Unit Studies

Unit studies align the teaching and learning experience according to a single topic or concept. It is closely similar to the eclectic approach in a way that the unit studies may also mix-and-match the techniques and materials. However, many different subjects and activities are integrated into the study of a solitary “unit”, and may carry on through the different stages or grades.

Studying baseball, for example, will not only teach children how to play the game. A unit study on baseball may go into the theme of sportsmanship. Math could be covered when studying baseball through computing for speed, probability, or area. A book on baseball, for example, can teach reading, and requiring children to write an essay about baseball covers grammar, writing, logic, among others.

The topics used by Amanda Bennett, an authority in unit studies materials, include gardens, seashells, racing, horses, American government and more. Amanda Bennett asserts that providing children with exciting and fascinating materials for unit studies “challenges them to think, reason, analyze and dig deeper for further information”. Click here to visit Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett.

In unit studies, parents may choose to follow a set lesson plan or curriculum, but assemble their own materials, or they can go all the way by also creating their own curriculum. Popular sources of unit study materials is of course Amanda Bennett, and for those looking for a Christian-based approach to unit studies, there is also KONOS.