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We are park people. National parks, state parks, any parks. We are a roadschooling family so we spend a lot of time outdoors. And one of our family goals is to try and visit as many National Parks, Seashores, and Monuments as we can while our kids are small.
Last year we visited the Gateway Arch, the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, and Padre Island National Seashore. But, there are so many more to visit and we can’t wait to get there.
We do a lot of child-led learning in our homeschool and specifically, learning through experiences, especially at the parks we visit. So, we recently decided to try out the Parks Unit Study from Homeschool Complete. It uses the topic of parks to include all of the core subjects we want to hit in a fun unit study. We are using the downloadable e-version, so it helps with our full time RVing lifestyle by allowing me to print out parts of the study as I need them.
Homeschool Complete Parks Unit Study
My first impression was of surprise at the attention to detail in this resource. It truly is a complete study. I fell in love with the hands-on aspects, like kite making. And, I was so glad I didn’t need to add anything to it.
Even if you have a set schedule and don’t need all of the subjects included in this study it is only a week long. So, it can easily be added in as a fun break from your normal routine.
But, I found that it is particularly great for child-led learning families like ours. You can pick a topic, like parks, that excites your child and feel confident that you’re still fitting in all of the subjects you need. We have not used every piece of this study yet, but I like that there is enough material that I can pick and choose and do it over time.
The grade range on this pack is 1-3, but my kids fall outside that range and it still worked great for us. Unit studies are such an awesome resource for homeschoolers. And, a good unit study provides you with an exhaustive list of resources that you can pick and choose from to pull out just what you need for your kiddos.
Also, as your kids move into higher grades you can pull this electronic resource out and work on some of the topics again. I was able to adapt this for us easily due to the amount of detail included. I read the sections on each park and discussed them with my youngest and used some of the other parts as a review for my oldest. The hands-on projects that are included are great for any age and help to reinforce the goals of the pack.
Favorite Parts
Our favorite parts were the unique park facts. We just can’t get enough! I would’ve loved to see even more National Parks Trivia. But, I’m a junkie, so that’s my problem. We had several family discussions surrounding the parks trivia. And spent time looking up the parks on google maps.
For my daughter, the calendar and the cute songs about days of the week ended up being a really fun addition to our study.
For my son, the spelling part, in particular, turned out to be such a blessing. I didn’t expect the thorough spelling help I received in this resource. It was a fun new review for my 5th grader who struggles with spelling. I plan on using it again with my daughter as she gets into the higher grades.
What’s Included
This Parks Unit Study comes as a digital download or you have the option of ordering a printed copy that gets sent to you in the mail.
Parks Unit Study Includes:
• Parks Unit Study lessons and hands-on activities
• Sight Word Flashcards
• Sight Word Bingo Game
• Compound Word Memory
• Student Journal
• Square Tiles
• Spelling Squares
• 100 chart
• Multiplication & Division Flashcards
• Calendar
We loved using this resource. I hope that your family has just as much fun learning about national parks through this unit study as we did.
Heidi
