Planning a Unit Study Step by Step: Starting With Resources That You Own

In my first post about Planning a Unit Study Step by Step I discussed:

• the benefits of unit studies for our homeschool
• how I use unit studies in our homeschool
• helpful resources to teach you how to plan your own unit studies.

In this post I will focus on getting started with planning your own unit study by Starting With Resources That You Own.

Since I've started planning my own unit studies, I have found that I NEVER have the problem of just not being able to find enough resources for a unit study. The problem I have had, however, is just having TOO MANY resources for a unit study. If I have too many resources, I get bogged down in the planning. Realistically, I simply cannot do every great project, read every good book, watch every educational video, and learn everything there is to learn about a particular unit study topic. I have to pick and choose from many wonderful resources.

Let me start by telling you what I absolutely never-ever-ever do when planning a new unit study for our homeschool. I never plunk myself down in front of the computer and do a general search for the topic on the internet. I have done that in the past and it can quickly turn into a huge time drain. I have spent hours in the past surfing from one interesting website to another, gathering information and ideas, while accomplishing little planning. The internet is a wonderful tool but I have found that I need to be fairly specific in my searches to keep the planning process moving along.

An excellent place to begin planning a unit study is to start with resources that you already own! While that seems pretty obvious, it took me a while to figure that out. Rather than head right out to the library, surf the internet for resources, or start looking through curriculum catalogs; I find it most useful to start by going to my own bookshelves and resources. What do I have that will be useful for planning the unit study?

As I gather any resources in my own home to use for the unit study, I corral them into a box or basket. Doing this enables me to have everything that I own about the study topic in one place for easy access and planning.

I am currently working on an Ancient Egypt unit study for the next school year. When gathering materials from my own bookshelves, I first ask:

• Do I have any reference books that might give an overview of the whole topic?

An excellent reference for world history that I have used time and time again over the years is The Usborne Internet-Linked Encylopedia of World History.

If I were planning a unit study about a science topic, I would turn to The Usborne Internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia.

Using a reference book like the ones mentioned above allows me to quickly get an overview of the unit study topic by reading the information in the reference book. From that point, I can start thinking more specifically about what I want to cover in the unit study I am planning. This, in turn, allows me to more carefully select books/videos/projects for the unit study.

Next, I gather all of the books that I own about the unit study topic off our bookshelves. I do have most of our books arranged by topic, so this isn't too difficult. After gathering all of my Ancient Egypt resources, I found that I have quite a few books and other related items that will be useful for an Ancient Egypt unit study. This is the second time that I am planning an Ancient Egypt unit study. We last studied the topic four years ago.

After gathering up everything that I own, I found that I have quite a few resources about Ancient Egypt. As you read my list of resources, though, keep in mind a few things:

• I've been homeschooling for about 7 years and I'm a typical homeschooling mom that LOVES books!
• I sold Usborne books for a short time years ago. In that short time, I collected lots of Usborne books.
• I use PaperBackSwap extensively and always have my wish list full.
• I am a frequent visitor to our local library's monthly book sales.
• The study of Ancient Egypt fascinated my daughter, therefore, I invested in books about the subject.
• This is the second time that I'm planning an Ancient Egypt unit study so I have many resources that I used the last time.
• Many of my resources do not pertain only to Ancient Egypt.

So, here is my list of Ancient Egypt resources:

Nonfiction Books

• The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History
• The Usborne Book of World History
• Visual Factfinder World History by Ken Hills
• Usborne Starting Point History: Who Built the Pyramids?
• Usborne Time Traveler: Visit Medieval Times, The Viking Age, The Roman World, and Ancient Egypt
• Usborne Beginners Egyptians
• Cat Mummies by Kelly Trumble
• DK Eyewitness Books Ancient Egypt
• Historical Atlas The Ancient World (5 cents at a library book sale!)
• Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
• Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times Ancient Egypt by Susan Altman and Susan Lechner
• The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann
• Usborne Discovery Mummies & Pyramids

Teaching Resources

• History Pockets Ancient Egypt, Evan-Moor
• Ancient Civilization Time Lines: Egypt, The Time Traveler Series by T. S. Denison
• History Pockets Ancient Civilizations, Evan-Moor

Activity Books/Coloring Books

• Dover Coloring Book King Tut
• Color & Learn Ancient Egypt
• DK Ultimate Sticker Book Ancient Egypt

Art Appreciation/Hands-On Projects/Art Projects

• The British Museum, Ancient Egyptian Art, 24 postcards
• Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions From Around the World by MaryAnn Kohl and Jean Potter
• Hands On Crafts for Kids: Back in Time, Over 100 Pages of Projects Inspired by Centuries Past!
• Ancient Egypt Project Instruction Manual from the Hands and Hearts Hands-On-History Ancient Egypt Kit (We completed all of the projects the last time we studied Ancient Egypt but I still have the teacher's manual.)

Stickers/Rubber Stamps

• Egyptian Life Stickers, Dover
• Twelve Egyptian Design Bookmarks, Dover
• Egyptian Rubber Stamp Set

Historical Fiction

• The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
• A Place in the Sun by Jill Rubalcaba

Now I have everything pertaining to Ancient Egypt that I own all gathered in one spot! The next step in my unit study planning is to consider free resources. In my next post, I will discuss using free resources to enhance unit studies.