Unit Studies Curriculum
A Unit Studies curriculum stands out from other curricula because it includes a unifying theme! Instead of approaching each subject separately, unit studies integrate across various subject areas and topics. This helps children better understand what they are studying. In turn, this helps children better retain what they have studied. Heart of Dakota (HOD) creatively utilizes a unit studies approach by using history as its unifying theme.
Each HOD homeschool teacher’s guide includes an easy-to-use, two-page-spread of lesson plans. The left side of the plans provides the basis for the chronological weekly Learning Through History theme. Engaging living books narratively tell the story of history and act as the spine of the unit study. A variety of subjects connect to the history theme to create fun and memorable homeschool unit studies!
Unit Studies in Younger Guides
HOD’s PreK through third grade homeschool guides center their unit studies around amazing history books the parent reads aloud! Get ready to cuddle up on the couch and travel through history together via HOD! These younger guides connect the history theme to subjects like Bible Study, Corresponding Music, Rhymes/Poetry Study, Science Discovery, Artistic Expression, History Activities, Notebooking, Timeline, Vocabulary, Geography, and Devotions. Charlotte Mason’s ideas on the use of living books, oral narrations, timelines, recitation, memorization, copywork, and Christ-centered learning can all be found in HOD’s younger guides’ unit studies as well!
HOD incorporates Charlotte Mason’s short lesson format, which holds the attention of younger children and keeps them cheerfully focused. Finally, HOD makes sure to include hands-on learning connections. This helps young children incorporate movement into their homeschool unit studies in meaningful, fun ways! With awesome multi-sensory connections such as these, children truly commit to memory what they are learning!
Unit Studies in Older Guides
HOD’s fourth grade through eighth grade homeschool guides center their unit studies around amazing history books! However, parents and students share the reading of them! This is just what Charlotte Mason advocated! Parents enjoy reading aloud the history-based Storytime set of books which match the weekly unit’s theme. These living books fit within the Charlotte Mason ideal of bringing history to life in a narrative way. They are a higher reading level, and they expand the horizons of students as they listen to history unfolding.
But parents aren’t the only ones who get to have fun reading! Students also read their own set of history-based reading books via their Reading About History and Independent History boxes of plans. These living books further establish the unit studies’ weekly themes. They are on the students’ reading level and are assigned in smaller manageable reading amounts. So, all homeschool students can experience success with taking on a portion of the reading for the unit studies’ themes!
Research, Bible Quiet Time, Draw and Write Through History drawings, Notebooking Entries, State Studies, Worthy Words Primary Source Documents, Vocabulary, Geography Lessons, Biblical Applications, Timeline Entries, President Studies, Economics, and History Projects all find their way into HOD’s older guides’ unit studies at their appropriate time in history.
Charlotte Mason’s ideas on the use of living books, oral narrations, written narrations, timelines, recitation, memorization, Common Place Book entries work together to create a balanced, innovative unit studies’ approach. Furthermore, Charlotte Mason’s picture studies, hymn studies, Shakespeare studies, nature journals, composer studies, and classical poetry studies all get their time in the spotlight!
Unit Studies in High School Guides
HOD’s ninth through twelfth grade guides still center their unit studies around incredible living history books! However, the student independently reads and enjoys most of these books and the parent makes connections with students in more mature ways befitting homeschool students’ abilities! Students literally ‘see’ history come to life with amazingly narrative books, “You Are There” audios, “Radio Theater” dramas, and “Reader’s Digest” and All-American video DVD/download presentations, and more!
Geography Activities, Living Library readings, History Activities, Mapping Activities, Timeline Entries, Literary Synthesis Sheets, Great Documents in History, Notebooking Entries, and more find their place within the unit studies approach to learning! Charlotte Mason’s skills of seven different kinds of oral narrations and seven different kinds of written narrations make their way in these amazingly integrated plans as well. Common Place Book entries, Book of Century/Timeline entries, recitation, memorization, Biblical applications all work together to keep Charlotte Mason’s ideology alive and well in HOD’s high school unit studies themes!
Electives in High School Unit Studies
Furthermore, electives find their place where they make the most sense to be within history! Students’ half-credit elective World Religions and Cultures finds its way into World Geography, as students map the world with art. The Rooted and Grounded Bible Study further enhances the World Geography history theme by studying and praying for specific people groups around the world. The Fine Arts: Art Appreciation study finds its way into the World History guide, as students read their way through history, they work their way through the History of Art as well. In the USI guide, homeschool students enjoy connecting history to their Government and Constitutional Literacy half-credit electives. In the USII guide, students their history to Economics and Personal Finance electives. They learn the Secret of Being Great communicators within the USII Speech elective. Even the literature portion of the English credits earned often connects to the history units’ themes!
Only Real Connections That Make Sense
As a homeschool mom of three who’s homeschooled PreK through 12th grade, I can say without a doubt that I love HOD’s Unit Study approach! I feel it is the best of both worlds. Connections are made where they make sense, and history acts as the binding agent to hold the unit study theme closely together.
To try to fit EVERY SINGLE SUBJECT within the Unit Study approach is rarely a feasible or a good idea. Some connections just aren’t there and to force them simply weakens the strong, excellent connections that naturally work well. For example, to make math problems, spelling words, grammar skills, etc., fit within a unit study theme, you’d probably have to sacrifice the best order to teach skill progression.
So, while I love HOD’s Learning Through History Unit Study approach, I am equally grateful for HOD’s Learning the Basics approach! This two-pronged approach helps HOD be both a strong Unit Study curriculum and a strong academically-sound curriculum! I am thankful for both!
In Christ,
Julie
P.S.
You can print each homeschool guide’s first week of plans on HOD’s website! Just click on the “Program” or guide that fits your child and scroll all the way down to the “Look Inside” and “View First Week” section. This will let you see both the Unit Study: Learning Through History left side and the Learning the Basics right side of each guide’s plans!
