Spring has a way of making everything feel fresh again. Enjoy a fresh start for your homeschool this spring!
The days grow longer, the air warms up, and suddenly it feels like the perfect time to shake things up a little in our homeschools. If your routine has started to feel a bit stale after the long winter months, a simple spring refresh can bring new energy and curiosity back into your learning days.
And the good news? It doesn’t require a complete overhaul.
Sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest difference in our homeschools. A new topic to explore, a fresh question to investigate, or a hands-on project can spark excitement again for both you and your kids.
That’s exactly why we’re so excited to share three brand new unit studies with you this spring!
New Unit Studies Just In Time For Spring
🌸 Spring Study Bundle: Spring is bursting with fascinating discoveries—from the science of blooming plants to the surprising ways animals and ecosystems change with the season. This study invites your kids to explore the wonders of spring through our Spring Surprises, Twisting Tornadoes, Simply Soccer and Kite Capers units.
⚽ Simply Soccer: Perfect for sports-loving learners, this unit study dives into the history, science, strategy, and global culture of soccer. It’s a fun way to connect learning with an activity many kids already love.
🪁 Kite Capers: Few things feel more like spring than watching a kite soar through the sky. In this study, students explore the science of flight, the history of kites around the world, and the creativity behind designing and flying their own.
Each study is designed the UnitStudy.com way, the way we teach our own children, with one topic explored together across multiple ages while encouraging curiosity, conversation, and deeper understanding.
In the midst of winter, we begin to look forward to longer and brighter days, the first green shoots of grass, and the colors of the daffodils and crocus as they begin their new cycle of life. As Christians, we look forward to the celebration of what I look at as THE most important event in the history of the world—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Some Christian denominations mark the approach of Easter with the observance of Lent, just as many observe the season of Advent leading up to Christmas.
This New Season of Faith
With all that we do as homeschooling parents, it is so easy to overlook the obvious in the midst of the day’s most pressing fires. Consider setting a few simple goals as we approach this season that is so important to our Christian faith. Perhaps this month focus on having everyone learn the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23. Building faith in our children is what I consider to be our most important mission here on earth as parents. Teach them, taking it one step at a time.
Easter . . . a Season of HOPE!
Easter is quickly approaching and we have some great titles with special prices to help you teach your children about the reason behind our HOPE.
Easter Promise (one week study, K-4)
Beginning with Palm Sunday and continuing on through Ascension Day, immerse yourself in the events of Jesus’ last week on earth. Experience the awe and wonder contained in Jesus’ miracles,Passover, the Last Supper, and the Garden of Gethsemane. Watch as Old Testament prophecies come to fruition. Your children will explore the true meaning of Easter as they investigate this amazing week and grow to understand God’s greatest gift to His children. The promise of Easter changed the world forever. Easter Promise is sure to do the same for your family!
Expedition Israel (one week study, K-4)
Get to know the Holy Land—it’s more than just a map in the back of your Bible. Biblical heroes and history, amazing places, animals, music, games, and foods. This study willignite a passion for the Holy Land in your children, like no other. The Bible will come alive as they connect the historical Holy Land with the modern day Israel they hear about in the news every day. And they’ll learn a little Hebrew along the way! Come along on this incredible journey. It’s an adventure with memories to last a lifetime.
Bountiful Bread (one week study, K-4)
Bread. Just the smell of this wonderful food can get the immediate attention of most people! So many fun and memorable childhood events include memories of bread making and baking.From holiday favorites to daily breads, this food item dates way back to biblical times and still plays an important role in our lives. Your child will investigate all kinds of things about bread, including the history of bread, types of bread, some of the countries that created unique kinds of bread, and much more! Each day he will explore and investigate, creating and adding more learning components to his Bountiful Bread lapbook—building a wonderful reminder of all that he is learning to be enjoyed for years to come.
Sports can add so much to your child’s learning, beyond the obvious physical activity. Here are 4 reasons to embrace sports in your homeschool.
Like many, I remember laying on the living room floor as a kid watching the Olympics night after night with great anticipation. As a family, we cheered, cried and yelled at the TV from time to time. My favorite of the summer events are Gymnastics, swimming and synchronized swimming.
My mom found a local synchronized swimming team in Tampa, FL when I was about ten years old and finally my love of dance and swimming came together. The sport is now called Artistic Swimming. I swam through high school and after graduation moved across the country to compete for a world renowned team. While it wasn’t the Olympics, I did represent the U.S. at the world level in Rome, Italy. Not a bad destination for a competition! We placed second and I’m sure I will always remember the experience.
4 Reasons to Embrace Sports in Your Homeschool
Here are some of the things I love about team sports (and sports in general) that have helped shape the person I am today:
1. Work Ethic
There was no improvement or “gain” without sacrifice and hard work. I still remember when friends would have sleep overs or go to a movie on Friday night and I stayed home in order to go to bed early for Saturday morning practice. I made many sacrifices over the course of my swimming career but really, they were all teaching me how to prioritize.
2. Teamwork
Artistic Swimming is an incredibly challenging sport and you have to be in close communication with your teammates or you will not be in sync. At times, we needed to encourage one another, or allow another teammate to encourage us so we could work together to do the best job possible. We didn’t want to let each other down and that was a strong motivator to keep at something until you got it.
3. Character
Being resolute is a character trait that embodies sports and applies to so many areas of life. You cannot get very far in any endeavor without a fair amount of determination. Especially in scenarios where you might be the underdog or the one going against the odds. Fighting to improve or fighting to succeed grow good character qualities and then you get to discuss how to keep balance between success and doing your best, and also how to deal with the inevitable disappointments that accompany any sport.
4. Confidence
I was very shy growing up. Competing in a team sport that required some showmanship and performance, helped me come out of my shell in various ways. It was not always comfortable and that can be a good thing. Confidence grew as I got used to the challenges and found that I could compete!
Whatever is available in your area to participate in, consider sports an opportunity for development and growth. Perhaps watching and learning about the Olympic Games will be a catalyst for inspiration. Watch for our unit study leading up to the games that will get the whole family ready for all the competition!
More Sports Unit Studies for Your Homeschool
You might also enjoy football and baseball and more!
What do I wish someone had told me when we first began homeschooling? There are no do-overs and this time with your children is not a dress rehearsal.
Homeschool Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short
The days will absolutely fly by, as hard as that is to believe sometimes. Take this day and run with it. Savor the moments, do the necessary, and make the time to do what’s important, kid-wise.
When they ask about tadpoles, take the time to explain and explore. If you can’t answer their questions at the moment of asking, keep a special little notepad or list on your phone of their questions. Make a big deal of recording their questions, and later, make an even bigger deal of helping them find answers.
If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.
—Rachel Carson
Making Every Homeschool Day Count
This moment will never come again.
Listen to your children. Ask questions about their thoughts on things—faith, their Sunday school class, their baseball coach, the dance instructor. Make sure that you encourage their ideas and efforts when they happen, before they get lost in the chaos of family life.
A Picture Each Day
During the year ahead, take a picture a day of your children—just a simple photo each day or week.
At the end of the year, create a photo collage to show how much they’ve grown and changed.
Race across the park with them, or simply stroll around the block with them. Take a break from your planned routine and let them make a plan for the day or week ahead. Step back from studies they struggle with and launch into something that captures their interest.
Adjusting your homeschool plan is a natural and necessary part of creating a learning environment that truly works for your family. In this post, we share practical homeschool planning tips to help you revise your homeschool plan with clarity and purpose.
Remember bringing your first child home, and how you had glowing ideas and great expectations about parenthood?
Before the birth of our first child, we had visions of blissful days, watching our baby smile and coo, and we made great plans for her future. When we brought her home, we discovered just how farfetched our ideas were, and how off base our plans were! The realities of parenthood were astounding, and we had to keep adjusting to handle the journey.
Homeschooling can follow the same pattern. You start out along the homeschool path with certain ideas and expectations, and you make plans for the journey.
Then, while you are busy trying to stick to your plan, your children become the individuals that you have encouraged them to be. They are miserable with your plans and curriculum, and you are miserable with the battles as you struggle to force-fit a plan that isn’t working.
Our Top Tips For Adjusting Your Homeschool Plan
Parenthood is about faith, love, adjustments, and flexibility. Here are a few adjustments that might help along the homeschooling way:
Adjustment 1: Follow your instincts.
If the children are miserable, you know it’s time for a change. Consider changes in plans, curriculum, and/or schedule. Try new choices, new learning tools, or a more tailored schedule. More in How Do You Know It Is Time for a Curriculum Change?
Adjustment 2: Adjust your expectations.
They might not go to Harvard, play professional ball, or follow in the family tradition of engineering. But they WILL surprise you with all that God has packed into them!
Adjustment 3: Stay flexible.
What works today might not work next year. Don’t plan past this year, but DO plan for a great journey!
Be creative as you tweak the plan. I know just how it feels to be in need of a change of course, and I’m thankful to have discovered the flexibility of unit studies.
With topics from baseball to volcanoes, caves to snowflakes, they allow you to capture the children’s imaginations and watch them develop a love of learning!
How do you know when it’s time for a homeschool curriculum change? It’s a question homeschool moms ask all the time.
How do you know when it’s time to get new shoes for your children? When they complain that their feet hurt when they wear their shoes. How about new clothes? How do you know when it’s time to replace the old ones? When their clothes just don’t fit anymore—sleeves too short, shirts not long enough. How about replacing their bikes? When their knees hit the handlebar and their legs are just too long.
When Is It Time For A Change In Curriculum?
In other words, when something doesn’t fit or they outgrow it, you replace it. You know when its time for a change by taking note of the visual or audible cues. You don’t make them wear shoes that don’t fit—you change them, without giving it another thought.
Why would it be different when it comes to our homeschool curriculum?
When Your Kids Don’t Like Your Homeschool Curriculum
Curriculum should be treated the same way, but so often we stay the course simply because we’ve made the investment and it is easier than trying something different.
This is the time of year that so many people have approached me with the same question, asking “When is it a good time to change the way we homeschool? The kids hate what we are doing, and so do I.”
Why don’t they like it?
It’s boring.
There are too many papers to grade.
Kids hate the books.
Moms hate the daily struggles and battles.
Don’t kill the joy of learning for these young minds. If you are getting clues that it is time to make a change, pray about the possibilities. Ask questions. Try a unit study. Roller Coasters? Goofy Gecko? Discover the Senses? Just one. Textbooks and workbooks and naysayers will always be there.
It is possible to store the mind with a million factsand still be entirely uneducated.
Make memories with this Christmas candy cane cookies recipe! A sweet and simple activity sure to bring joy this season!
Thank you Laura Clark, for sharing this family favorite with us!
Candy Cane Cookies
½ cup butter, softened
2½ cups flour
½ cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners sugar
Red food coloring
1 egg
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and shortening with an electric mixer. Add confectioners sugar and blend. Add egg, almond extract, and vanilla and mix until well blended. Measure the flour in a separate bowl and mix in salt. Slowly mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, scraping down the bowl as needed.
Divide the dough in half in 2 bowls. Add a few drops of red food coloring to one half of the dough. Mix in the food coloring until well blended and the color you desire. Cover both bowls with plastic wrap and allow the dough to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Here is the part our children like the best, since it’s like rolling play dough: For each cookie, make a rope of plain dough and a rope of red dough; twist the two ropes together and shape into a candy cane.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 9 minutes until lightly brown. Allow the cookies to cool on a cooling rack. Sprinkle with red sugar or confectioners sugar.
Unit Studies For Crunchy Cookies (and more kitchen science!)
Be sure to stop by and take a peak at our Crunchy Cookies and other Kitchen Science unit studies! Kitchen science provides a fun way to capture a child’s interest, and this set of Download N Go™ studies is interactive and ready to use right now with your K-4th grade students!
Science in the kitchen is one way to connect together as a family and learn in your homeschool (not to mention the yummy treats). Here’s one way to blend family time and learning that’s a win-win for everyone!
I’ve got my coffee in hand, and I’m sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying the rare silence. It’s usually the loudest place in the house, and that’s a good thing. Homeschooling brought many blessings and lessons for me, and one of those lessons was learning the powerful combination of kitchen, learning together and family.
I discovered that some of the best thought-sharing and worry-calming conversations could be had around a platter of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies fresh from the oven. Just the smell of cookies wafting through the house would bring a smile to each face as they came through the door. When they smell that aroma, it sends the message that all is well and Mom’s in the kitchen! (The recipe for the Bennett family favorite chocolate chip oatmeal cookies is included at the end of this post.)
Kitchen Science in Your Homeschool
Take time to cook with your kids, and let them feel the adventure of creating something delicious! Remember to share your own memories of cooking as a child, as a newlywed (funny stories at our house!), and stories behind some of your family’s favorite recipes. Scooping cookie dough, decorating a homemade pizza, braiding their first loaf of braided bread, or watching the temperature rise on the candy thermometer for their first batch of fudge – all provide wonderful learning adventures, as well as opportunities to strengthen relationships and share great memory-making experiences. At our house, life revolves around the kitchen. People of all ages are drawn there, and the conversations as we all cook and enjoy a meal together are part of the glue that holds us close. Cooking together allows us to share stories, try new tastes, and teach the next generation. Enjoy!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe a la Amanda Bennett
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, cream:
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
When thoroughly mixed, slowly add:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Then blend in:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 quick or old-fashioned oats (I use whatever is in the cabinet)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are our favorite)
Mix well.
Drop dough by rounded spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for 10-12 minutes. I let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes, them move them to a wire rack, where they usually get eaten long before they completely cool. 😉
This recipe makes 4-5 dozen cookies, and they tend to bring more and more people into the kitchen and around the table.
Unit Studies For Crunchy Cookies (and more kitchen science!)
Be sure to stop by and take a peak at our Crunchy Cookies and other Kitchen Science unit studies! Kitchen science provides a fun way to capture a child’s interest, and this set of Download N Go™ studies is interactive and ready to use right now with your K-4th grade students!
As homeschool parents, we carry so much on our shoulders. Lesson plans, field trips, daily routines, and all the big decisions that come with guiding our children’s education – it’s easy to worry that we are missing something .
The Moments That Matter Most In Your Homeschool
There are several moments in your life as a homeschooling parent that will stand out in clear focus as your children grow up.
One of those moments came for me at the high school graduation of our oldest child, and it came in the form of a repeated sentiment during graduation ceremony when parents stood at the podium to express their feelings to their graduating child.
The repeated sentiment was one of regret that they had never made the time to build a tree fort with their child.
Build The Tree Fort!
As I stood there waiting for our turn to speak, I couldn’t help but reflect on what that might say about our efforts as homeschooling parents. Perhaps we get so wrapped up in covering all of the academics that we lose sight of some of the fun and amazing things—things like building tree forts, counting shooting stars, and hiking and camping with our kids.
I pray that you aren’t one of the parents standing at graduation with regrets about the fun and amazing things that you didn’t do with your child. Create time for the delightful moments of discovery and adventure that are there for the taking when the kids are young. Trust me, the time flies all too quickly, so don’t wait. Get out there and go exploring!
“Speak up!” Didn’t you hear that often enough in your formative years from adults trying to encourage you to say what is on your mind and let others be aware of your ideas? I know firsthand that as a parent, it is one of the things that we encourage in our own children. As American citizens, we also need to speak up as a integral part of the US Government system and raise our opinions clearly through elections as well as other outlets. As these children of ours grow up and become adults in our communities, they need to be aware and informed of the election process, the workings of American government, and the power of the people.
US Government Elections Study
When studying elections, your family can learn so much, including: · the history of elections · the basic structure of representative government · the voting and election process · participating in a campaign · the basics of statistics and how they are used in campaigns and elections · facts about presidents, their families, and their opponents
The Power Of Speaking Up: Civics In Action
As this generation matures, they need to be fully aware of their own capabilities and responsibilities within the framework of our American government. This unit study can open the doors to further learning and understanding in these areas, while getting the whole family involved in elections and politics. As parents, we need to be aware of issues that affect us in our efforts. Students need to understand that they, too, will need to stay involved in the process to protect and maintain these constitutional freedoms.
Learning About US Elections and Governance
Make learning about this great country a wonderful and interesting adventure. Instead of learning about elections and government from a dried up textbook, enjoy the process using real books. Discover exciting elections and unpredictable outcomes, and read biographies of various presidents and their own family lives.
Elections Unit Study Adventure offers all of this and more. Starting with the younger students, you can delve into some fun history about the Constitution and learn more about presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The older students can study the Constitution and its origins, and from this get a better understanding of the basic structure of our government. They can go into greater detail in their study of the election process and past and present candidates. Pursue this study on a regular basis throughout your child’s education, covering different sections each time while providing a solid knowledge base in history and government, and strengthening their understanding of their rights and responsibilities.
Here are a few activities to consider when studying Elections:
1. As you delve into the history of elections, have the students select one of the actual elections and candidates that they are interested in studying in-depth. Using the library, your home book collection, the Internet, and other resources, help them investigate the event and the people. On the Internet, you can even find each inaugural address!
2. Issues—what issues are important to your family in the upcoming elections? Have your students determine the issues that are important to them, and explain why they are important. Consider having them interview family members about the issues that they are most concerned with during the upcoming elections. The students can summarize their findings in a written report, possibly in a family newsletter format.
3. During election years, there are usually public sessions, debates, and “meet the candidate” get-togethers. Find out when these are scheduled and try to take your students along to watch the political process at the grassroots level.
