Author: kathleen

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Teaching With Unit Studies

This article originally published in The Homeschool Link magazine.

If you have been around homeschooling for some time, then you probably already know what a unit study is and how you would incorporate it into your home school.  But if you are new to homeschooling, or looking for a different approach to your curriculum, or maybe just looking for a break from your normal classroom routine, you should hear about unit studies and how they can help with your schooling.

What is a Unit Study?
A unit study is a topical study that encompasses a wide range of disciplines.  Unit study is sometimes called a thematic, integrated, or cross-curriculum approach to learning.  The idea is to take a topic and study it in depth, covering every element of the topic as it relates to science, mathematics, literature, history, geography, and other disciplines that may be more individually tailored to the unit being studied.

This style of learning has been around a long time- can we even quantify how long?  Did Adam and Eve ever teach their sons and daughters about the world around them?  Think about when you or your children have been very interested in a topic and have dived into it to learn everything possible about that topic.  That’s a unit study!  But lets see if we can spell it out in greater detail with an example.

An Example of Unit Study.
Your ten year old has gone on a fishing trip with Daddy and is suddenly fascinated with everything involving fishing!  “Ah,..”  you think, “I just read an article on this, this would be the perfect opportunity for a unit study!”  What can an in-depth study of fishing uncover and how is it educational?  Let’s look.

Science (biology, botany, life science, etymology, ecology)

  • In what habitat does a fish live?  How do humans interact with and affect that habitat?  Sketch your local fishing hole in terms of an ecological habitat.
  • What are the different types of fish?  What is the largest fish?  The smallest?  What types of fish do you have locally?  Identify them with a wildlife guide.
  • What are the parts of a fish? For what purpose was each part designed?
  • What do fish eat?   Where do they fit in the food chain? (What is a food chain?)
  • Do fish eat different things seasonally?  Do different types of fish eat different things?  Why do fly fishermen like to fish during “the hatch”?
  • How do fish reproduce?  Draw the life cycle of a fish.

History/Geography

  • Historically, why have we humans fished at all?
  • Which countries or regions would you expect to consume the most fish and why?
  • Describe historical fishing methods (boat, spear, nets, hands, fishing rod) and when/ where they were used.

Literature/ English

  • Read Moby Dick
  • Read The Old Man and the Sea
  • Read a book on the history of fly fishing, or an anthology of fishing stories.
  • Write book reports on the books you have read.  Discuss them in class.
  • Write your own short story about fishing.

Physical Education

  • Go on a field trip.  Fish!  Did you have to hike to the fishing spot?  That was PE.
  • How many calories does one consume while fishing?  Does it depend on the style of fishing you are doing?
  • Learn and try some different types of fishing.  Pole fishing, wading, floating, fly fishing…

Socio-Political Studies

  • What controversies are involved in fishing today?
  • Explain the principles of catch-and-release.  Why and when is this practice employed?
  • Get a fishing license; review and discuss the rules and regulations.

How to Incorporate Unit Studies Into Your Homeschool.
Ok, so you just read the above example and it looks like a lot of work to put together something like that.  It certainly can be a lot of work.  But there are many resources available to help you wade the waters of a unit study.  Think first about how you want to use unit studies within your home school.

One way to employ the unit study approach is by throwing out the textbooks and diving into unit studies completely to learn all your core curriculum requirements.  This approach works best when homeschooling highly energetic children who need lots of hands-on practical application to stay engaged and to learn most effectively.  One could argue that we all learn this way best!  Remember, though, past about the junior high school level, if your goal is college prep for your children, there should be more rigorous coursework involved that will not be attainable through unit studies alone.  If you are using unit studies exclusively, you will want to do some research into your topic areas and tailor it to your home school.  Choose among available commercial products wisely to ensure you are hitting all the important subject areas for your children, and not simply having a great time… fishing, for instance.

Another way you can use unit studies is as a supplement to your normal coursework.  This is a perfect way to engage and round out a student who has a definite interest in one area.  Use your own activities and topic areas or purchase a unit study guide that addresses the area of interest.  If your child is old enough, let them proceed at their own pace and dig deeper into areas where they want to focus.  Make sure you incorporate some field trips and plenty of hands-on activities.  Have fun with it- this flexibility is one reason you are homeschooling, right?  Encourage your student.  Remember, career aspirations start this way.

A third way to incorporate the unit study in your homeschool is to take a break from your normal routine.  Take a few days, a week, or a month off of your typical class schedule to study one topic.  Then, at the end of the study, resume your normal classwork refreshed and energized.  You can choose a topic of interest to your student(s) or one that anticipates an upcoming event such as a family vacation.  You might have done this before without realizing it.  Did you ever incorporate some “school” into a family vacation?  Every vacation I can think of (although a theme park vacation might be a stretch) has some educational opportunities built in.  Gettysburg, Washington D.C., the Rocky Mountains, the Louis and Clark Trail, scuba diving in Cancun!  Take the week prior to the vacation and study up!  Incorporate science, math, history, literature, etc.

Benefits of using unit studies
Why would you use a unit study to teach your children?  There are several benefits to employing this approach.

First, choosing a subject that is interesting to your students means that they stay engaged and eager to learn.  When a unit study captures your child’s interest, they will want to dive in to all aspects of the topic.  Your job becomes easy- they will absorb anything you can teach them.

Second, the unit study can be used for your entire homeschooling age range at the same time.  By choosing age-appropriate activities for each child, you will allow each one to study the topic of interest at their own level.  Once again, your task is made simpler with fewer subject areas to address for the duration of your unit study.

Third, the unit study is by nature practical application oriented.  For your hands-on learners, a thematic study lends itself perfectly to maximize learning opportunities.  By providing a mix of different applications in the different disciplines, the unit study helps to combat disinterest!

These are some of the benefits of the unit study in your homeschool.  Whether you use it as a year-long approach or just to take a break from your usual routine, the unit study is a helpful tool for you to employ.

A Final Word
Whether you use a purchased unit study or one you have designed, have a plan in mind.  Write it down.  Tailor it to each of your children, if you are involving your entire home school class.  If you are engaging in haphazard hands-on learning, you are still learning, but it is best to have a concrete knowledge of your objectives and whether or not you met them.  Have fun!

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What Every Chemistry Student Should Know

This is a list of topics in chemistry.  If, at the end of the chemistry course, a high school student knows and understands at least these things, he/she has done well and is prepared for the freshman college chemistry course.  This is not a comprehensive list of a high school course set of objectives, but a list of basics upon which a student may build.   The use of  “etc” means that the needed concepts are not all listed.  They may be found in the student’s textbook.

  1. Memorize the common chemical symbols and atomic weights   The easiest way to do this is through oral drill.
     
  2. Know your way around the periodic table.  Why is the table designed the way it is?  What does it say about the elements, groups and periods, and the sequence of adding electrons?  Know some of the characteristics of the groups, periods and what causes them.
     
  3. Know the terms for the fundamental building blocks of matter.  Parts of atoms, forces of matter and energy, ions, isotopes, etc.  Be able to explain how they relate to each other.
     
  4. Know the electron orbital concepts and be able to discuss the ideas of electron position, energy absorption, energy and light emission, bonding, valences, energy states, etc.
     
  5. Know the characteristics for the three states of matter and how they relate to the kinetic theory.  Know the energy requirements of changing states.
     
  6. Memorize the types of reactions and be able to recognize them.  Be able to predict products given the reactants.
     
  7. Know the basics of acid-base reactions. pH, ions. titration, indicators, etc.
     
  8. Know the physical and chemical characteristics of the most common elements and compounds.  A few of these are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, metals, and hydrogen.
     
  9. Know something about the history of chemistry and how humans started discovering the complexities of  the world about us.
     
  10. Know about the functions of metallurgy and how elements are purified and controlled so that the environment is not damaged.
     
  11. Know how to produce and retain certain gases, including water-soluble gases.
     
  12. Know the gas laws and be able to apply them to everyday life. 
     
  13. Understand the concepts of the Avogadro Constant and molarity.
     
  14. Know the principles of heat transfer, measurement, calories, etc.  Be able to work problems using these concepts.
     
  15. Be able to balance chemical equations, including arrows showing direction of reaction and precipitant or gas formation, heat or light radiation or requirements.
     
  16. Know techniques for filtration, distillation, evaporation, and condensation.
     
  17. Be able to identify common laboratory equipment.  Demonstrate the proper cleaning and care of equipment.
     
  18. Practice observation, record-keeping and communication skills by writing a good laboratory notebook.
     
  19. Be able to accurately follow the instructions in the writing of the laboratory report.  The data must be written in ink for the report, or printed with the computer.
     
  20. Know and use good safety practices.
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What Every Biology Student Should Know

These are concepts and areas of knowledge that the high school student should be reasonably familiar with before going on to the college level biology course.  Look for patterns in biology.  The needs for all life forms on Earth are constant; the methods of meeting those needs are different. The student should be familiar with both the needs and the methods.  Plan on spending about one-fifth of your class time on lab work.  Remember, this is only an outline.

  1. Know the areas of study in biology and their names.
  2. Know the classification system with emphasis on its structure, criteria for classification of the organisms, and be familiar with groupings and examples down to class and order.
  3. Know the names and be able to recognize the common species of your area.  Understand their roles in the area.  Example:  Rice:  economic importance as food source.  Fields provide habitats for nutria, fish, amphibians.  Grown where ground may be too wet for other grains.
  4. Know the cycles of life and how they vary from phylum to phylum – class to class.
  5. Understand the fundamental premise that every organism must perform functions to survive and that these are similar in all life forms.  The things that make each life form unique are the methods by which these functions are carried out.  It is the combination of the structural differences which make the types of life interesting as well as variant.
  6. Know the systems that function within organisms, and how they work together.
  7. Be able to relate the needs of all organisms to specific organisms and explain how their special form meets the need.  Example:  oxygen is needed by all the cells in any organism.  Gaseous exchange is a function whereby this need is met.  Some organisms perform gas exchange with lungs, some with gills, some use blood to circulate the oxygen, some have closed circulatory systems, some open, some do gas exchange through the skin.  You get the idea, I hope, that each species meets the same need in a different way.
  8. Be able to recognize various major organs of different life forms from dissection experience or from drawings.
  9. Understand the cell theory and the basic structure of the living cell.
  10. Know the process whereby life characteristics are transferred to future generations.  Mitosis and meiosis, reproductive systems.
  11. Know the various types of reproduction used as well as examples of each.  Example: vegetative propagation.
  12. Know the cell types and how they work together in tissues.  Know the different types of tissues and be able to explain how their structure is related to what work they do.
  13. Understand basic types of inheritance and how they impact humans and domesticated life forms.
  14. Know the processes of photosynthesis and respiration and their relationships to living things.
  15. Osmosis, diffusion, and active transport:  distinguish and explain with examples.
  16. Know the uses of enzymes in the bodies of life forms.
  17. Know the uses of hormones and their effect on the body.
  18. Be able to explain and construct an energy pyramid.
  19. Know some effects of environmental change on organisms and interrelationships between them.
  20. Know some population studies including these factors:  over-population, density-induced stress, density-induced diseases (both physical and psychological).  Know the effects on populations of predation, density, food supply, and waste removal.
  21. Know human health, anatomy and the methods of maintaining well-being.
  22. Know some of the vectors of diseases and how to prevent the diseases.
  23. Know human development from embryology to adulthood.  Also be able to name the causes and general treatment of some of the more common disorders.  Example: diabetes.
  24. Be able to read and construct line charts and graphs from data sets.