This lesson plan takes the child on a journey through what happened on June 6, 1944, which we now call D-Day. This unit study is designed to engage the child in what they are learning. As they come to the activities they are to stop and complete them. This will help them remember what they are learning.
The D-Day Unit Study is designed to be used as a group and be facilitated by a leader or as a Give ‘N Go Unit Study. If you choose to use it as a Give ‘N Go Unit Study, the child must be able to read and follow instructions. This is a great time to boost their capabilities if they are weak in this area.
D-Day Unit Study
In this lesson, the student will learn what happened on June 6, 1944. The Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in France to free them from the Germans. The Allied Powers were victorious and less than a year later, Nazi Germany surrendered which ended World War 2.
Before we go any further, I just want to say thank you for visiting our website! We are so glad you are here! My name is Kaycee Hobbs and I am a homeschooling mama to our large family. We are blessed with seven beautiful children and want to give them the best education we can. One of the things we have found to make things easier for us is to use unit studies. It helps us keep track of our multiple children’s progress while we learn together.
What is a Unit Study?
If you already know what a unit study is, skip to the D-Day Unit Study information HERE.
Unit Study’s are “Fun School!”
A good friend of mine who uses unit studies to teach her children affectionately refers to them as “Fun School!” She is right on point because the child is having fun while they are learning and so they are engaged.
A unit study combines a variety of subjects while you study one topic. It is a homeschool lesson plan that is used as a curriculum. I like to think of it as taking a topic and placing it under a magnifying glass. Within the study of that topic, you will explore a variety of subtopics. It allows the child to create a file folder in their brain to all the information that they learn under on topic.
There are several advantages to learning through unit studies so let me share a few with you:
- Multi-level Teaching
- Saves Time in Your Homeschool Schedule
- Sensory Teaching
- Accommodates Different Learning Styles
- Makes Memories
- Saves Money
- I Learn Stuff Too!
Multi-level Teaching
Since we have seven children, the unit study method is a perfect way to combine the teaching of different age levels and grades. We get to incorporate everyone no matter their ages and levels of development. I just change the activities to be something every child can do based on their skill level. Don’t be afraid to alter any of a unit study to fit your child or the dynamic of your family.
I wrote an in-depth post about how we multi-level teach, check it out here!
Saves Time in Your Homeschool Schedule
When you teach all the children together, it saves time in your daily homeschool schedule. Instead of meeting individually with every child, you can teach them the same thing as a group all at the same time.
Now, I am going to be very honest with you here. We use a boxed curriculum for our Language Arts and Math subjects. I do this because I know that you can’t teach these subjects on the same development level.
However, if I have the chance to throw in an everyday math word problem into the unit study, then you can guarantee that’s what I will do. If I can have them list adjectives for a piece of our unit study, then I go with that. If it fits, then I am going to incorporate it wherever I can.
Homeschool Homepage
Click the image above to see their homeschool curriculum page.
We use Christianbook.com to buy our homeschool curriculum. I have found they tend to offer the best prices! Almost everything else is taught with unit studies. This is what we use for our math and language:
Math-U-See ShopSensory Teaching
In a unit study you want to let the child act out or experience as much of the unit study as you can. To do this you want to include as many of their five senses as you can. I have a rule that I try to follow… I try to include a minimum of 3 senses in every activity. I figure that sight and hearing are going to automatically be a part of the lesson, so I intentionally try to add touch, taste, or smell to it.
I give lots of tips and practical ideas in this post! Check it out!
Accommodates Different Learning Styles
So, as I mentioned before, we have seven children and guess what? They are all different and they have a variety of strengths and weaknesses which creates a variety of different learning styles. It can get chaotic when you start to think about how differently each of the seven kids learn. When we use unit studies we can adapt and customize their learning plan easily.
I wrote a unit study on how I taught my kids the 8 Great Smarts. Check it out! These concepts based on the book by Kathy Koch is a game changer!
Makes Memories
Learning together as a family gives us the opportunity to learn stuff together. We design it so we get to experience the activities together, so we have the chance to make memories together. When our children get older, I want to hear the “remember when?” stories and these experiences make that possible.
Saves Money
For us using unit studies saves quite a bit of money. I have a good-sized school supply collection that I keep on hand and so I try to use those. It helps the bottom line when you can use common supplies instead of supplies that are hard to find. Even with the cost of field trips, I spend less on unit studies than I do on buying boxed curriculum for our large family.
It also saves money because I can customize to the child and their specific needs. We all know that homeschool curriculum is NOT one size fits all.
I Learn Stuff Too!
One of my favorite things about doing unit studies is how much I get to learn alongside my children! You know how we all paid attention during our school years. Ha! When we get the opportunity to experience what our children are learning, it’s like a second chance for us too!
D-Day History
D-Day happened on June 6, 1944. The Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in France to free them from the Germans. Approximately 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches. There were about 10,000 casualties who were killed, missing, or wounded. They chose to land in five different sections of the beach. Each one had a different codename:
- Omaha Beach
- Utah Beach
- Sword Beach
- Juno Beach
- Gold Beach
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president of the United States and this is considered one of his most important contributions.
On D-Day the Allied Powers were victorious and it was a turning point in the war. Less than a year later, Nazi Germany surrendered which ended World War 2.
What subjects does this unit study cover?
This unit study covers these subjects:
- Math
- History
- Writing
- Science
Supply List
I like to keep my supply lists quite simple so hopefully, you have the supplies around your house. Here is the list for this unit study:
- Printed Unit Study
- Pencils
- Electronic Device
- Internet Access
- Coffee Filter
- Small Cup
- String
- Scissors
- Tape
- Paper
- Markers
Reading
I always like to pick a book or two for our kids to read that is about the unit study subject we are learning about. Because we have a large family with kids of multiple ages, I love to use books on audio so everyone can enjoy them.
We have an Audible membership and highly recommend it! Whenever I need a book for one of our studies, I can just download it using one of our credits. Check out Audible HERE!
I highly recommend listening to I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis during this study. Our kids love her books and it really makes the study come alive. We have a link to this book below in the Our Picks section.
Sometimes I will also download the Kindle version so I can share it with our children’s devices. This way multiple children can read the book or can follow along while it’s being read to us. Check out Kindle HERE!
Just another quick tip, use your drive time to listen to an audiobook. You can turn your travel time into something useful as you learn about your topic and occupy the kids at the same time!
Here are a couple of suggestions for this lesson plan:
Our Picks
Teacher or Parent Directions and Details
YouTube Videos
There are a couple of YouTube videos in this study about the history of D-Day. We recommend that the parent preview the videos prior to letting the child see them.
Part One: What is D-Day?
In this portion of the unit study, the student will watch a video and then complete a worksheet about the facts of D-Day. The worksheet is a fill-in-the-blank with a word bank and answer key available.
D-Day History for Kids by Bedtime History
Part Two: Be a Paratrooper!
This portion of the unit study focuses on the paratroopers and how hard it is to land in a drop zone. They will watch a YouTube video that will show them how to make a parachute. However, if they would like to be creative and experiment to see what works, let them go for it! After they have made their parachute, they need to find a place to drop it from. They will need to position their “DROP ZONE” below and try to land in it.
Parachute Adventure! By SciShow Kids!
Part Four: Writing Assignment
In their own word, they need to write a short essay about the statement “Freedom isn’t free.”
Download
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Additional Resource: World War 2 Geography Game
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