Unit studies are a great resource for homeschoolers. A tree unit study can be used year-round. You will learn how to take one book and use it for your entire study. That’s right, just reading this one book with your learner is the entire study.
Because we vibe a bit more with eclectic unschooling, we create our “curriculum” with interesting books and real-life exploration.
Unschooling is the belief that children are capable of directing their own learning. Adults are there to assist and provide the environment, resources, and opportunities to explore those interests. Unit studies are a great resource and can be used loosely or heavily, depending on your child’s desire.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) Approach to Unit Study
As previously mentioned, unschoolers pretty much dance to the beat of their own drum. Now, I’m a planner through and through. I love unit studies and believe they can work with unschooling; it just takes a little finessing, ha. So if you are a planner like me, but want to give your learner as much flexibility in their learning as possible, keep reading.
Project-based learning is a method in which children learn through active exploration and engagement of real-world and personally meaningful projects. Learn more about PBL here.
One of the perks of unschooling is that children are free to investigate what naturally interests them. Project-based learning in conjunction with unit studies might be what you’re looking for. Allow me to show you what I mean.
Planning The Unit Study
So, you’re observing your little explorer and taking note of what they engage in throughout the day. Observation and note-taking are important and often overlooked aspects of unschooling. Your notes and observations allow you to adjust the homeschool environment to support interests you notice. This also helps your learner to dive deeper into those interests, should they choose to.
If you are aware of these interests, you can use unit studies as a resource. The finesse is in the way you use the unit study. Here I will show you an example of how I design a unit study to work with a self-directed and unschooled approach to homeschooling.
Step 1: Identify a topic or area of interest.
Our topic for this unit is trees. I love this topic as a unit study because once you create it, you can use it multiple times, depending on what aspect of trees your learner is interested in at the moment.
I am all about working smarter and not harder, ha.
If your learner thrives on structure, this unit study can be used for a duration of 5 – 9 weeks.
Step 2: Determine what questions your learner has regarding the topic.
This is where you might refer to your notes. Were there any questions your learner asked regarding the topic? Any questions you could introduce that might connect the dots between different things you noticed during your observations. Write these down.
For this unit study, a child might be on a nature walk and pick up an acorn and say, hey, what is this? What tree does this [acorn] come from? Write that down.
Pro tip: utilizing a KWL chart is a great way to help children activate prior knowledge and keep track of what is being learned during their investigation. The “K” represents what the child already knows, “W” is what they want to know, and the “L” is what they have learned as a result of the investigation or unit study.
Because project-based learning usually involves children presenting what they have learned (the “L” in KWL), children should, in their chosen way, share with others what they learned. This could be drawing, a song, a skit, etc., whatever THEY decide. The point is, they are able to take information in and somehow spit it back out.
You can then document the process and the “final project” for your homeschool record-keeping and watch their progression each time you use the unit study as a relevant resource for trees. The process is far more important than the final product.
Step 3: Gather resources.
BOOKS!! C’mon, that’s no surprise. Ha, I’m a book lover. This is the bread and butter of a unit study, especially for self-directed learners and unschoolers.
In addition to books, internet resources, field trips, interviews with experts in the field, movies, etc. are great additional resources in a unit study.
For my tree unit study, I focused on one book as the core of the unit study. The Magic & Mystery of Trees by Jen Green (published by DK).
You can download my tree unit study outline here. The additional books I used to add variety, expand upon the topics in the main book, and display on the shelves in our homeschool room to encourage more investigation. The Magic and Mystery of Trees can be used as the entire curriculum itself. However, I recommend having the other books as well because they can be used for multiple topics.
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List of books used in this tree unit study
- The Magic & Mystery of Trees by Jen Green (published by DK)
- Getting Started with Science by Katie Daynes (published by Usborne Books & More)
- The Big Book of Blooms by Yuval Zommer (published by Thames & Hudson)
- 100 Things to Know About Saving the Planet (published by Usborne Books & More)
- Quicklinks Internet Resource to accompany this book (here)
- My First Encyclopedia (published by Usborne Books & More)
- How Great is Our God: 100 Devotionals About God and Science by Louie Giglio
- Indescribable: 100 Devotionals About God and Science by Louie Giglio
Watch My Tree Unit Study Review
Watch my review of this tree unit study from the fall season here. I plan on using this unit study again since I have noticed my oldest asking about the blooms on the bare trees coming back as spring approaches.
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Have you done a nature study before? Do you see unit studies as a useful resource in your homeschool? Let us know!
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