There
are many different methods that home schoolers can choose from to educate
their children; some of the most common are: Unschooling, Structured, Classical,
and Unit Studies. Each of these different methods are merely tools
in the hands of the home educating parent.
These different "tools" must be studied and
understood, because each is unique in its style and benefits. Having
a good understanding of each one, will help in deciding which is
best for your family. But, remember that the decisions regarding
these home schooling "tools", need to be directed by God.
He has a specific plan for your family.
He knows what will work best in the education of your children. We
need to always be listening intently for God's guidance. His plan
for you may not be, and most likely is not, the same as other home schooling
families you may know.
There is no, "one size fits all" curriculum,
so we need to learn teaching and planning techniques that can make practical
use of most situations. We also need to recognize common principles in
life, that can help to shape our home schools into productive places of
learning. Unit Studies combines the use of common principles and
all different types of situations, making this "tool" very effective.
Many home schoolers can, and do, use this effective method in the shaping
of their children's hearts and minds.
Definition
What is a Unit Study?
A "unit study" is a term that describes the integrating
of a variety of subjects under one "unit" or theme. Unit studies look at
a subject as a whole instead of individual parts. Subject segregated learning,
which was given birth to by the Greeks, looks instead at the individual
parts with little focus on the big picture.
I am sure you all remember the story of the blind
men and the elephant. They each, in turn, described to the other
the part of the elephant they were touching. One thought it was only
a trunk, one an ear, one a tail, and so on. None knew it was
an elephant because each was only holding a part. They could not
see the whole. The Unit Study method takes the parts of the elephant
(or topic)and places them into a whole picture. Not just elephant
parts but a whole elephant. Not just a whole elephant but an elephant
in his natural environment. Not just an elephant in his natural environment
but an elephant and how he relates to the different aspects of his natural
environment, the creation and history of the elephant, uses of elephants
in different cultures, common uses, environments of elephants today, etc.
Do you see why this is so important? It
would be like a Christian studing the Bible as separate parts and
verses, which isn't so bad in itself but if the Christian never sees how
the parts fit into the whole then he will likely take a portion of
scripture out of context and misinterpret or misuse it. Unit Studies
attempt to put the "elephant" back into context. The Greeks separated
whole topics into "subjects". We are attempting to bring
these "subjects" into a more recognizable whole.
The Four R's of Home schooling
Home education and education
in general, can be likened to preparing dinner for one's family.
It is something that we all have to do and has just about the same thinking
process. The REASON we are doing
it, the ROUTE we choose to take to
get to our goal, the RESOURCES
we have available, and the RESULTS
we will all achieve are different.
Let's say we want to provide our family with a chicken
dinner with all the fixings tonight. Each one of us would have different
reasons; desire to provide best nutrition possible, desire to feed them
as quickly as possible, "cause I have to!" etc. Each one of us would
then choose the route based likely on the resources we have
available. For example, one of you might order out, one might make reservations,
another might go out back and kill, pluck and eventually cook the
chicken, the most conventional method might be to buy one from the grocery
store and cook it. The results will be similar. We will all have
provided a meal for our family. Some will have spent more than others,
some will have provided better nutrition etc. Our
results will generally reflect our REASON for doing what we did in the
first place.
SO, have a REASON
(a goal), choose a ROUTE based on your
RESOURCES,
and hopefully your RESULT will reflect
your REASON.
