Unit Studies involves identifying a theme and studying everything about it over a period of time. All applicable subjects are incorporated as the topic is explored. For Example, “frogs” is chosen, the student might study their reproduction (science), write a poem or story about frogs (language arts), study words from frog reading (spelling), learn where in the world frogs live (geography), draw pictures of frogs (art) , or calculate the distance hopped around a pond (math), construct a habitat for frogs (science) etc.
Advantages:
1) The students can take his time studying a topic and because all of the subject are interrelated and centered around the theme, learning can be long-lasting.
2) Children of all ages can learn together, with the older children learning the topic in-depth.
Disadvantages:
1) The teacher will have to teach topics separately if there is no opportunity to learn them within a unit study. For example, if the student should be learning how to tell time in math and that never made sense to learn within a unit study, it would need to be covered separately.
2) There is a possibility the teacher may omit material within a subject or even an entire subject altogether.
There are many publishers that furnish Unit Study Curriculum. Or you can put them together on your own, from the library or any number of source. The subjects are endless.
