Unit Studies are Awesome!

One of the subjects that has taken a real back burner in our homeschooling journey has, unfortunately, been history.  After doing a lot of rearranging and planning this year, I decided that we needed to focus on a general study of world history with a very specific focus on early American history.  We received a copy of Homeschool Legacy’s Once-A-Week Unit Study entitled “Early Settlers in America" to use and review. I am somewhat familiar with the concept of unit studies, but had shied away from them because it always seems like they are very heavy on the teacher planning and preparation time.  I like curriculum that is already laid out for me and is easy to use – especially in the area of resources.

     Early Settlers in America is different from any unit study that I have examined in the past.  First of all, virtually no prep work is required of me.  If there is any prep work, it involves taking a family field trip to the library or gathering / preparing supplies for an activity.  Everything needed for every part of this unit study is listed and planned for me already.  Even the lists of books are arranged and presented in a way to make them easy to find in a library (the lists are given alphabetically and by Dewey decimal number). 

     Secondly, we have found that the joy in a unit study is the flexibility.  Our school week is quite unusual right now because of some health issues.  The Early Settlers in America unit study has a suggested schedule for each day, complete with discussion questions, activities, field trip suggestions, and reading suggestions all incorporating a large number of subjects while studying one topic.  We have been able to adjust the suggested schedule to fit our schedule.  I am able to look at a week and choose subject areas I want to emphasize like Bible, language, science, history, geography, life skills, and even community service.  The flexibility and broad range of subject areas addressed has simplified my approach to schooling this year.  We are able to get away from traditional textbooks in many areas and use many different types of activities to learn.

     Next, my kids really enjoy the family devotionals that are provided for each week.  We are able to discuss these as a family and they are old enough to study the suggested scripture passages further on their own.  They also LOVE the ‘Stump Your Dad Trivia’ questions at the end of each week’s study.  These questions have proven to be quite a challenge!  Do you know the name of the first English child born in the New World?  Neither did dad!

    So far, we have studied Roanoke, Jamestown, Holland, and The Pilgrims.  We have even been able to make ‘ink’ from walnuts and make an actual quill pen.  We are just beginning our study of Pennsylvania and will finish this unit study with a study of New York. I have been so impressed by the quality of this unit study and the user-friendly way it was arranged that I want to continue using unit studies in our homeschool.  Homeschool Legacy has many other titles available and I know we will be trying many of them. The Early Settlers in America unit study is available for $17.95.  It is designed to be used with kids in grades 2-12.  From our experience, this is a very flexible unit study and it is easily used with kids in multiple grades at the same time.  I have been using it with 7th, 10th, and 12th grade children and they have loved it.  I think they are enjoying the variety of activities.  We had sort of gotten into a textbook rut, and this unit study has been just the thing we needed to spark an interest in American history and in learning again!

    By the way, the answer to the trivia question from earlier in this post is Virginia Dare.  I knew that was eating at you!!

     P.S. – if you have children in Boy Scouts or American Heritage Girls, these unit studies have been set up so that they can earn merit badges by completing the activities.  All of the details are given in the unit study. 

    Many of my friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using this unit study as well as others available from Homeschool Legacy.  To read their reviews, simply visit the main crew blog.

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a copy of Early Settlers in America at no cost to me in exchange for this honest review.  All opinions expressed are mine or my family’s.  No compensation was received.**