Sunday, August 22, 2010

India Unit Study



My Dad ("Poppy," as the kids call him) just returned from a business trip in India.
He brought us all kinds of souvenirs: t-shirts for the little boys, an Indian outfit for NatureMan, beautiful embroidered,embellished shirt for TheArtist, and a sari (also spelled "saree") for me. I haven't figured out how to put it on yet. You would not believe how much silk fabric is here!!


We've been looking at pictures, hearing the stories about the culture, cuisine, dress, and travel.

I've decided to spend a few evenings creating a unit study that we can go through. Started by checking these books out from the library. I'll go back in a few days for the others I'm interested in.
And I made this for myself with some zucchini that Papaw brought over from his garden. Yum.

And will follow this plan again, from Heart of Wisdom, to create the unit study:

Phase 1: Pray and seek God's wisdom and guidance.

Phase 2: Decide on a topic.

Phase 3: Decide on a schedule.
(I plan to study India for two weeks)

Phase 4: Create the list of lessons. (current culture, animals, food, government-- and a lot of mini lesssons within these)
Phase 5: Make a list of resources. (My Dad, internet, library books, a video I checked out, the clothes and other souveniers)
Phase 6: Create vocabulary lists. (I'll compile a list from our library books, and Wikepedia's info on India)

Phase 7: Create four steps for each lesson.
~~Step 1: Make it interesting!
(start with a field trip, video, interview...)
~~Step 2: Examine. Find out the facts. (internet, reference books, historical fiction and/or biographies...)
~~Step 3: Do something with what was learned. (make a book or a game, cook a dish, create a photo journal, design a costume, make a travel brochure, write a book review, or s song or news report...)
~~Step 4: Excel. Put it all together. (Add corrected work, map, illustrations to portfolio, use each word or term in a sentence, add to your vocab notebook any new words or terms used during the lesson, along with definitions...)

If you've already created or used a unit study on India, please let me know!

3 comments:

Loveandadoor said...

Nope.. no unit study.. but I did get to wear some cool India(n) clothing back in college. Had some friends from India. The Saris are so beautiful! Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Oh! I bet my neighbor down the street would love to show you how to wear it properly. I think her parents are here, too, and I bet they'd get a kick out of you guys! I bet by her name you could find her on my FB friends list. Let me know if you want me to contact her! -sd

Arato Girl said...

This is great! It reminds me of another reason I'm excited about homeschooling Ran. I'll learn a lot myself!