Paddington Bear Literature Based Unit Study ~ A New TOS Review!!!

One thing I love to do is break up our regular schooling with the use of unit studies and other fun things so that we can breathe some life into our school. I was so pleased to be able to review a lit-based unit study, from Branch Out World that has done just that for us as we start to wind up for the new school year. My son and I have had fun delving into the world of Paddington Bear, one of approximately 50 literature based unit studies, from the company's Picture Book Explorer series.

One of my favorite things about the unit studies we have come to love is that I can download them and they are ready to use that second (if we want/need it that quick). This literature study was based on the classic book of Paddington Bear by Michael Bond. A unique feature of this particular unit (and the others they offer) is that Branch Out World is a company based out of the United Kingdom. The family that created this company is a homeschooling family and all of their units have some tie to the UK whether it be the author, the setting, the illustrator, etc. This being said there were some different spellings of words and other small differences which gave for a great discussion of WHY.

One of the activities was to create a scene depicting light vs dark.

For the review we received a 69 page downloadable PDF of the Picture Book Explorers Paddington Bear, geared for ages 5 to 10. Since my son is 9.5 he was the perfect one to work on this unit. With this unit since it is based on a literature book, we searched for it at our library, but to no avail. However, we were able to use this YouTube video that narrates the picture book fabulously. And the narrator uses voices and speaks with a British accent which made it much more authentic! Seanan really loved his voice!

The lit study is set up to be covered over 5 days, where you will read (or listen in our case) to the book and then you will focus on a particular theme for that day. But there is so much you can do and learn in each day that you can definitely be using this unit for a few weeks. There are around 20 different activities that you can pick and choose and make the unit as unique as the child using it. If I had multiple children doing the unit they could each choose their favorite activity or if everyone really LOVED one we could do that/those as a group. That's the thing with unit studies, they are so versatile and can be used again and again!

The Picture Book Explorer series are focused on the 'exploring' ... look at the Table of Contents which lays out all of the explorations to come during the unit.

And here is a breakdown of the days of the unit.

There is also a page that explains more about the company and their series as well as a page that has other optional books that go along with the study and a break down of other supplies you might want to have on hand for the activities separated by what day you might need them. There are lots of maps and extras in the appendix which are keyed links within the PDF to make it easy to 'jump' to that page when you are printing. And since this is a PDF you don't have to print all 68 pages. You can print it day by day or just print the pages you want when you want. Truly so much versatility!

I think that Seanan's favorite days were Day 1 and Day 4 ... Geography and Science his two favorite subjects!  So we spent a little longer on those days then we did on the others, which is totally fine. That's the point of unit studies -- to allow your child to delve in deeper when they are interested and yearning to learn more. We were going to make marmalade, but we found out that we are moving (like this weekend!!) and so we had to hold off on that for a bit. But instead his dad and him made homemade meringue cookies. They were so quick and easy, but helped with teaching the science behind bubbles.

Ingredients mixing

Piping out the meringue cookies

finished product

And at the end we worked on the mini books to add to his portfolio. I couldn't find a file folder (might be packed already) so we put them on construction paper to add into his folder. We have been having so much fun with this unit and will definitely be checking out some more in the future. 

working on a minibook

If you have never tried out a unit study then go check out all that Branch Out World has to offer or kick your school year off with Paddington Bear. And as usual be sure to read how other Crew members used this product in their own homes. You can find Branch Out World on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.