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The Holiday season is here! Which means that sometimes our lessons take the back burner. Most years, this season is full of parties, baking, shopping and wrapping. Because of all the busy-ness, we like to slow down a little with what we’re learning. But, we don’t want to stop completely. This is a great time to take what we’ve been studying and expand on it a little. By making what we’ve been learning into a Unit Study.
Maybe there’s a subject that your children have really taken an interest in? This is the perfect time to do some art projects, watch a documentary about the subject, grab some extra reading materials, or make a recipe that coincides with your lessons.
BookShark Unit Study
For example, my son is obsessed with birds- so when we did week #6 of our Level D BookShark curriculum, we added in some activities to continue our learning. We watched the Dancing with the Birds documentary on Netflix, which went right along with what we’d been reading about in Science with our Mysteries and Marvels of Nature book. We did an art project- making our own crazy looking birds using cut out pieces of paper and our wild imaginations. You could build a birdhouse, make a peanut butter bird feeder, do some coloring pages, do an in depth study on your favorite bird. The possibilities are endless!
(This was especially helpful when we were on week #13 where my son was writing a research report on Penguins- he used some of the fun facts he had learned doing extra studies on birds.)
If you’re not quite ready to do a full week of learning in all subjects during the Holiday craziness- I highly recommend doing a smaller unit study. It’ll help keep the kids occupied, they’re still learning, and it all still counts for school, right?! We love taking opportunities to dive into subjects that we love, and now is the perfect time of the year to do that.
For week #10 of our BookShark curriculum we did a tinier version of this and sculpted sea monsters out of air dried clay, that we later painted. We watched another nature documentary about the deep sea, and my son designed a coral reef picture on his computer using Paint 3D. This was an easy way to fill up our 5th day of school for the week- since BookShark is a 4 day curriculum. A trip to a local Aquarium or Zoo would be a great addition to your studies as well. Filling up that 5th day with field trips is always a great option.
It doesn’t have to be crazy, and it doesn’t require immense amounts of planning- which is one reason I love to switch to this type of learning during busy seasons. Once the Holidays are over, we’ll jump back into our normal routine- but this is a great way to pause without completely putting a stop to our learning. So whether you’re just looking for a fun way to expand on your learning, or trying to scale back for the Holidays- give a Unit Study a try!
The most important thing this season to remember is, don’t be too hard on yourself. Baking, volunteering, even filling out Christmas cards can all be lessons in themselves.
What are some ways you scale back in your Homeschool during the Holidays?
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