Summer is a great time to delve into Unit Studies. Unit Studies are short studies that are designed to take a subject and delve deeper into an area of interest over a period of time. Most Unit Studies I have encountered tend to be designed for a 4 week period.
I love Unit Studies for Summer because it gives us time to fit in studies of things my kids are interested in learning that we may not have time for in the regular school year. One child may be interested in learning more about birds. We combine a structured Unit Study with outings to the Warner Park Nature Center. This allows us to continue schooling throughout the summer in a fun way with a change in studies every 4 weeks.
While Unit Studies encompass many of the other skills you will use in school like language arts and critical thinking, many Unit Studies also incorporate video links and hands on projects that keep them from being the “same old stuff”. One Unit Study we participated in last year was about “Elections”. 
The Unit Study included video clips of movies, virtual tours of presidential homes and links to online games with little known and odd presidential facts.
Not all Unit Studies are created the same. Most Unit Studies will have a download sample of the study available, which will allow you to download one day of the study. This will allow you to determine if the study is what you are looking for. Some Unit Studies are labor intensive for the parents, others are simple and easy on the parent. You should be able to make a quick determination based upon the download.
Here is a great list of free unit studies on all kids of topics, or you can search “Unit Studies” on any search engine and the area of interest your children are interested in and you’ll find lots of links to studies you may be interested in.
