History units are a great way to make history come alive! The best way to plan a history unit is to break it down into steps. Here is an example of just how to follow the steps.
Step 1: How long will your unit last?
Let�s say you decided to study the ancients this year, deciding to focus on Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and China. Using the standard 180-day school year, this will give you nine weeks (45 days) per civilization.
Step 2: What do you want to cover?
You have figured out that you will spend about nine weeks on each civilization. In nine weeks, your children are not going to learn all there is about say, Ancient Egypt. So, you decide to cover the following points, keeping in mind that you will be back to the ancients in four years:
Week 1: Where in the World is Egypt?
Week 2: History of Egypt
Week 3: Egyptian Burial Practices
Week 4: Pyramids of Egypt
Week 5: Daily Life
Week 6: Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Week 7: Hieroglyphs
Week 8: King Tut
Week 9: Feast
Step 3: Reading
Take a trip to the library, with your weekly list in hand. If you don�t find a book about your specific topic, be sure to ask your Librarian. He or she might know of something. Don�t forget all of the amazing resources available to you online.
One thing we like to do is read non-fiction as well as fiction. For example, for our sample unit on Ancient Egypt, you could read "Mummies in the Morning" by Mary Pope Osborne, or "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.
Step 4: Projects!
This is the fun part! With all of the project books available from your library, and the vast amount of things online, you could do a project a day for a year, and not do them all!
Here are just a few examples of what you could do with our sample unit:
Week 1: Where in the World is Egypt
~Find Egypt and where you live on the globe. What continents are they?
~ Keep weather journals to compare weather in Cairo to where you live
~ Make a sand and soil model of the Nile River*
Week 3: Egyptian Burial Practices
~Chicken mummy**
Week 4 : Pyramids of Egypt
~Make a sledge*
~Make a pyramid using drinking straws and clay
Week 9: Feast
This is a fun week! Lots of food, and games.
Step 5: Picking and choosing
Let�s face it. In this day and age, there is so much information available. All you have to do is log on to your computer, and the world is at your fingertips. One of the hardest parts of creating a history unit (or teaching in general!) is knowing when enough is enough. There really is no "set in stone" answer, as everyone�s situation is different. I tend to schedule more than I think I will need, just because Murphy�s Law of Homeschooling says: the project you risked life and limb to create, they will hate� and the project you just know they will hate, they do four times.
Just be prepared to throw out something that isn�t working, and do something a few times that is!
Step 6: Closure
One of the biggest complaints about units is that there is no closure. If you hop straight from Ancient Egypt to Ancient Greece, it might end up a confusing mess (especially to younger kids.) Always plan something "big" for the last week, or even day of a unit. For ancient Egypt, have a feast with Egyptian foods and games. For a unit on Ancient Greece, hold a "Family Olympics." The possibilities are endless!
