Although I would call our family unschoolers, some years ago we experimented with unit studies. My children thoroughly enjoyed exploring a few topics the unit study way. They had great fun putting together a few theme books in which they recorded all they had learnt. Their favourite topic was Bush Boys! Father Jim's books are packed with information. I wrote the following story when we were in the midst of Bush Boy unit study excitement...
It is the last week of term. The children are arranging the pages of their notebooks: the fruits of the last month’s work. With a smile of satisfaction, Imogen clips her title page to the front and eagerly hands the book to me for inspection.
“What are we going to learn about next term, Mum?” she asks.
“What do you want to learn?”
Her eyes light up as she replies, “Bush Boys!”
“Oh yes," joins in Callum. “Let’s try out your Bush Boys unit study."
Unit studies are such an enjoyable way to learn. We love spending time together, all learning about and discussing the same subject. If you are familiar with this method of homeschooling, you will understand the enthusiasm and anticipation we all have, as we begin to explore a new topic. We are off on a new learning adventure!
So how do we begin a unit study? After some discussion, we decide on a topic we’d like to learn about. I then go looking for some living books related to the topic that I can read aloud to the children. Maybe I will find some titles that the older children can read alone too. I will visit the library and search our own book shelves looking for any books related to our topic. I then make a list of activities that the children can complete, making sure that there are some to suit the younger members of the family and more challenging tasks for the older ones. Usually, as we are reading, new ideas are generated and our list of things to do, gets longer or modified. I try to incorporate as many of the Key Learning Areas as possible, into my topic activities plan.
So for a study of Victorian Times, our activities list might include such things as biographies of Queen Victoria, composers, artists, saints and scientists of the 19th century; the making of a timeline; collection of photographs (downloaded from the internet) of saints, Victorian homes, families, and paintings; essays on such topics as the effect of industrialisation on Victorian society, construction of Queen Victoria’s family tree and our own family tree; stories inspired by Victorian music or paintings; downloading Victorian paper dolls from the internet and making clothes for them after researching Victorian fashions; writing out favourite quotes from Oliver Twist, looking up new vocabulary words from the novel; etc. etc. Our children record all they find out, on loose leaf pages. As a topic draws to a close after a few weeks study, the last task is to make a title page and then to arrange the pages attractively in a folder. It is with a sense of achievement that the books are eagerly presented to me for sharing.
I wrote an article called Playing, Learning and Living Books and in it I suggested we could incorporate Father James Tierney’s Bush Boys books into the educational curriculum of our children. It occurred to me that the Bush Boys books could be used as a unit study and I set about writing one based on Bush Boys, the first book in this living book series. I read the book slowly, making note of all the subjects mentioned that could be explored further. My list included wattle, gum trees, kangaroos, ants, snake bite, pulleys, tea, Morse code, landforms, accident prevention, prayers and many, many others. Once I had constructed a basic list, I tried to think of ways of exploring each subject further. One idea often led to another. We might already know many facts about the kangaroo but do we know how it came to be on one of our coins? Do we know how our coins are made? Is the kangaroo a state emblem? We are all very familiar with tea but how does tea get from the plantation to our cups? And what are the tea drinking customs of different countries? Have we ever gone to the trouble of making a billy can support and brewing our own billy tea over a fire? Many of us love a couple of ANZAC biscuits with our tea but do you know the origin of these favourite Australian biscuits? Can we identify the stars in the night sky and how did the stars actually get their names?
I spent a lot of time on the Internet researching, and discovered lots of interesting and useful information relating to the items on my original list. My next step was to arrange these areas for investigation by theme. After much discussion with Fr Tierney, we decided upon seven themes:
1. Appreciating the Beauty of the Bush
2. The Flora and Fauna of the Australian Bush
3. Bush Craft
4. Character Study
5. Safety First and First-Aid
6. Bush Lore or Caring for the Bush Environment
7. Christianity
For each of the themes I added, where appropriate, quotes and comments from Bush Boys or Fr Tierney. I also added recommended literature and poetry, useful websites and books.
Finally, I sent the unit study to Fr Tierney for his official approval. The document was then put onto the Cardinal Newman website in the Bush Boys Children’s Activities section.
Before I had even completed the Bush Boys unit study, I thought of another idea: a Bush Boys magazine. I thought that I could explore similar topics to those in the unit study, choosing subjects from each of the themes and present them in a magazine format. My husband, Andy, designed me a magazine layout and using this, very kindly arranged my short articles on flora, fauna, beauty, bush cooking, puzzles, campcraft, religion etc. For each topic I tried to suggest a further activity or additional research. We called the magazine Bush Boys Explorers and Fr Tierney let us add the words “The Official Magazine of Father James Tierney’s Bush Boys Books”! The first Spring Edition was available online on September 1st, Wattle Day. (For the significance of Wattle Day, see the magazine!) We are hoping to publish the magazine four times a year. (Bush Boys Explorers magazine is no longer being published. This blog has taken its place.)
My children are anxious to try out my unit study. Next term’s work is all set out. I will have a copy of the unit study in a folder. The children will be able to choose the activities that appeal to them. Hopefully, everyone will investigate different areas so that we can learn from each other. We will read a Bush Boys book together and perhaps a couple of other living bush adventures. By mid term, I hope each child will have their own Bush Boys book bulging with facts, drawings, dried leaves, stories, poems, biographies, photographs, postcards, maps, and pictures. I hope there will be some examples of excellent handwriting used to copy out passages of lyrical beauty from Bush Boys, lists of bush vocabulary and spelling words and dictation passages of the highest quality! Maybe we will all have learnt to tie a few knots, done some experiments with pulleys, enjoyed a few bush walks, learnt to identify some bird calls, sent a few messages by Morse code or gazed at the night sky. It promises to be an enjoyable fourth term!
Perhaps you’d like to join us and have a Bush Boys learning adventure too. You might already be familiar with unit studies or you might like to do one as a change. You can download the unit from Cardinal Newman Faith Resources . Don’t be limited by my ideas. I am sure you will have ideas of your own. If you do, share them with me! If the size of the unit study seems overwhelming, perhaps you could do a mini unit based on the Bush Boys Explorers magazine. When you have finished making your Bush Boys theme book, please show it to Fr Tierney next time you see him, or write and tell him about it. I am sure he would enjoy hearing from you.
And what will we do when our Bush Boys books are completed? I will have to get to work and complete my proposed unit study extensions based on the other three books in the Bush Boys series. Next year, my children could be saying, “Let’s do your Cuthbert Joins the Bush Boys unit study, Mum!"
The unit study I wrote is still available for download. I keep meaning to update and improve it but I never seem to get there!
Back copies of Bush Boys Explorers are also still available.
And of course, there is plenty of Bush Boys information, that could be used for a unit study, on this blog!
PS I'll post some more theme book photos and unit study ideas next time.
