How to Write a Homeschool Unit Study for Homestead Kids • Homestead Lady

If you’re new to homeschooling or simply new to the idea of writing your own unit study, use this simple tutorial to get you started. With specific guidance about brainstorming ideas, gathering materials, researching and sticking to a unit study template that is customizable to you, this article will take you from start to finish as you write a homeschool unit study. The article includes templates you can download and use today to get started!

Homesteading homeschooling parents are like all parents – there’s only so much time to get everything done! We need tools that help us accomplish our tasks without a lot of extra fluff.

My goal for this article is to help you get a handle on compiling a simple unit study so that you can be sure you’re teaching all “those little things” you’d like your children to know before they leave the homestead. This same format will also work for larger topics like events in history or literature.

Grab a paper and a pen to jot down your ideas as you run through these tips on how to write a homeschool unit study.

In case you’re new to using unit studies, here’s a brief overview of what the unit study method can be.

What is the Unit Study Method of Homeschooling?

Using unit studies is a simple way to break up all there is to learn in a homeschooler’s year by focusing on single topics in bite size amounts. We use curriculum for basic things like math, language arts, and science but unit studies allow for learning specific topics in a less regimented way.

To get started planning unit studies for your homeschool year:

Sit down with your students and ask them about what they’d like to learn this year. This conversation can be one-on-one or done as a group. I prefer one-one-one interviews. I conduct these throughout the school year to check in with my students on an individual basis. I call them “mentor meetings” and I try to remember to bring a healthy treat to make the time even more special.
Take copious notes about your kid’s interests. Make a separate list of things you’d like to be sure they learn this year. I recommend having a learning plan for each student that covers their school career in 2-5 year increments. Sort of like creating a business plan but for homeschool!
Figure out how your lists will work into and around any other curriculum you use for your students each year. Some parents use unit studies exclusively for their children’s school year and others use unit studies as a supplement to their learning. I love worldwide holiday unit studies and will often “travel the world” with my students during a year’s worth of festivals and feast days from cultures all over the globe. You can prepare unit studies on any topic under the sun!

The main purpose of a unit study, though, is to take a larger topic and break it down into smaller, more specified topics. They usually include instruction, activities, crafts or games, writing assignments of various kinds, and even field trips to cement what the students have learned.

How to Write a Homeschool Unit Study

Especially new homeschool parent often have questions about creating their own unit studies or any kind of curriculum. It can feel overwhelming at first but if you can read and write, you can write a homeschool unit study – I promise!

I’ve tried to anticipate the most common questions you might ask about how to write your own unit study for your homeschooled homestead kids this year. Let me know if I left something out!

How Do I Create a Unit Study for Homeschooling?

After twenty years of home education I’ve discovered that the best way to write a homeschool unit study is to simply…keep it simple! You can add modules (sections of study) onto any unit study framework as interest calls for.

However, to begin the process, keep to a basic template and resist the temptation to go off on every tangent that takes your fancy. I say this more for myself than for you since my brain is like a bag of cats.

The first thing to do is to create a template that you can use as a framework. A unit study template should include:

The general topic.
Month and year of completion (makes planning and record keeping easier).
A statement of purpose – what is the unit study supposed to be teaching?
Principles being conveyed*.
A numbered list of the unit study module topics, one for every week of the month.
A space for a bonus fifth activity – every year has four months with a bonus week.
Resources section broken up into what you have and what you need from books to websites to outside mentors and places.
A generous space to write in your notes on the outcome of the unit study – all quality systems have a built-in feedback loop!

That fifth bonus activity could be a special family dinner to share what you’ve been learning this month with grandparents and older siblings. Or it could be an on-topic field trip or family trip. You could also set up something like science faire but focused on the topic of your unit study.

Break out the poster board, paint a series of pictures, go on a hike, or do any number of fun events to share what you’ve learned. When you write a homeschool unit study yourself, you get to cram in as many fun learning activities as you want!

A Note About Principles*

Principles are closely tied to the purpose of the unit study but they provide further clarity.

For example:

Some home educators have religious tenets they like to highlight.
Permaculturalists might like to tie in the 3 ethics or 12 principles of permaculture.
Still others might like to note historical, scientific, or artistic points that further strengthen the general purpose of the unity study.

I use this space for ALL of these things! As I’m teaching the unit study over the course of the month, I like to check back with my purpose and principles to make sure I haven’t strayed off the topic or forgotten something important.

What would you add to this list?

We created a sample template, along with the other documents mentioned in this article that you’re welcome to download and use when you join our newsletter family.

The next thing to do is flesh out your framework!

Research the Unit Study in Layers

Part of the fun (and part of the exhaustion) of preparing your own unit study is that you end up learning so much yourself! This is one of the great joys of teaching. You and your homeschool children are growing together into well-informed people who take responsibility for their own education.

This is a fantastic thing!

However, it is also time consuming and we need to be realistic about that. I don’t hesitate to purchase homeschool curriculum when I feel it’s appropriate.

When it’s time to write my own unit study, though, I go for the low-hanging fruit. Even if the topic is one I don’t know much about, I usually know a little something. This is where I begin!

Keep to the topic, purpose, and principles! There are so many good and worthy things to know but you’re not inventing fire here! Keep to your plan.
Use a mind map or other brainstorming method to break the topic into more specific parts, typically called “modules”. I like using a blank piece of paper for this so that I can use arrows and write all over the place. I’m a messy creator, though. Do what feels natural to you and works with your personality.
Pick four of these breakout ideas or parts, one for each week of the month. Write the idea on a sheet of paper or onto the template you’re using. They will become the sections of your unity study.
Start your research* with the topic you know the most about – save time by “picking the low-hanging fruit”. Set aside time every month to do the research required to flesh out your unit studies. It’s too much to do it all before the school year begins. Ask me how I know. Set aside the correct amount of time for you to do the research you need to teach to your goals and principles. Never forget that you are a homeschool student, too!
After following the template steps, assemble the four weeks of ideas and look over them again. Is it too much? Too little? Sometimes you can only know the answer to those questions by going through the unit study with your students. Other times, you will see glaring issues by looking over all your notes at once.

You can use any number of online brainstorming and mind mapping tools. Here’s an example of one I created on Canva.com for a theoretical unit study on candle making.

Here’s the exact same thing made with a piece of scrap paper and a pen I finally found on the floor under my bed. You don’t have to be completely organized or use fancy tools to write your own unit study.

A Note on Research*

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to set aside specific time for lesson planning. Ask any professional teacher you know and they can explain how important this step is.

I know you’re busy but homeschooling is a commitment you make not just to be physically present as your children’s teacher, but also to take them and their educational career seriously enough to prepare well.

Education is the job of children. Education is also the job of the homeschool parent.

The key to ensuring that you’re taking only the time you need – as opposed to spending extra time going down rabbit holes – is the stick to your goals, your purpose, and your principles.

That’s why using a template and having an outline is so helpful! So, more on that…

What Should be Included in a Unit Study?

Here’s a little bit more about what should be included when you write write homeschool unit study modules. This doesn’t have to get messy or be too time-consuming if you stick to your goal of keeping things simple.

A lot of what should be included in a unit study is dependent on the age of your children and their relative attention spans. If you’re schooling multiple ages, plan for somewhere in the middle of the attention span range.

Again, I like to use a template for this so that I stay focused. A unit study module could include the following:

Unit study title and module topic of study
Materials needed for the week to complete the module
Resources needed for the week to complete the module
Story to tell on the topic of the module – this could also be a quote for dictation
Informational text – the meat of the lesson for the week
On-topic activity
Outdoor or community connection – something like a field trip, service project, co-op activity, etc.
Quiz/Capture activity*
Feedback/Review section for you to take notes about what worked and what didn’t – don’t forget to ask your students their opinion!

Remember, you can access the templates for creating the unit study modules when you join our newsletter family with the link in the last section. If you’re already a member of our newsletter family, these resources can be accessed using your password for the library linked in your emails from Homestead Lady.

A Note About Quizzes and Capturing*

It’s important at some point in the week to have the students articulate a bit about what they have learned with an age-appropriate activity. If the student is very young, a drawing will suffice. The better the reader and writer, the more you can expect of them.

Sometimes, this takes the form of a simple quiz after the week’s unit study has been finished. Perhaps, after the learning activity, you can call you kids over for a healthy snack and have them write down their answers to a few on-topic questions you’ll be asking. You might print the questions out like a more formal quiz.

Other times, you might have them make a sculpture and explain to you how it represents what they learned about this week. You can even leave the choice of activity up to your student to ensure that their interest will be engaged.

The essential element is that they be able to relate back to you what they learned and how they’ll use the information. This is a great time to observe if your purpose and principles are being achieved through the teaching/learning experience.

How Long Should a Homeschool Unit Study Be?

As a home educator, you get to decide how long to spend on any given topic when you write a homeschool unit study. If you do a lot of student-driven education (and I heartily suggest you do!), you can take your queues from your children.

Take as long as you need to learn the topic, achieve your purpose, and internalize the principles.

A general guideline for unit studies is to spend a month on each broad topic and a week on the specific topics under that umbrella. That’s totally adaptable, however!
Another general guideline is to go by age and attention span for each unit study module. As a teacher, I have a short attention span for sitting and lecturing, so my homeschool involves a lot of getting up and doing things. The one exception is reading together – we can sit for hours and read and chat!
You can break up each module to do a little bit each day of the week but I feel like I lose continuity when I do this. Typically, we work on our unity study module twice a week and then do other school things the rest of the week.

What if They Don’t Remember Everything?

Don’t be too concerned if your students aren’t regurgitating exactly what you’ve said and taught! Their interpretation is what’s important and where you can ask yourself a few useful questions.

Are they learning correct principles?
Did they understand the overall message and information?
Can they apply it to their own lives?
Can they relate back to you enough of the details that you’re sure they caught the basic message?

Remember, we learn best by teaching, so if they can teach you something about the topic, they’ve learned enough of it!

It’s also helpful to remember that the learning experience is a loop, not a path with a final ending. If it’s time to move onto the next module but your student can’t remember absolutely everything from your unit study adventures this week, that’s OK! This isn’t the only time you will ever present this information.

Education is 100% repetition – we study things over and over until we die! I always think of heaven as one big library, so I would wager that the learning doesn’t even stop with death!

Here are a Few Tips for Planning How to Teach a Unit Study

Every student, teacher, and homeschool is different but I hope these few tips will help you have the most learning fun you can with unit studies. For me, unit study work has been the highlight of my homeschool career.

We love our curriculum choices, but my children and I have enjoyed the best group learning with unit study work!

How Long to Teach From a Unit Study

From elementary aged children through middle school aged children, I try to keep instruction in 20 minute intervals before changing things up just a bit. Whether that’s stopping to ask questions, checking how their note-taking is going, telling a story, letting them stretch, etc.

I have a mix of personality types in my schoolroom every day, so I try to read that room correctly.

Do my fidgety kids need to stop and do ten minutes of yoga or standing on their head in the sofa corner?
Do my slower-paced kids need more time being quiet and still?

The beauty of a homeschool environment is that I can tailor the learning experience to each student – one can go stand on his head while the other can complete her coloring sheet!

Teaching a Unit Study with Babies and Toddlers in Tow

Truthfully, I’ve always loved the mix of ages in our school! The idea of attending school with only your age group seems super weird to me now that I’ve homeschooled for so long.

However, it can be a challenge to cover so many varied needs when you’re only one person! Always be prepared with manipulatives like blocks and coloring for the youngest children when their ability to sit still wanes.

Also, provide a safe space close by for them to get down and play where you can still keep and eye on them. Engage them in the group learning as often as you can, though! Ask them to help you or to participate in the craft. They should feel like they’re on the inside of the learning space.

I’ve home educated with toddlers while tending to older students. It’s a challenge but it’s one that is manageable with learning toys, art supplies, and healthy snacks.

Students that Want More

Have one or two extra related assignments for your older or more mature students for a deeper dive into the the subject matter. You know your children’s interests and abilities, so don’t be afraid to challenge them.

Also, let them chase down tangents if they’d like to once the group unit study activities are over for the day. With older students, you can allow them some latitude to do their own research without your step-by-step guidance to further flesh out the unity study’s topic.

This can allow you time to nurse a baby, clean a scraped knee, get lunch together, etc.

What About the Days When It’s All a Dumpster Fire?

Learn to be elastic! It’s a great thing to have a plan – I’m a big planner – but some days just don’t go according to plan.

A skill you develop as a home educator is to be OK with that. Remind yourself that professional teachers have had to learn this skill, as well.

The children will learn to read, they will learn to multiply fractions, they will learn the scientific method, they will learn to learn!

However, today might be the day they learn to tend a sick baby, to harvest tomatoes, to help with an emergency service project, or to pack up the homestead for an imminent move. My children have had their education “interrupted” with these life events over the two decades we’ve homeschooled them and they’re all doing just fine.

Along those same lines, internalize the lesson now that those “interruptions” are the education you’re truly trying to convey. The baby, the harvest, the family service – those things ARE the lesson!

My sister always reminds me that we’re not raising children, we’re raising adults. Multiplying fractions is important, but so is learning to drop what you’re doing and help your elderly neighbor carry in and put away her groceries.

The homestead also provides ample opportunities for these character-building interruptions!