How do you build a unit study out of books? How do you feel confident putting the curriculum aside and diving into living books and hands on projects without feeling the pressure to hit state standards or succumb to peer pressure when you try something different? How do you make books the curriculum?!

For years, we’ve been collecting books and resources to create our own unit studies and Waldorf inspired main lesson blocks. It’s simple, but not easy. I’ll show you the books I’m using and how we intend to use them. When putting together a unit, I look for a variety of resources. I look for kits and books first. I love hands on projects and I love it even more when they come in a kit rather than instructions in a book after which I need to source the material. I look for books to meet a variety of needs: various ages or grades, various interests and ability and of course various topics to support the unit.

What this looks like is books on the following topics:

An actual history book: you don’t always need this, but anchoring your unit with some dates, locations, geography and people is a helpful way to get the unit going and inspire other topics within the unit. Afterall, we are still learning too and a general book is an informative start.

Biographies: I love the Who Was book series because they are easy to read, simplified, but not dumbed down and lightly illustrated, but any biography will do. I also like the David Adler books because they are picture books which are packed with just the right amount of content to appeal to a young student all the way through middle school.

Cookbooks: Odd but true. I look for cookbooks or recipes to accompany as many units as it’s feasible. History and geography units are the easiest to find cookbooks for, but you can certainly get creative with science, math and language arts units. I love getting in the kitchen with our units. It’s usually a festive time that’s special for the kids. Sometimes recipes become family favorites we have often.

Activity Books: These are almost a must have for our units. I can’t think of a unit where we didn’t have at least one hands on project per week and often even more. I truly believe in the educational benefit of hands on activities as a means of deep and memorable learning. What I like even more than activity books are activity kits!

Kits and Projects: I’m always impressed with what is available as far as kits and projects are concerned. You can find all sorts of kits at your local craft store and online. I love browsing them and then deciding which ones I can make on my own and which ones I will buy.

Games: We use games as our opening activities. I often use them as transition activities to inspire my children into the new learning for the day or a way to break up some of the lessons that are not as desirable. Afterall, we still need to read, write and do math everyday and sometimes the proficiency lessons are not exciting. Games bring us together, bring a fun lightheartedness to the lessons and improves our understanding of the lessons. The are a win all around.

Games: We use games as our opening activities. I often use them as transition activities to inspire my children into the new learning for the day or a way to break up some of the lessons that are not as desirable. Afterall, we still need to read, write and do math everyday and sometimes the proficiency lessons are not exciting. Games bring us together, bring a fun lightheartedness to the lessons and improves our understanding of the lessons. The are a win all around.

Picture books: I truly believe that picture books are overlooked as educational books. They are a rich resource that I feel is undervalued and underestimated. Here’s why I love picture books. The illustrations! I love looking at the beautifully illustrated pages and often choose books just for their magnificent artwork. Because even if the book ends up being less than expected, if the illustrations are wonderful, you can always tell your own version of the book. I find picture books are great for all ages from toddler through middle school. Picture books invite your students to sit close. Picture books are written in a way that makes understanding big topics in a simple way, but not dumbed down. I find I learn a lot from a well-written picture book.

Historical Fiction: We all love a good story and it just so happens that history is rich with good stories. Historical fictions take the reader deep into history by means of characters who are fictionalized but set in real historical settings. I have learned the most from historical fiction because the stories stick! They often bring history to life and bring an emotional aspect that connects the student to history. However, this is an area I’ve gotten the most hits and misses. Sometimes a historical fiction is just wonderful and other times it’s a real miss and that’s so disappointing.