Unit Studies – Pros and Cons, for Pros and Amateurs

First, the Pros: A couple of decades ago, “unit studies” were highly promoted for classroom instruction. Education publications informed teachers that, by exploring one interesting topic—such as dinosaurs—reading about them, painting them, measuring them, writing about them, and counting them—they could tap into genuine interests of their students while still teaching readin', writin', and 'rithmetic. Teachers were encouraged to pull together all sorts of resources and activities about the unit study theme into one section of the room, often called a learning center.

When I started homeschooling, I thought that unit studies would fit even better in a home than in a classroom. Interest-based learning, after all, is easier when we only have to consider a few children's interests rather than the desires of 30 kids! Also, the whole family can learn about a particular topic together, each person bringing to the exploration his or her own level of maturity and skill. It goes without saying that the fluidity of “cross-curricular” units fits most of our lives better than separate lessons on math, science, reading, etc. Homeschooling typically has no “periods,” no bells, no rigid external structure.

Created by Amateurs: Two decades ago homeschooling was rarely acknowledged by society, let alone by educational publishers, and the World Wide Web was barely beginning to be spun. “Unit studies” weren't products sold by “experts” to homeschooling parents. Instead, they were a way of thinking about homeschooling. As I mentioned earlier, Mindy and Camille wanted to mark the change from pre-school age to school age by “studying” something—and they decided that something would be dinosaurs. We were motivated to plan a couple of special events—a visit to a museum to see dinosaur bones, and a fun end-of-the-unit dinosaur party—partly because we had an “end.” The week after our dinosaur party, I asked the three girls what they wanted to study next, and we had a giant discussion and a quick, unanimous vote—and we were soon off on another unit study.

All New! Unit Studies Brought to you by Pros: Nowadays, homeschooling apparently provides a thriving market for educational publishing. When I googled “unit studies,” not a single standard-education resource popped up (in the thirty or so websites on the first few pages, at least—at that point, I stopped looking); instead, a flood of homeschooling resources flowed across my screen. Most of what I saw were ads for products that can be purchased, but there were also several sites promoting free unit studies. Web pages that describe unit “lapbooks” and how to do “notebooking” indicate that some homeschool parents today are keeping their kids' art, scribblings, and photos in scrapbooks, just as I did 20+ years ago.

I don't know if the unit studies one can purchase today are expensive or cheap, worth the cost or a waste of money—but I do encourage those interested in unit studies to at least consider gathering resources on their own (the amateur route) rather than always purchasing published kits (the “pro” route). Lavishly illustrated books available in the library will be better than black-and-white worksheets downloaded from the internet, and less expensive than books in a purchased unit studies kit. DVDs are available for inexpensive rental (especially with a service such as NetFlix), and many videos are free on YouTube. Homemade games and hands-on activities may well be better suited to a family's particular interests, ages, and abilities. Finally, gathering resources can be lots of fun and perhaps even more educational than using them!

Now for the “Cons” Although unit studies suited our family for a while, when my kids got older, they no longer wanted to use them. Instead, each child took her own path and developed her own projects. I am sure that some children and families prefer this sort of individualized learning all through homeschooling. Of course parents should use strategies that work for them and their kids!

I have heard some criticisms of the underlying philosophy of unit studies. Some have suggested that, by having a beginning and an end to a particular “study,” we somehow shut the door on further learning. By being so structured, some have said, we squelch the more natural flow from topic to subject to interest. Sandra Dodd once expressed this concern in her signature pithy style: “Yeah, my kids are doing a unit study on dolphins. Because they know dolphins exist, and my kids aren't dead yet.”

In other words, her kids (along with everyone else) will continue to learn about dolphins (at some level) all their lives.

This is a concept that I can totally get behind! Still, Mindy, Camille, Lindsey, Maria and I did have fun focusing on particular interests (chosen by nobody but us) for particular chunks of time (set by nobody but us). We especially loved having an “endpoint” of sorts—can you say “party”?

Naturally, none of the three girls were actually “done” learning about dinosaurs—and they still aren't. Of course they are lifelong learners-about-dinosaurs!

Just the other day, Mindy was reading that paleontologists have decided that what had been considered different species of dinosaurs is now being considered different stages of life of one species of dinosaur. Also, she recently wrote a blog entry about the early (and, we now know, largely erroneous) models of dinosaurs created for England's Sydenham Park in 1854. These two tiny anecdotes confirm the fact that unit studies—while not necessary to homeschooling or education in general—neither squelch interest nor preclude lifelong learning.

And they can be great fun!