Category: Homeschool Helps

Unit studies for middle and high school invite students to move beyond simply completing assignments and into engaging with ideas.

At some point, almost every homeschool parent I know (including me!) has asked the question:

“But what about high school?”

Can unit studies prepare students for high school?

It’s one thing to embrace creative, connected learning in the early years. But when transcripts, credits, and college preparation come into view, everything can start to feel more serious.

We worry that it has to be more structured, more traditional and rigid.

It’s understandable. 

We want to make sure our children are truly prepared for what comes next. So it makes sense that we would also ask how unit studies fit into a high school homeschool.

Are unit studies academically rigorous?

Here’s what I have learned first hand and what I want you to know: 

Unit studies don’t water down a high school education. They deepen it.

When done well, a unit study approach at the high school level invites students to move beyond simply completing assignments and into engaging with ideas.

Do unit studies meet homeschool requirements?

Instead of memorizing information for a test, students begin to:

• Analyze complex topics
• Evaluate different perspectives
• Make connections across disciplines
• Communicate their thinking clearly

Unit Studies for Middle and High School

This is the kind of learning that colleges, careers, and life actually require.

Consider this…

A traditional approach might cover history, literature, and writing as separate subjects. A unit study brings them together.

Are unit studies suitable for college-bound students?

It is not less rigorous, but it is more integrated and often more meaningful and  lasting.

In fact, many homeschool families find that unit studies create stronger transcripts through rich, project-based work and can better prepare students for college-level expectations.

At this stage with unit studies for middle and high school, the goal isn’t just covering material. It’s developing a confident learner with strong critical thinking skills. And that’s exactly what a well-designed unit study helps cultivate.

Learn About Unit Studies for All Ages – Including High School

Let the adventure begin,

Tricia (and Amanda)
P.S. If you are nervous about the high school years, please, let me reassure you… Some of the most meaningful moments of our homeschool years happened in high school. You have so much to look forward to!

Here is how unit studies can help discover your child’s gifts and talents. Unit studies help us to help them discover their own gifts and talents, as they learn about the world while we are right there beside them.

First and foremost, remember that every child is a blessing, uniquely gifted by God. I’ll never forget the time that the chemistry experiment blew silver nitrate all over my brand new white curtains, and just how our daughter looked when it happened! I will never forget the thrill of the kids when they met some of the astronauts in person, and heard about some of their space adventures.

To use unit studies is to begin a trail of discovery for both you AND your children – a powerful journey of discovery.- Amanda Bennett

How Unit Studies Can Help Discover Your Child’s Gifts and Talents

Give your children a chance to follow their interests and you might just be surprised at the outcome. With unit studies, our children have obtained a better understanding of the way things work, the history of the world, their own abilities, and much more. I am always asked about “holes in their education” if unit studies are used. First, I ask the audience if anyone ever remembers completely finishing a textbook when they were a child – not many hands have ever been raised. I share my personal experience that we never finished a textbook when I was a child, and I was so disappointed – the “good” stuff was always toward the end of the book!

The concept of education is not just to fill their heads up with any and all information available – that would take hundreds of years in these days of ever-expanding information. The concept of a good education, in my opinion, is teaching the child to be able to think, to help them build a sound foundation of learning – a strong tree of knowledge where they can place more information over the course of their lives. I will never be able to teach my children about all things, BUT, I will teach them how to think, to investigate, to research and dig for answers. In the years ahead, it is my opinion that this will be a priceless education for those who will be successful in a rapidly changing world.

Unit studies can do just this, and that’s my intention when I write them and use them – getting the child to think and explore, letting curiosity get the best of them. Try to help them develop a love of learning and enjoy the wonder of the world – it’s quite an empowering accomplishment. As powerful as homeschooling can be, it is not a result  of all homeschooling families being just alike. Realize that you will never be “just like” other families in your homeschool group or those at your state convention.

I’ve traveled all over the country as a speaker at homeschool conferences, and I’ve met all kinds of people. I am frequently asked by many parents, “Are we like typical homeschoolers?” I have to smile at this point – I don’t think I’ve ever met a “typical” homeschooler. That would be like having a “normal” day of homeschooling, whatever that is. Enjoy the uniqueness of your family and your approach to homeschooling. Some families use textbooks, while others use unit studies. It isn’t as important to follow the crowd anymore, now that the crowd is just you
and your clan – what a blessing this is for all of us.

Getting To Know Their Interests – FREE Homeschool Assessment Download

Our family has done so many things since we started homeschooling – we’ve traveled all over, met some amazing people, and followed our dreams to all kinds of places, and I can honestly say that we’ve never had a boring day – and certainly not a “normal” day, and that is not our goal.

As a former corporate engineer, I am well-aware of the concept of having goals and a mission statement. What is my mission statement these days? To help the children discover their own gifts and talents, whether in botany or veterinary science, athletics or orthodontics, who knows what the future holds! Now, as a homeschooling mom, what is my goal? To work myself out of a job by helping them become self-motivated learners – to have them out there, learning and challenging and thriving within the realm of their own very unique gifts and talents.

More About Unit Studies

• Interest-Directed Learning
• Getting to Know Their Interests (Free download)

Blessings,
Amanda B.

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.

Whether cookies or oceans, the land down under or backyard bugs—whatever captures their curiosity, take time to fan the sparks of their interests.

Encourage them like there is no tomorrow.

You do not know what tomorrow holds, but you have been given this day, this moment, to build them up and prepare them for their future.

Blessings,

Amanda B.

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!

You might also like:

• Homeschool Science in the Kitchen (and Amanda’s favorite cookie recipe)
• Bountiful Bread
• Chocolate Challenge
• Nana’s Favorite Sugar Cookies Recipe

Be Encouraged in Your Homeschool!

• Helping Your Homeschooled Children Pursue Their Dreams
• What is a Unit Study?
• Unit Studies with Multiple Ages
• How Does this Method Compare to Others?
• Take the Tour: Learn About Unit Studies

Explore Unit Studies Now!

Happy homeschooling,