As spring approaches, you may be starting to put together your spring homeschool lesson plans. Garden unit studies can be a great way to teach your children about the life cycle of plants, nature, food, and even the basics of gardening. The best way to teach your children about gardening is to get them out right in the middle of it! Here is how you can create your own hands-on homeschool garden unit study for your classroom.
Step 1: Decide on a topic or theme for your unit study
The most obvious theme will be gardening of course, but you want your unit study to have a bit of focus. Do you want to cover plants? Food? How do things grow? You can even make it broader than that by focusing on what a garden is and the history behind it. You can also cover botany (the study of plants) and teach them about the different types of plants that will be growing in the garden.
Step 2: Plan activities based on your children’s abilities
When it comes to gardening, you want to plan activities around your children’s abilities. You can incorporate multiple grade levels if you have more than one child, but you may need to tailor the activities to make sure they are getting the most out of this unit study. For example, it might make more sense for one child to plant and the other to water the plants. It might make sense for one to record the data while the other is focusing on the planting.
Step 3: Plant the garden
The most obvious part of a garden unit study is naturally the garden. If you are starting from scratch or need to plant things, get your kids involved. Teach them about the different tools used in a garden as well as the seeds you are planting. Have each child responsible for an area or a specific type of plant. By having them plant the items themselves they will be able to see it from start to finish.
Step 4: The growing process
Plants take a while to grow, but even after a few days, some plants may start to show signs of growth. Some of the best ways to teach your children about the growing process are by having them actually get down into the garden to observe and check on the plants. Have them touch the leaves and check the soil for moisture. This will help them with problem-solving skills that may be required to keep plants alive.
Step 5: Wrapping it up
After things have fully grown in the garden, you can incorporate the after-effects into your study! Show them how the food and plants are used if they aren’t staying in the garden, and what happens to the scraps. Start a family compost area and teach them about the importance of composting.
There are so many different benefits that you can enjoy from having a homeschool garden. I hope that this has inspired you to make your own unit study and incorporate hands-on gardening in your homeschool classroom.
Be sure to grab your copy of My Gardening Journal for each of your children. This 15-page journal is the perfect resource to help your children plan, track, and document their gardening adventures. It includes:
- Garden notes pages for each season
- “Today in the Garden” worksheet where your child can document things like weather, changes in the garden, their favorite plants of that day, etc.
- Plant tracker- your child will research and take notes on each plant in the garden. Includes: scientific name, average height, plant spacing, foliage, colors, sun exposure, growing tips, harvest season, bloom season, etc.
- Growth tracker- your child will draw what they see each day.
- Garden planning sheet
- Garden shopping list
- Harvest evaluation worksheet {what worked well, what didn’t work well, changes for next year, etc}
Click here and complete the checkout process to get your copy of My Garden Journal now!
Would you like more ideas on how to introduce spring activities into your homeschool? Check out these 20 Spring STEM Projects for Homeschool Families!
Other Unit Studies You Might Like:
The Life Cycle of a Chicken Unit Study
or Flowers and Their Life Cycle Unit Study
[…] needing to reset a tough homeschool day, it may be a good idea to switch gears and opt for some hands-on activities instead. This will help get your children’s attention away from being rambunctious or […]