Learning with themes is one of my favorite ways to teach because it is so effective. It reaches children where they are and with what interests them. Focusing on themes works well for a variety of homeschooling approaches including:
- relaxed homeschooling
- delight-directed homeschooling
- notebooking
- unit studies
- a completely theme-focused approach
In fact, I think it could be argued this is the best and most engaging approach for homeschooling most children in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and even second grade. It is easily adaptable to individual learning needs and interests making it a great fit for most kids.
What are Learning Themes?
Learning with themes can come from a few different directions.
- You can choose a topic such as butterflies, presidents, Australia, or squirrels.
- You can learn based on a holiday or season.
- You can do a theme based on a particular author or picture book theme.
Because it is high-interest and fun, young children love learning this way. There are many paths you can take as you learn about the theme, choosing what works best for your family. Depending on the interests of your children, you can incorporate many things such as:
- music
- art
- field trips
- cooking
- nature study
- poetry
Again, there is no right or wrong way to do this. The main idea is to do highly-engaging activities, read books, and learn while having fun. If a learning theme isn’t fun, then you aren’t doing it right.
Learning Themes Activity Pack Video
I created this Learning with Themes Activity Pack to provide a flexible and affordable way for parents to incorporate themes into their homeschooling. In the video below, I walk you through the pack and offer ideas for how you can use the various pages.
For parents who need a bit of guidance and reassurance, this packet will provide that. It will also provide “tangible” work results which is an important part of homeschooling. Keeping a printed record of what you are learning is good from a record-keeping (legal) standpoint as well as being able to remind yourself of how much you and your children have accomplished during the school year.
(And if you wonder why we’re missing some maps in the video, so were we! They are all in there now so there are actually 41 pages in the pack, not the 38 on this cover!)
To support you in your homeschooling with learning themes, I have many resources in addition to this Learning with Themes Activity Pack:
- My shop is full of theme-based learning activities and I am continually adding to it.
- There is a category on my site of Theme Based Learning and Unit Study Topics that also continues to grow.
Enjoy learning with your little ones!
Simple Living This Week No. 29
