Mountain of Grace Homeschooling and Life Thereafter : A Review for Lewis and Clark: From Sea to Shining Sea Unit Study from Homeschool Legacy

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A Review for Lewis and Clark: From Sea to Shining Sea Unit Study from Homeschool Legacy

This year, we have been studying early American history with our Classically Catholic Memory curriculum. Part of our study this year has been learning about Lewis and Clark. When we were given the chance to review Lewis & Clark: From Sea to Shining Sea from Homeschool Legacy we were thrilled. It fit perfectly into our lesson plans. Homeschool Legacy provides once-a-week unit studies for kids in grades 2nd-12th grades.

So how does it work?
Well, this unit study is a little different than other unit studies we have used in the past. This one is only done ONCE- A-WEEK! Simple and easy. You can add it on to any homeschooling curriculum. Each week, the students get to focus on a different topic. Once-a-week unit studies are very easy to use. There is almost no prep work for parents. Mrs. Sharon Gibson has thought of it all. She has even included a book list with their information for the Dewey decimal system. Since the unit studies are geared for grades 2-12, everyone can get in on the fun. They provide children with wonderful hands-on experiences, fun crafts, projects to do, and field trip ideas for families. They include a variety of subjects while focusing on one topic. Art, bible, art appreciation, music appreciation, life skills, geography, science, history, and literature. It's an all in one lesson! What a wonderful way to encourage children to apply the knowledge they learn. Real life learning at its best! Our kids are not part of the Boy Scouts or American Heritage Girls, but the unit studies are prepared with them in mind. If your kids are in one of these groups, Mrs. Gibson has included how the unit study corresponds with earning certain badges. As the children work through the unit study, they will be working on completing the requirements to earning their badges. Isn't that fantastic? Mrs. Gibson recommends setting Wednesday aside for your unit study day. She suggest Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to be reading days. Friday will be a reading day, field trip day based on your unit study, and a family game night based on your unit study. You can choose to do it the way she suggest or you can work to fit it into your schedule. Whatever works best for you! Juggle it around to figure out how to make the most out of the once-a-week unit study. We found Thursdays worked best for us. You just need to make sure you set one day aside for your unit study.

Our Lewis and Clark Unit Study

LEWIS and CLARK From SEA to Shining SEA is a once-a-week unit study that focuses on the history time period of Lewis and Clark. It is a wonderful unit study that is great for teaching children history in a fun way. This unit study is used for 7 weeks.

During our 7 weeks of study, we focused on the following topics.

Week 1~ New France

Week 2~ Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Louisiana Purchase

Week 3~Fixing for a Start

Week 4~ Sacajawea Joins the Corps!

Week 5~ Trials and Tribulations

Week 6~ Ocean in View! Oh the Joy!

Week 7~ Homeward Bound!

Each week, we jumped into the journey. We traveled from New France (Canada), to France, and ended up in North America. We learned about beavers, tracking animals, early French explores, Versailles, Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, Sacajawea, the journey, and of course Lewis an Clark.

Before the start of the week, I would read over that weeks lesson. We would head to the library to pick out the books we needed. I would try to prepare the supplies needed and get everything ready for that week. The last thing you want to do is realize you don't have what you need. I love how a "cheat sheet" is included at the beginning of each week. It fills you in on what supplies you need, what projects the kids will work on, what you will be reading about, and ideas for daily activities.

Each week, the kids would pick out a book or two to read that week. It was extremely helpful to have the book list already compiled for you. We had a few times when our library didn't have the books suggested. During those times, I just did a search at our local library to see what our library had. Our library tended to have most of the younger children's selections. The suggestions for the older kids were a little more difficult to find in our library. The kids would read through their selections.

On Thursday, we would follow the lesson plan. We would discuss our readings. We then would work on the daily activities. We'd work through the lessons dealing with the bible, history, science, etc. Each week would add something new. There are so many suggestions! There are fun craft ideas, like making a animal track. Links are included to various sites so kids can take tours of places like Versailles. You will definitely have plenty of options to choose from. Everyone will find something they like and enjoy doing.

On Fridays, we would head out for our field trips. Living in a rural area we had a lot of fun places we could explore just like Lewis and Clark.

We were lucky enough to find a deer track in the yard.

The Lewis and Clark unit study is filled with so much. I could go on for days! We all know you and I just don't have that much time. So if you are learning about Lewis and Clark, I would highly suggest you check out Mrs. Gibson's unit study. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Learning about a different topic, head on over to Homeschool Legacy and see all that they have to offer!