One question we always get when people find out we homeschool is “How do you pick your curriculum?”
The process has evolved for us. When we first started homeschooling, we got a boxed curriculum that came with instructions and lesson plans. I literally just opened the box and got started. As you may have read in our Edwards Homeschooling Life post, we eventually figured out that workbooks, textbooks, and boxed curricula don’t work well for the learners in our family. We slowly started moving toward more hands on activities while still keeping a few workbooks around. Then, eventually, we arrived at our current method that involves zero workbooks.
If we don’t use workbooks or worksheets, then what DO we use?? Well, we use a lot of technology, field trips, hands on activities, and reading books. We have found a lot of success in doing one unit study per semester. Most of our school subjects will revolve around the unit study topic. So, for example, this past semester, we did a unit study on birds. Birds were involved in all 8 of our required subjects. (Maryland has some of the more stringent homeschooling laws. We are required to meet with a county school official twice a year to provide proof of sufficient instruction in the following areas: Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, PE, Health, Music, and Art.)
Before each semester, I take a few hours to sit down and plan out our unit study. I usually break down that unit into 12-14 weeks and we cover one part of the topic per week. So for birds, our weekly lessons covered: Intro to birds, what birds eat, anatomy of birds, types of beaks, species we see in our backyard, our state bird, our national bird, birds of prey, nests, feathers, migration, birds’ contribution to nature, and birds’ contribution to human society. We watch youtube videos, read books, go on field trips, do hands on activities, and search google for information on each topic, weekly. This semester, we were also fortunate enough to do zoom activities with friends who were studying birds along with us.
I know what you’re thinking….“That all sounds like fun, but how do you incorporate all the subjects in your unit study? What do birds have to do with math?!” Well, I’ll give you a brief rundown of how we fulfilled each subject with birds:
Science: This one is pretty self explanatory. We studied nature, anatomy, science of flight, etc. We built birds’ nests, studied feathers, observed birds in our backyard, went on bird watching expeditions, dissected owl pellets, and the list goes on.
Language Arts: This is fulfilled slightly differently for each child depending on their grade level. The gist of it is that they read books about birds, used google to read websites, kept journals about field trips, and we had a living google doc for each child in which they would summarize each weekly topic. The requirements for what was required in the writing assignments varied based on grade and skill level. Obviously, the 7th grader was expected to write more and use better grammar than the 3rd grader. Likewise, the 3rd grader had to do more than the 1st grader. We love utilizing google docs because it gives live feedback of grammar, spelling, etc while the child is typing. Plus, there’s the added bonus of me being able to be in the document while they are typing and I can provide immediate feedback on the doc, even if we are in different rooms of the house.
Social Studies: This is where we start to get a little more creative, but it’s not a stretch at all. Birds have contributed to the history of human society in so many different ways, it’s easily explored. (specifically when you look at the World Wars) However, we also visited the history of the birds themselves. Things like why the Bald Eagle became the National Bird and why it is a protected species. We also worked on geography while learning about different birds and the regions of the world they live in. We practiced even more geography skills by mapping out migration paths of different species of birds. We also got some “incidental” history of our surrounding area while visiting different parks to bird watch. Many of the best bird watching locations are also in a historic location in Maryland.
Math: Math is definitely where I needed to get my creative juices flowing. We learned about the theory of lift and Newton’s laws of motion. We tracked, tallied, and graphed the types of birds we saw in our backyard. We compared and contrasted a couple different state birds. We measured wing spans and compared those lengths to our arm spans and things in our environment. We also measured and built a “replica” of an eagle’s nest out of blankets and pillows in our house. However, knowing that there are some basics of math that can’t always be applied to birds, we supplemented with the online math game, Prodigy, which the boys LOVE, so they don’t feel like it’s “school.” We also did a lot of cooking which is a great way to apply and reinforce multiplication/division and fractions.
PE, Health, Music, and Art: In Maryland, we are required to show 30 minutes of physical activity per week. Our boys are involved in organized sports, so this is already fulfilled for them. However, we also do nature hikes and bike rides while bird watching. Health was fulfilled by looking at what birds eat and how it compares to what we eat. It also included looking at the anatomy of a bird and how it was similar or different to human anatomy. Music was a fun one…we studied different bird songs and tried to mimic them. And last but not least, art included building nests out of materials from the backyard, drawing birds, coloring pictures of birds, and other similar activities.
So, now you know how I plan out our school curriculum, what does our school day look like? We have a more relaxed learning environment. We spend 2-3 hours per day working on actual school work as a group. The rest of our day is structured in an intentional way so that the kids get more “school” without knowing they are “doing school.” The kids help out in the kitchen, a lot. Not only do they get life skills, but they follow recipes, so they get practice with reading and following instructions. Plus, there’s an added element of chemical reactions when cooking. The kids are allowed to watch certain channels on YouTube that have educational content. They play a game called “Adventure Academy.” Plus they are constantly asking our Google Hub questions and learning how to research information on their own. Our entire day revolves around learning, but in a fun way. We fully believe that the world is a classroom, you just have to be open to learning in non traditional ways.
Abundantly Blessed Life 