Lately, we’ve added a couple of fun Unit Studies from Homeschool Complete to our school days. For this review, we received two one-week unit studies: U.S. Symbols and Parks. Both of these unit studies are written with the target age of 1-3 grade. I did extend the age range that I used them with because I thought that Rebekah and Eli would also enjoy learning more about US National Parks and the Park system and US symbols with these fun unit studies. So I ended up using them with Quinton, Rebekah and Eli.
When all three of them were working on it we skipped over the topics that were obviously too easy for the older two. So for example, I worked on the calendar work with just Quinton but I had all three work on the review worksheets. (Some of the worksheet topics were too elementary for them so I had Eli and Rebekah skip those sections. For instance, they are both quite versed in fractions and rounding to 10, so no need to have them complete that part of the worksheets.) I also had the older two take turns reading out loud each day which gave them good practice reading aloud in a group.
Both unit studies have a wide variety of skills that are addressed. Language Arts activities include writing in a journal, reading orally to increase fluency, and using word recognition skills to read new words associated with the given topics along with specific language arts goals in each unit study.
Each unit study also have a suggested reading list, art projects, supply list for all suggested activities.
More About U.S. Symbols Unit Study
The topics in the Symbols include the Liberty Bell, the American Flag, the Bald Eagle and the Statue of Liberty. Additonal topics included fractions, calendar time, rounding numbers to the nearest 10, suggestions for PE activities, root words and suffixes, reciting the pledges (American, Christian and Bible).
As we read about the Liberty Bell, we got to discuss what circumferance is. Did you know they circumference of the Liberty Bell is 12′? I sure didn’t realize that!
More About Parks Unit Study
The kids learned that President Woodrow Wilson created the National Park Service on August 25, l9l6. They also learned that to become a National Park, “the park must have natural beauty, unique physical features, unusual ecosystems, or fun activities.” I didnt’ realize that there are 27 states with National parks, with California having the greatest number (9) of parks. We learned about four parks in particular; Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park.
The Langugage Arts skills addressed in the Parks unit study include writing contractions, identifying antonyms and synonyms, and writing an acrostic. While the Math skills include: counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s to 100, calendar work, creating patterns and understanding that multiplication and division are inverse operations.
One math game that I especially liked was “War.” Basically, using math fact cards the game is played by two players with each player laying down a fact card, the player whose answer is the greatest then claims both cards. Much like the traditional card game “War”, with math fact practice. The kids have had a lot of fun playing Math War!
One especially fun science experiement included making a geyser! Check it the video here.
What Did We Think About the Unit Studies from Homeschool Complete?
The Parks unit study worked better when trying to incorporate kids above the target age range. While we liked the U.S. Symbols study as well, it was definitely best suited for early elementary age students as the reading material wasn’t nearly as in depth or meaty. I certainly would recommend both studies though for their target age range. We had fun working through them!
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Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew have been reviewing other unit studies as well as homeschool complete’s curriculum for Kindergarten-4th grades. I hope you will read some of their reviews by clicking on the banner below.
Jennifer
