Plans for next year

I have finally figured out what we will be doing next year and have decided to take a leap into the world of unit studies. Now don't get me wrong we've dabbled before, but for some reason I've not fully allowed myself to use unit studies as our full school curriculum. I don't really know why but I seem to plan units as well as using our regular books - and then wonder why we can't get it all done (there are just not enough hours in the day!)
The thing with unit studies is that the kids really like to learn this way. They love doing lapbooks, they remember stuff we do so much more than when it comes from solely reading in a book and we all really have a good time. Why has it taken me so long to decide to do this?? Anyway we're here now and I am really looking forward to this coming year!

So with that in mind I have planned a years worth of unit studies from Homeschool Share's great database of literature based units. I decided to take the girls on 'A Trip Around the World' exploring all seven continents over the course of this coming year. I will also add in some seasonal studies as they come up and by the end of the year we should have learnt a great deal! We have Passports from here that we will stamp each time we enter a new country! Each unit will produce a lapbook - the girls most favorite part of school!
So here is the plan for our year of studies:

August ( I wanted to start the school year off with a few really fun units!):
Olympics Unit that I wrote for Homeschool Share.
Dinosaur Unit
Chocolate Unit (This one is for me!)

September:
Africa: Four units traveling through Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia.

October:
Asia: Four units traveling through India, China, Japan and Korea.

November:
A unit on Russia and one on Australia.
A study of Elections (to coincide with the Presidential Election).
A Thanksgiving unit.

December:
A Penguin Lapbook (as our study of Antarctica)
A Unit introducing N.America.
A Christmas Lapbook.

January:
A unit on Canada.
A Unit on the Great Plains and the Great Depression.
A Unit on civil Rights and Dr.Martin Luther King (to coincide with MLK Day)

February:
USA: Three units learning about Southwest USA, Hawaii and Native Americans.

March:
A unit on The Wild West.
Europe: England, France (Which will include a study of WWII) and Italy.

April:
Europe: Sweden
S. America: Three units traveling through Costa Rica, Mexico and Guatemala.

May:
A Rock Unit (this one is for Tayo - she loves to collect rocks!)
An Insect unit.
An Astronomy unit.

There it is! I have picked out specific book titles for each of these literature based units, so if anyone is interested in getting the full book list I will happily send it to you. They may change slightly as HSS is likely to add so many great units following the Back to School Blast contest they are currently hosting, but I hope to keep pretty much the same countries. I will only change a unit if the science portion of the unit is something I want to cover.
Talking of science, I thought I'd list what science and social studies (besides the obvious geography!) we will be learning over the course of this coming year.
Are you ready? It's a pretty big list!
Here goes...

African animals (a whole bunch!), rain forests, magnets, snakes, jungle plants,. air resistance, wood and paper making, the Human Skeleton, Oviparous animals (egg laying animals to you and I!), The Women' vote, Presidents, horses, Australian animals, taste buds, map skills, spices from around the world, the food chain, animal classification, hibernation, migration, The water cycle, kites and how they fly, silkworms, The Great Depression, Civil rights and the history of segregation, chemistry: states of matter, grasshoppers, ponies, Adobe houses, deserts and desert fauna and flora, Explorers, weather, celestial navigation, Lewis and Clark, endangered animals, map making, the history of the old west, shadows and telling time, bees and honey, WWII and the Holocaust, butterflies, sound/the ear, farm animals, conservation, poison frogs, volcanoes, rocks, minerals, crystals and gems, Henry Ford and the Model-T, the Solar system and astronomers.

Whew! Who knew so much learning could take place in one year!