Unit Studies 101- Amanda Bennett (notes from conference)

Okay, these notes are a bit scatter brained but I guess will do. ;)

Unit Studies 101 by Amanda Bennett
http://www.unitstudy.com/

She spoke a bit about Bloom’s Taxonomy and how rote memorization is low on the list. (Which is the very method we were all likely trained in and the way we are likely training our children.) She says she has found that her children retained the information much better when it is presented in unit studies.

Here are her tips:

Privately ask each child what they want to learn. “If you could study anything, what would it be?” She prefers to ask privately so the siblings won’t nay say the idea. Also, she points out you should never nay say the idea either… no matter how silly it may seem to you. (Even if they want to study bubble gum!) Always show enthusiasm over their choice. Remember, it is their interest, not yours.

Try 4-week unit studies with 1-week breaks. Briefly prepare the lessons during the 1-week break and count it as an “in service break”.

Do not try to plan too far ahead, interests change.

If they lose interest in the study then stop. If there is no interest they will not retain the information.

To cover grammar skills have the children write about their research everyday.

If you have a reluctant writer try Write Source. (LOL, I didn’t realize I have this book until today!)

Don’t worry about covering it all. There will be holes no matter what method you use to educate your children. But with unit studies, you are teaching your children to teach themselves and research topics that interest them.

Don’t worry if you seem to be mainly focusing on science unit studies with little history unit studies. (Or visa versa.) Eventually it will balance out. (For example- most of your studies have been inventions, machines, weather, etc…)

She suggests some children will not pick a topic because they realize it will mean reading. If this is happening then volunteer to read to the child. Eventually the child will realize there is a lot of cool information to be had by reading and will begin reading themselves.

Do NOT make it a big deal if your child will not read. (Apparently one of her children just would not read. They never made an issue of it and read to him. You guessed it; he picked it up just fine.)

If you want to create a butterfly display quickly freeze them after their capture. (Apparently they will stretch nicely this way.)

Try letting your children scrapbook their findings. This is especially true if you have non-readers or writers.

Amanda makes sure math is covered via workbook each day. (Unless the child happens to be doing quite a bit of math with the unit study. For example, she found her 2nd grader doing geometry once while designing the tiled floor for a tree house.)

Math should be done when your children are most energetic. For example, her children were more alert in the mornings so they covered their math lessons then.

After you have chosen a topic make a diagram with the topic as the center circle. From that circle draw 5 other circles. These cover: who, what, where, when and why.

Who- did the event, did it involve, invented it, etc… Whenever possible tie in “real people” to the unit study so the children can relate.
What- (Science or History) This obviously changes with the unit. Basically this section covers all details about the topic.
Where- (Geography) Get as specific as you would like. Continent, state, city, etc…
When- (History) Try to discuss what other events were happening in the world at the same time as well. Try using a time line to reinforce this lesson.
Why- Why did this even occur, etc…

If you have problems incorporating all 5 aspects at once then try a 5-week unit study. Designate each week to a different aspect.

She recommends using one (cheap) notebook per child, per unit study. This way the children will have record of their findings, which they can refer to in the future. Also, they may decide to add to the study as some point.

Let the child decorate their notebook according to the unit study.