Zack's first complete integrated study unit, Holes, finished on February 1st. From my perspective as a homeschool mom and an educated lifelong learner, this study unit exceeded my expectations as to what it could/should be. It successfully integrated science and social studies into language arts using a Newberry winning novel as a starting point.
The underpinning of the unit is the Newberry winning novel Holes by Lois Sachar. Readings are assigned four chapters at a time. There are almost daily assignments testing comprehension. Initially, he was required to give written answers, but as the pace picked up, he answered multiple choice questions. There were intensives on deserts, Texas, and juvenile dilinquency.
The deserts intensive looked at deserts in general and offered two mini-intensives: desert plants and desertification.
The Texas intensive looked at Texas in general and had students compare this state to home state/province. This was an ideal assignment from the perspective of an Ontario homeschool mom because Zach was able to greatly expand his knowledge of Ontario (geography, history, economy) and meet Ontario Curriculum requirements. As this mini-intensive ended, we had a good laugh listening to weather reports of an enormous snow storm forming over Texas and moving north east to our fair city. For the first time, Texas was a real place, and Zack followed the satellite weather images with interest.
The juvenile intensive looked at the concept of juvenile delinquency in general, the juvenile justice system, and the experience of juvenile detention.
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