Unit
study is a particular method of teaching and homeschooling practice that
focuses on a particular them or subject matter and studies in great
detail, with many activities centered on reading, writing, and
researching a particular specific subject.
Homeschool unit study will even work if you have more that
one child and if your children are of different
ages.
Simply have the older more advanced child focus on
the more involved or intense part of the unit while
the younger one approaches the same unit study at a
more higher less detailed level.
Another good idea with this scenario is that the older
child can, to some degree, get involved in the teaching of the younger
child what they have discovered!
Picking a unit to study can be as easy as picking a page in an
encyclopedia or combine a mini unit study with a vocabulary word if
appropriate. Almost any subject matter can be made relevant when using
unit study as your form of homeschooling.
By studying one topic in great detail the child gets a much deeper
understanding of the subject and the history of the topic not always
just the high level fly by.
Work field trips into your homeschool unit studies. The key is just to
take any subject and expand on it.
Whether is animal, vegetable, or
mineral, take a look at the history of the subject. How did it get to
where it is now? Where did it come? What part of the world did it come
from? Why do we use? Will we continue to use it....etc. Once you do this
the child will begin to see the relevance of all subjects.
