Homeschool Legacy–Weather on the Move

• Weather on the Move  a Once – A – Week Unit Study
• written by Sharon Gibson
• published by Homeschool Legacy
• designed for grades 2-12
• $19.95

For the past few weeks we have been using a Once – A – Week unit study from Homeschool Legacy.These studies are designed so families can set aside their regular curriculum one day a week and interject a little fun, creativity, and hands on learning. These studies use a wide variety of subjects to explore one main topic.

We have been using the Weather on the Move unit study. By the end of the 7 weeks using this study, Boy Scouts will have earned their weather merit badges and American Heritage Girls their Young Meteorologist Badge.

A variety of activities and subjects are included in each weeks lesson. The focus for the Weather study is science, therefore many science lessons and experiments are the mainstay of this study. While science experiments abound, history, geography, language arts, crafts and more are also included.

The lesson begins with a library reading list. The nicest thing about this list is that the books are arranged by the Dewey Decimal system to make them easy to locate in the library. A supply list for the day’s activities is also located at the beginning of the lesson. Each activity that matches a Boy Scout merit badge is easily denoted in the book with the Boy Scout symbol. American Heritage girls can also look for the symbol to earn their badge.

The library books chosen for the week are meant to be read every day. As well, a family read-aloud is designed to be used daily. The rest of the activities can be done all in one day as a replacement for your regular school subjects. All subjects are covered, from family devotions, to science, history, geography,language arts, research, arts and crafts and more . A “Stump Your Dad” Trivia question is fun for the kids to ask and see if dad really knows.  Field trips round out the study.

ClarkClan Experiences

We have been using this study for five out of seven lessons. We really liked the family devotions. The devotions “set the scene” for the day’s lesson and brought into focus what we were studying.

We found the science experiments we have done to be fun and worthwhile. They were easy to implement, as long as I had gathered supplies ahead of time.

Arts and Crafts was also a favorite with my children. They enjoy all types of art and loved learning new things. For example, Rebekah learned how to make paper snowflakes, so our house has been covered in flakes.

One stand out feature for me was that by completing the study, my Boy Scout, Ben, will earn the Weather merit badge. I liked having this study to be able to fulfill a Boy Scout purpose while also having fun and sharing the learning  with Ben’s younger sister.

Problem areas for the ClarkClan

There were times I had a hard time implementing the study. An example would be field trips. There are field trips suggested, yet we have not taken one. We live in a  fairly small town and the field trips suggested were not available in our town.

As well, I had a slightly hard time with the idea that this was a “Once –A –Week unit study, that needed something done, (reading, read aloud) on a daily basis. A second day was also needed for field trips.

Recommendation

I would recommend this study, especially to other families with Boy Scouts or American Heritage Girls. They are in depth and easy to follow. It took us about half a day to complete the activities, which was perfect for our busy Tuesdays. I had to work around a few things, such as the field trips, but was able to make the study work for us.

We reviewed the Weather on the Move book, but there are many Once – A – Week unit studies available. Visit the Homeschool Legacy website to see the full list  of science and history studies available.

Visit the Crew Blog to read reviews on a variety of Once –A – Week unit studies.

Disclaimer: As an Independent contractor for The Old Schoolhouse and member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a PDF copy of Weather on the Move for free from Homeschool Legacy in exchange for my honest review of their product. All opinions given are mine and/or my children’s.