Homeschool Unit Studies: What is a Unit Study?

A unit study is study of one topic (mammals, ocean, Civil War) that incorporates many cross-curriculum subjects, like history, science spelling and writing. Unit study author Amanda Bennett defines a unit study as "a complete immersion into the topic so that the student will see things as a "whole" instead of bits and pieces learned throughout their education."

Some reasons that unit studies are often used by homeschoolers in place of text books and work books:

• Unit studies generally engage children easily because the studies allow them to think through problems and to be creative.
• Using cross-curricular skills allow students to understand how to use math, composition and other skills practically.
• Homeschoolers often share unit studies online, complete with lesson plans and links to resources required to teach the study.
• The same unit study can be used to teach multiple child at once, regardless of grade level. Assignments are varied by the students' grade levels, but separate text books and other resources are not required.

A great place to start exploring unit studies is with the Stone Soup Homeschool Network's comprehensive unit study data base, organized alphabetically.