Fun-Schooling How To: Unit Studies for Kids

January 8, 2025January 8, 2025 / Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

A unit study is a deep dive into a topic or interest. In the public school system, this might be a deep dive into a specific subject: math, English, history, science, etc. In the realm of Fun-Schooling, though, these unit studies can be far more specific to the interests of your child! They can be based on a favorite animal, a recently read book, a place your child wants to travel or even a historical event that intrigues them!

With Fun-Schooling, you’re also allowed to make unit studies more flexible, and can focus on more than one aspect at a time. For example, you can break one topic down into a study that can teach a little bit about each major subject. Say your topic is fossils. Here are some ways you could break this down:

Math: learning how the carbon dating formula works or practicing making timelines
Science: the geology of the fossils
Social studies: the history of fossils, such as some of the first individuals to study them or the biggest finds throughout history
Language Arts: reading literature that focuses on/includes geology and fossils or practicing spelling and learning new fossil-related terms
If several of your children are drawn to the same topic, you can create a unit study that has different age-appropriate levels so that each child can be learning something that fits their abilities! And the best part about unit studies that you make is that you get to decide how long they last! Whether it be a week, a month, or even the school year, including a unit study or two into your Fun-Schooling curriculum is an amazing way to help develop your child’s specific interests!

Study Geology (and every OTHER required subject) with Minecraft! Here’s how!!!!

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Seven Subject Science with Minecraft: https://amzn.to/4a7CxFY
Math for Minecrafters: https://amzn.to/3roCjUm
Rock Research Set: https://amzn.to/3kE4Nbv

The Beautiful, Calming Power of Core Journals

November 13, 2024November 13, 2024 / Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

As a homeschooler myself I enjoyed delight-directed learning, library-based homeschooling, unschooling, and lots of unit studies and learning through projects. My education as a homeschooler was fun, but very spontaneous and disorganized at times.

As a homeschool mom, I began to study many philosophies of education and thought I had to pick just one at first. We started with Classical Education and Unit Studies, but that all fizzled out when I started homeschooling my second child who was adyslexic super creator and the third who was a genius type of neurodivergent detective!

By my fourth formal year of homeschooling my 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds, I had introduced a eclectic array of homeschooling techniques that were inspired by Charlotte Mason, Jon Holt, Maria Montessori, Edith Schaeffer, the Bible, and my mother! All while mixing in the classical techniques that worked well for my oldest son.

People asked us if we were unschoolers, because my children’s activities revolved around their needs, curiosity, passions and childish career dreams. With children these ages, we did so many projects instead of workbooks to understand how the world works… and how to master it!

Combining travel, adventure, nature, real books, art, people and love created the theme of our learning adventure that revolved around three meals a day in a big Victorian house on Main Street. But unlike unschooling, we were seeking organization, a schedule and rhythm to our learning process. We were trying everything and experimenting with everything based on my leadership in the home, while honoring the curiosity of each child. We called it Fun-Schooling.

Click here for a lot more great info, plus a Core Journal Chat video!

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How Do Unit Studies Work with Fun-Schooling?

June 28, 2023June 24, 2023 / Sarah Janisse Brown / 1 Comment

Unit Studies…

A deep dive into a topic/interest
- Can be based on an animal, nature topic, hobby, interest, book, place, person- anything really!
Combine multiple educational subjects into the same topic
- For example, a unit study on horses might look like:
- Math- calculating horse speed, stride, distance, stats, etc for racing horses. Managing a budget for horse feed and equipment. (lots you can do with horse math!)
- Science- horse biology
- Social studies- horses around the world, how horses are used in different cultures/communities, horses throughout history
- Language Arts- read a classical book about horses, do copywork on horses, learn to spell horse-related words
Multiple ages can work together on the same unit study with age-appropriate materials for each subject
Students can also work individually on a unit study
Great for students who tend to get “sucked into” a subject
Goes well with our idea of choosing a major https://funschoolingwithsarah.com/?s=major
Can last as long as you’d like- a day, week, term, month, or even an entire school year!
An easy way to combine elements from multiple educational approaches/methods (see the comments below for links to the other educational approaches we’ve covered)
How do I set up a unit study?
- Start with a Fun-Schooling journal based on what your child wants to learn about- or a blank core journal or Master Class if we don’t have a themed journal on the subject
- We’ll talk about this more on the 21st- information below