homeschool for free or nearly free if you choose to. However, what you save in cash you spend in time. Pioneering through the wilderness of cyber space is no easy task. You've got to know what you're looking for and where to look. So, here are a few tips that will have you well on your way to constructing your own Google curriculum.

Know What You Need

You'll never find what you need if you have no idea what that is. Google is close to miraculous, but the computer does not read your mind.

What I have found helpful is a unit study planner. Even if you are not necessarily taking the "unit study" approach, these planners are helpful for defining objectives and listing resources as you find them. You will need to know what you hope to study and some basic objectives. Brainstorm what you'd like to find: information, worksheets, maps, notebooking pages, library books, lesson plans, etc. Then, begin brainstorming some search phrases.

Know Where to Look

It may help, when you first begin to search, to go to particular websites rather that search the entire internet. Knowing specifically where to look can save you a lot of time, particularly if someone else has already done the searching for you. Squidoo, for instance, has a number of lenses (long posts) where the author has numerous links and valuable information on particular topics already gathered for you. (NOTE: You do not have to create an account to search the site.) Search Squidoo for your Ancient Egypt study, rather than the world-wide-web, and save yourself some time. Pinterest is another great place for searching other people's collections.

If you are in need of research information on a particular topic, begin with reputable sources. Not everything you find on the internet is reliable information, even if it comes from Wikipedia. The best information comes from either government websites, university websites, or "name brand" websites like National Geographic, PBS.org, etc. In fact, many of these websites may have lesson plans to download and use on particular topics—another tremendous time-saver.

When you do get around to using a search engine, a good search phrase is the key. For instance, when I'm searching for graphics, "free clip art" brings up images that are royalty-free but still require a charge to download them. Instead, "public domain clip art" has been a much better search term. Though there are tips for creating a good search phrase, most often a good search just requires several tries. To help with this, brainstorm different ways of phrasing what you are looking for, at least until you get the hang of crafting the perfect phrase.

Know Where the Freebies Are

Sometimes, it just helps to be in the right place at the right time. Attend Facebook and Twitter parties for free giveaways; visit the sites that find the freebies for you (my most recent favorite is FreeHomeschoolDeals.com); sign up for notification emails for the products or subjects that you are interested in; join forums where other moms share about their latest finds.

This strategy is especially effective if you plan way ahead. For instance, I know that next summer I want to study plants and gardening with the kids. As I run across those free resources, I snatch them up and file them away for next spring/summer's study. I'm not spending hours at a time searching; I'm just keeping my eyes open.

Homeschooling does not have to break the bank. Before you decide you can't afford to educate your children at home, spend a little time on the web. I think you'll be surprised at how far your budget can go.

Need a little more inspiration, visit 10 Days of Homeschooling for Free and Frugal and read tips from a homeschool mom who has educated her kids for less than $100 a year for the last four years!


To get you started on your search, I've compiled a list of some helpful online resources. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section. Happy searching!

Tracy is a pastor's wife and homeschool mom of three. She herself was homeschooled from 1st grade to graduation and, after college, had the opportunity to write and edit for the Christian textbook publisher A Beka Book. Tracy loves a rainy day, a cup of coffee (lots of cream and sugar), and Rachmaninoff. She blogs at Growing In Grace.

Online Resource List

Worksheets and Worksheet Generators

School Sparks (Pre-K and K5 worksheets) 

Letter of the Week (Pre-K and K5 printables) 

Preschool Packs
Free Preschool Curriculum

Printable Cursive Worksheets

Create-your-own Handwriting Worksheets 

Printable Math Worksheets

Create-your-own Math Worksheets
Over 11,000 Math Worksheets

Printable and Create-your-own Worksheets (all subjects/grade levels) 

More Printable Worksheets (all subjects/grade levels)

Lapbooking/Notebooking Resources

Homeschool Share
Notebooking Fairy
Practical Pages 
Notebooking Pages
Notebooking Nook

Miscellaneous 

Free Geography Study and printables

Free Animal Unit Study (scroll to bottom of page)

Free "World's Greatest Artists" study 

Free Unit Studies (history/social studies/science)

More Free Unit Studies
Free All-in-One curriculum

DonnaYoung.org (tons of free resources for every subject/grade, plus lesson planners and more)
NewBeeHomeschooler.com (free homeschool planner forms)

Currclick.com (regular freebies on a variety of products)

FreeHomeschoolDeals.com 

Homeschool Buyers Co-op (deep discounts on tons of curriculum)

Look What We Did (link-up with lots of ideas from other homeschoolers)

Homeschooling With Pinterest

In my last post, Assessing Your Year, I mentioned taking the holidays to ponder on changes that you want to make to your homeschool. Today I want to give you an idea about how you can benefit from other moms.


I will take for granted that if you are reading this post, you have a reasonable amount of tech ease. If a blog idea has ever helped you, how many more may be out there that you are missing out on?
Google searches work-but they aren’t visually helpful. You may miss an idea all because the title sounds boring; perhaps the introductory words don’t sound like what you are looking for.


The solution? Pinterest!


Using the search feature, you will be drawn into rooms, see curriculum, be inspired by crafts and storage solutions.

You can also search for homeschool blogs. Pinterest addicts love to share their favorite everything. {I even used Pinterest to choose my latest haircut-I shared my board with my stylist right from my phone!} I prefer Pinterest to homeschool magazines. You can find everything there!

But you don’t have an account you say? I am sure you know someone who does! Even if you don’t-get your email to me and I will personally send you an invite.


Be careful though-it can be pretty addictive. Happy pinning!