How to Create Your Own Unit Studies

I know that for many, curriculum is one of the biggest challenges in the life of a homeschool parent, especially at the beginning. Some places are more challenging than others, for sure. We live in Quebec right now and it is incredibly challenging to make the government happy while still allowing learning to be fun and engaging.

I have been making my own unit studies for a couple of years now. It has been so much fun! I have to tell you that I REALLY love making units and that is why I make them for my patrons over on Patreon. I have fun doing it and they get the ease of not having to come up with anything.

Today I want to show you how I do it. It is easier than you think. I made my printable unit study planner available for free on our Patreon page. Follow along and we will get a unit started, planned, and finished.

Get the planning templates here!

First I need to know what I am going to make my unit on. My oldest is going into 7^th grade in the fall. I like making history-based units best and he will be required to learn about ancient history. I might as well start at the beginning and do a unit on Neolithic society.

The first thing I am going to do is choose a game. I already know it is going to be Stone Age because I have been wanting to give it a try. If I were doing the study for a younger kid, I would choose Honga or My First Stone Age. If I didn’t already know a game I wanted to use, I would do a quick Google search for one. I always have a game in my units. If you want to know why, check out my post about whatgameschooling is and why you should do it.

I thought it might be fun to get in more experiential learning with a video game. A quick search brought up some options that look awful. Far Cry Primal looks interesting though, so I am going to check out the rating, system, and cost. Well, the M rating looks like it is fairly accurate from the ads I saw for it. I will just stick with a board game for this unit.

Now that I have a game figured out, I am going to start looking for books. I usually start by searching Google for best books on the topic I am covering. So today I am looking up best books for teens about the stone age. I always choose a book that is fiction and one that is non-fiction. For non-fiction I have decided to get the Horrible Histories Collection 20 book set. It includes the stone age as well as the other eras we will need to cover next year. I like how they are written. These will probably be the read-aloud books for us.

I am having a hard time finding a book for my son to read. I am looking for something about a boy, if possible, and age appropriate. So, I will try some other keywords in my search. After some more searching, I decided to go with The Kin by Peter Dickinson. I can get it on the Kindle, which is a bonus. Plus it is an omnibus, so he can read one or all of them for the price of one book.

Next on my list are videos. My first stop was Curiosity Stream. We got a year of streaming for super cheap and it has been a great resource for our homeschool. I found The Manot Skull which is about evidence that modern men and Neanderthals lived side-by-side. Modern Stone Age Family is about cooking and eating from ancient times. Lastly, The Neanderthals’ Dark Secret which is about why they are no longer around. That is probably good so I will check out some websites. I didn’t find anything I wanted to use, except for a virtual tour of Lascaux Cave. Technically it is another video, https://vimeo.com/40849516. It is a nice addition though. Sometimes there isn’t a site to explore and that is okay.

I already know that I will have him recreate some stone age art, so that is one activity down. The Modern Stone Age Family video would pair well with a cooking activity replicating one of the food prep methods. Now I am going to head over to Pinterest and see if there are any interesting activities to do. I’m finding that this is a topic that doesn’t have a lot of information or activities. It makes sense since it is prehistory. It is okay for this to be a short unit. I will add a great activity staple, making a diorama. I let him build it out of whatever he wants or on Minecraft.

I already have history in the unit since it is the main focus. Science is there because of the scientific study of the bones and foods they ate in the videos we will watch. I don’t worry about getting math in because we use Shiller Math and don’t need to add more. I have an art project, not required, but a nice addition. For language arts, I have reading and listening taken care of, but I would like to get some writing in there for a well rounded study. I think I will have him write and illustrate a short story about what it would be like to live in the stone age. It has writing and some more art. As a bonus, he can make it into a picture book to read to his 3 year old little brother.

So, there you have it! We made a unit. On the printable I have included a page for you to plan out your activities by day/week. My Neolithic unit is short and will probably take a couple of weeks or so. Most of my units take about 4-6 weeks depending on the topic and amount of potential information and activities. It took about an hour to put the unit together, mostly one handed with a 3 year old on my lap, and while also writing this blog post.

Whether you are making a unit for a specific topic to cover regulations or making a unit for your child’s ever-changing interests, you can do it. It is fast and very flexible. You can make your units months in advance or just days. If you want to get some pre-made units, become a patron. You can get this unit and more. We also have a few free units that you can check out in the side bar and at our Patreon page. Good luck unit planning and let me know how it goes!

Get the completed unit here on our Patreon page!

Tile Placement: Game Mechanics 101

Welcome back to game mechanics 101! Today's topic is tile  placement. It is a broad subject since the essence of the mechanic is that you have tiles that you place to construct some thing. We have had a lot of tile placement games over the years. Even though they utilize the same mechanic, they feel very different.

Square tiles are very common in these games. Carcassonne,  our first hobby board game, uses the tiles to build a map with cities, roads, and cloisters. Glenmore II is similar but each person makes their own individual map and it is combined with a rondel mechanic. In Alhambra, the tiles for your city must be purchased.

Between 2 Cities is another city building game but it doesn't only use squares. It changes things up with some rectangular tiles and building with teammates. Castles of Mad King Ludwig has a variety of shapes to construct your castle. There is even a mash up of these 2 games, Between 2 Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

With Tetris style tiles, Baren Park brings tile placement into the puzzle realm. The pieces build your zoo but they need to interlock efficiently to win the game. Patchwork is another of these type of games but adds a little economy as you need to make money to buy tiles.

Share with us your favorite tile placement game or one you are interested in trying. I for one am interested in trying Cottage Garden. Join us next week for roll and write games.

An Interview with Weird Giraffe Games

Today we have a special interview with Weird Giraffe Games. Thank you, Carla, for taking the time to visit with us. You have a new game coming out, Tumble Town, about the old west. As a bonus for our readers, we have put together a board game based unit study (featuring Tumble Town) that we will make available for free, for everyone, on our Patreon page. More information about the unit study will be at the end of the interview. What did you love about the initial Tumble Town pitch enough to sign the game? It wasn't a formal pitch for Tumble Town, but playing prototypes with friends. I was just getting to know the designer Kevin and so far we had gotten along great. I loved the dice stacking to create the buildings and the Western theme, as I'm all about themes that aren't out there as much. Those two facts, coupled with thinking that Kevin was a person I could work well with, made me offer to sign and publish the game. I hope everyone else falls in love with Tumble Town as fast as I did! What is the game about?

In Tumble Town players are rolling dice, constructing buildings, and competing to make the best town in the West. To do this, players are drafting building plans and dice and trying to construct buildings based on the plans. Each plan requires a certain type and value for the dice and if you can construct it, you'll either get a power you can use every turn, an instant power, or a new scoring condition for you at the end of the game. After two dice supplies run out, the game is over and players finish the round, then tally their scores. What game mechanics are featured in the game and why? There's set collection, hidden objectives, dice manipulation, engine building, and a spatial puzzle. For the set collection, it was added to give players an easy direction to go in the game; simply go for the style icon that gives them extra points. I always like games that have some hidden aspect of scoring, which is why the hidden objectives are in the game. It's always sad to know that you're losing, so I'd prefer if players only know that for sure at the end of the game and at that point, it's over and they can play again, if they want. Dice manipulation was added to give players more agency, as players are rolling dice and sometimes dice rolls are not in the favor of the player. If player's get enough dice manipulation powers, they'll be able to construct any building that they wish. Engine building is in the game to give players some different strategies to go down. They can focus on manipulating dice, getting more dice, gaining more scoring objectives, or any combination of the three. The spatial puzzle aspect of the game was added in last and it was added in to give additional things for the players to think about and to appeal to players interested in spatial aspects of games. What challenges did you encounter in developing and preparing to Kickstart Tumble Town? Figuring out the end game of Tumble Town took more than a year and a half to decide on. Kevin Russ, the designer, originally had the game end after a specific number of rounds. I prefer games endings where you don't know the exact number of turns that you're going to get as then you can't completely math out the game. At one point, the game had dice mines where players could take dice with specific values and once two dice mines ran out, the game end would be triggered. I ended up getting rid of the dice mines as players got confused about what dice to roll and what dice not to roll and I don't like confusing players. The next game end was triggered when players would run through the two of the three building plan decks. This worked for most players, but some beginner players would run out the level 1 deck, then go to the level 2 decks, and cause the game to end before getting to the level 3 deck. Switching to when the dice supplies ran out kept the player agency where a player that knew what they were doing could end the game early, but new players would not. Who, in actual wild west history, most fascinates you and why?

I wouldn't say there's any particular person in Wild West History that fascinates me, but I am kind of in love with the ring tailed cat that lives out in the West. I didn't know about it until I was researching more about the West, but as soon as I saw it, I was so fascinated. It's a member of the raccoon family, but looks kind of like a cat crossed with a lemur. I definitely want to include it in Tumble Town somewhere, but it's looking like it'll be in the animal expansion.

Photo from livescience.com

You are launching Tumble Town on Kickstarter soon. Why do you choose to use Kickstarter? Are there pros and cons to this method? It's not so much of choosing Kickstarter as I wouldn't be able to make games without Kickstarter. It requires a lot of money to manufacture a game and doing so without knowing if the market is there for the game would destroy most small companies. Kickstarter lets me see if people are interested in the game enough for me to do a full print run. As far as cons, running a Kickstarter is super stressful and I hope to get to the point where I can go straight to retail with a few games but I feel like that will be far from now, as the pros of Kickstarter far outweigh the cons. Where can people go to make sure they get a copy of Tumble Town?

http://weirdgiraffegames.com/TTKS25

Where can our readers find Weird Giraffe Games online?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeirdGiraffes Website: http://weirdgiraffegames.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/weirdgiraffegames… Instagram: https://instagram.com/weirdgiraffegames/… Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/WeirdGiraffeGames/

If you want to learn more about the wild west you can check out our wild west unit study here. All of our units studies feature a board game and Tumble Town is the featured game for this unit. I have included alternate games for those that want to start the unit right away.

The study covers language arts, history, science, and art. Along with playing games, you will be reading some great books, drawing maps, and even constructing a replica old west town in Minecraft or diorama form. I hope you have a blast learning along with us!

Click here to get the free unit study!

Why You Should Gameschool With RPGs

First things first, What is an RPG? RPG stands for role playing game. This still might not sound familiar if you haven't played one, think Dungeons and Dragons. Most people have heard of D&D, whether they have played it or not. It was the one that started them all. That's right, all! There are a lot of them to choose from. They range from very simplistic with a paragraph of rules to complex with tomes of rules, backstory, and information.

So, you are on board with using games to teach your kids, but this sounds like a bit of a stretch? Let me explain. RPGs are story based games. One person is the GM (game master). The GM runs the game and plays as all the people, creatures, and things that the PCs (player characters) encounter. The other players in the game are the PCs. Now that you have the very basic idea, let's dive further.

For the PCs the first task is to create a character. This varies by RPG type, some taking an hour and others taking just a few moments. This can require a lot of math but they all require some intentional choices. The players will be playing with this same character over the course of many game sessions. Once in game they will want to role play these characters and make their choices based on who the character is and not simply what they want.

The GM has the big job of establishing the story and the world that will be played in. They create it, but don't control it. Ultimately the GM and PCs build the story together as the game is played. If the teacher is the GM there is so much they can add to help with intentional learning. Let me give an example.

One year we were learning about the pilgrims and their later relationship with the native peoples. To give the lessons a bit more life, we played Roll for Shoes, an quick and simple RPG. My son did not create his own character for this one. I set the scene with descriptive detail and he looks at me with the most incredulous look possible and says, "Am I a turkey?!" Yes, yes he was. He got to be a fly on the wall to some of the events that happened. By the end of the game he had saved his turkey flock, stopped a war from breaking out, and pulled some pretty sweet ninja turkey moves. He had a blast doing it, once he got over the fact that he was playing as a turkey.

The beauty of RPGs is that you are basically playing a game of pretend in any setting you like. You can give the players problems to solve, situations to figure out, and give them the chance to put themselves in someone else's shoes. The game can be set in any time and place. You can even add a little extra language arts time by having your kids write out the story of what happened in the game. This can result in a lovely book of memories over the course of many gaming sessions.

Are you sold yet? I hope so! There are a lot of options to choose from in the RPG genre. I already mentioned Roll for Shoes. It is a free system that requires few supplies and you can find it here: https://rollforshoes.com/. Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder are very immersive and rules heavy games. They can be expensive and time consuming, but also very engaging. There are many RPGs based on movies and TV shows too.

We recently had a chance to try out Animal Empire from Half-Monster Games. It is scheduled for release next month and it is fantastic! Character creation is simple and the game is not heavy on rules. The book has great information for GMs about how to create a story and locale. It has some starting story ideas and even a ready to go story to play. Animal Empire allows for a lot of creativity while also not having to come up with everything on your own. The mechanics of the game can easily translate into a realm of your own creation too, historical or fictional. This is our new favorite, for sure!

Have you played RPGs for school before? We would love to hear your stories. Share them in the comments.

Worker Placement: Game Mechanics 101

To watch Adam's video lesson click here!

Welcome back to game mechanics 101! Today we are talking about worker placement games. I already shared a little about our experience with Agricola in our lesson introduction. It was our first worker placement game and only our second Euro game. It was difficult for us to learn and understand. Now, worker placement games are among our favorites.

Worker placement games are focused around your worker pieces and where you are going to place them. These games have a shared board with limited spaces to place workers. Each space will provide the player with resources or actions that they need to work toward victory.

In Agricola, only one player can be on each space on the board. This means that players can block each other easily. Viticulture has a limited number of slots open per action, but multiple workers can use each one. The number of available slots is dependent on the number of players.

The Manhattan Project has a main board with actions as well. However, the players can also construct their own board of options to play on. This means that not every player will have the same options by the end of the game.

Are Dinosaur Island and Dice hospital worker placement games? We have had a number of discussions about this. They both use workers that are placed on limited spaces, but the spaces are on the players’ individual boards. There is no community board in which the players interact with each other. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments. Join us next week for tile placement games.

Amazing Race Study Notebook

We love to watch The Amazing Race! Why not turn it into a great way to study geography and social science? This one printable will help your students engage deeper with what they see in the show and learn about the countries that the contestants visit.

Pages one and two give you art for your binder. Page three is a page to put in information about the country visited (map, flag, country stats).  The fourth page is a place to record the events that occurred in the episode ind interesting facts or situations that arose. The last page is a place to record information about the culture of the countries visited. 

Pages 3-5 will be printed as needed, depending on the season being watched. We have had a lot of fun using this workbook over the years and we hope you and you kids do too!

This unit is available for all of our Patrons at any level, so come check it out and get started learning with the show.

Become a Patron!

8 Board Game Apps

Board games are expensive! They also take up a lot of space. If you are low on cash and/or space, you may want to check out these 8 board game apps. Some of them are free and some are frequently on sale, so keep an eye out! Also, these are all available on Android. There are many more apps out there. These are our favorites because of game play and cost effectiveness.

Carcassonne

This is a tile placing game of building cities and farms. Carcassonne was our first board game and fittingly our first board game app as well. You can play solo against AI or with multiplayer pass and play.

Onirim

This is a solo card game. It is a puzzle game that can be hard to beat. The basic game is available for free, so it is definitely worth a try.

Onitama

If you like Chess, this is a great game to try. Onitama is similar to chess but with variable movement types . This is another free game to download and play. You can play it solo against an AI or play pass and play with a friend.

Potion Explosion

In Potion Explosion players are collecting ingredients to make potions. Choosing the right ingredient can cause a chain reaction that gives you many more. You can play solo against AI or with multiplayer pass and play.

Lanterns

This is another tile placement game. In this one you are placing lanterns in the water for the lantern festival. The lanterns you collect are used to make dedications for points. This is one of my favorite apps. I like that, in solo mode, there are achievements you can try to attain. It keeps the game play fresh. You can play solo against AI or with multiplayer pass and play.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig

In this one you are trying to build the best castle. The room tiles come randomly and have to be purchased. You can play solo against AI or with multiplayer pass and play. It also has a campaign that you can play in solo mode. It's tough but a fun challenge.

Suburbia

City building games are all the rage and Suburbia is a classic. The app allows play with the original tiles and the new, gorgeous tiles from the very expensive collector's edition. It also has a campaign to play through in solo mode. You can play solo against AI or with multiplayer pass and play.

Kingdom Builder

This is a light game of placing settlements on the board. The game play is simple and easy to learn. Beating the AIs is a tough thing to do though. The game gives many options for game play. You can play solo against AI or with multiplayer pass and play.

Whether you are trying to save some space or some money, or just wanting a game to play at work or on the road, I hope you found a game or a few that you want to try out. Let us know what your favorite board game app is in the comments so there are more loved apps to share!

Board Game Spotlight: Dreams of Tomorrow

Dreams of Tomorrow has spent a lot of time on our table since we brought it home a few weeks ago. I was originally drawn to it because the artwork is just gorgeous. Our 12 year old son has really enjoyed the artwork too. There are a handful of images and sort of duplicates of them. He likes to compare them and see how they change over the series of each picture.

The theme is about constructing dreams to send to the past to save the future. The central focus is a changing rondel. The rondel is not an often used mechanic and the rondel for Dreams of Tomorrow is done very well. Players can activate abilities that allow them to rearrange the spaces in the rondel.

This week we have been potty training our 3 year old. As we cycle through break times for each of us, we have been getting in some solo plays of the game. The solo bot comes in 3 difficulty levels. In all of them, the bot causes changes to the rondel and it is ultimately a race to build the best dream sequence you can as fast as you can. This has got to be my favorite game to play solo as it is fast to set up and play is challenging but not impossible.

Dreams of Tomorrow is easy to set up, easy to learn, and small too. The tiny box holds a lot of game and many options. We haven't even had a chance to play with the night mare yet, maybe after potty training. We have really enjoyed the game and we're looking forward to seeing more from Weird Giraffe Games!

Deck Building: Game Mechanics 101

Today we are talking about deck building. In a deck building game, players will begin with a starter deck of cards. They will add new and better cards to their deck over time. On a turn a player will typically play cards from their hand followed by drawing new cards from their deck. There are a variety of ways deck building is utilized in games.

Dominion was the start of the deck building genre. Players use their cards to gain victory point cards. These victory point cards help the players win, but also make it harder to get the cards they want in their hands. In Thunderstone, players use their cards to venture into the dungeon and fight the monsters within. The monster cards then junk up your hand like in Dominion but are also how you win.

Some deck building games work alongside a board. The Quest for El Dorado is one such game. In El Dorado, players use their cards to move to spaces on the board. It is a race to the finish and no victory points are involved.

Another popular deck building type is combined with cooperative play. The Legendary series and Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle are in this genre. In these games the players work together to defeat the villains. They use their cards to attack the enemies and heal themselves and their teammates.

What is a deck building game you are interested in playing? Let us know in the comments. Join us next week as we learn about worker placement games.

Board Game Spotlight: It's a Wonderful World

It is a wonderful world and this is a delightfully simple game with a lot of depth. At it's core, It's a Wonderful World is a drafting game, like we learned about yesterday in our game mechanics 101 class. It adds in a little bit of resource management and engine building as well. Let me tell you about our first game.

The cards that you draft in the game are duel purpose. You need to choose which ones you will build to gain future resources and points and which you will recycle into immediate resources. Adam was very efficient, building very few cards and gaining oh so many resource cubes each round. I was hyper focused on the points the cards could gain me and had a veritable mound of cards under construction. It would have worked too, if the game wasn't a mere 4 rounds long! Adam nearly doubled my score because I was busy playing the long game in a game that isn't long at all.

It's a Wonderful World is fairly easy to learn. Due to the drafting mechanism, each game will play differently. You will need to work with what you have and remember that it is not a long game.

Have you ever gotten so into a game that you forgot that it would be ending soon? I would love to hear your story! Share in the comments.

Drafting: Game Mechanics 101

Welcome to our first mechanic, drafting. Drafting is the core mechanic in many games. It can also be found in many games as a side mechanic or as a variant.

In a drafting game, the players have a hand of cards or items. They make a selection and pass the rest to the next player. Now, they will make a selection from their new hand and pass again. Play continues till the hand is drained, often with the last item being discarded.

7 Wonders and Sushi Go are card drafting games that combing drafting with set collection. The more cards you have that work together, the higher your score will be. Fields of Green is also a card drafting game but instead of collecting sets you are building a functioning farm with your card selections.

Between Two Cities has players drafting tiles instead of cards. The tiles chosen will be used to construct a city with the person sitting next to you. In this game your drafting choices affect your partners as well. Draftosaurus is another drafting game that does not use cards. Players draft from a handful of wooden dinosaur meeples (meeples are the shaped wooden pawns in a game). This game brings back the set collection aspect of some of the card games.

Drafting games can be difficult for inexperienced players to understand since they are not familiar with the cards or items available and how they interact. It is worth the effort to learn and play though. What has your experience with drafting games been like. Share your stories in the comments! Next week we will be discussing deck building games.

World War II: A 7 Week Unit Study FREEBIE

Since we firmly believe in the importance of studying World War II, we are providing this unit for free. This unit study covers language arts, history, science, math, and art. You will be doing a variety of hands on activities as you work your way through World War II for kids. You will be reading a book about the Holocaust, watching some great videos, and playing through a campaign of Undaunted Normandy. It is geared toward grades 5, 6, 7, and 8  but can be adjusted for higher or lower grades.

You can find this unit on our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/33735782. 
If you like our blog or want to access more of our unit studies, become a patron!

3 Games for Studying World War II

Today we are sharing 3 games for studying world war II. It can be a tricky topic to cover given some of the atrocities that occurred during that time. It is so important to learn about though. Each year brings the war further from memory and that increases the likelihood that history will repeat itself. So, study this topic! To help, tomorrow we will bring you a free unit study curriculum for world war II. In the mean time, here are our 3 games.

Undaunted Normandy

This is a 2 player deck building game in which you will be playing through battles that occurred at Normandy. The game contains a book of scenarios to play through. Each scenario is a separate battle between the Germans and Allies. The cards available to build your deck with are based on what was actually available to each side in that real life battle. It is an immersive war game that is very accessible. It is also the board game that will be in our board game based unit study tomorrow.

Captain Sonar

U-boats were a big part of the war and this game simulates that experience. Captain Sonar can be played with 2-8 players. Each team has 4 roles to fill. The captain will be navigating the sub through the waters. The first mate readies systems so the captain can fire missiles or use sonar. The engineer will be trying to keep the sub from breaking down. Lastly, is the radar operator, who will be tracking the movements of the other team and trying to pin down their location. It can be played turn by turn or in real time. Real time has teams playing constantly, is chaotic, but also more realistic. There is also a family version that is great for 2-4 players.

Secret Hitler

This game has had a bit of controversy around it. It is such a good game though, for play and especially for learning. We have never played a game of Secret Hitler without explaining the election that brought him to power. Most people we have played with have questioned our playing it. After discussion about how Hitler gained power in the first place, everyone wants to see if they would have elected him too. We would all like to think that we wouldn’t have, but this game helps us remember that we are looking at the situation with 20/20 hindsight. If we want to prevent a future “Hitler”, it is important to know how the first one gained power. There is also a free print and play edition available here: https://www.secrethitler.com/.

There are so many games about WWII. Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Why Learn Game Mechanics? Game Mechanics 101

Welcome to game mechanics 101! Today, we are going to talk about the "why" of game mechanics. Why is this something to even know about? We have a few reasons for you to think about before we dive into the first mechanic next week.

Learning New Games
Has this ever happened to you? You open a new game, look at the rule book, and are immediately daunted by its size. When you start at square one, the rules can be long and confusing. Years ago, it took us hours to figure out how to play Agricola before we discovered a how to play online. How to play videos are life savers in learning a game.  Now that we have played Agricola, we pick up worker placement games very easily. They function in very similar ways and knowing the mechanic has given us a head start on learning.

Game Descriptions
Let's stick with our Agricola example. When people ask me what kind of game Agricola is, I tell them it is a worker placement game about farming. I have the vocabulary to give a short, concise description. It also helps when choosing new games. We know that if a game says it is a worker placement game, there is a good chance we will enjoy it because we have liked others in that genre. Our family doesn't really enjoy bluffing games though, so we tend to avoid those.

Designing Games
If you are interested in game design, you should be trying as many game mechanics as possible. A limited exposure to games gives you a limited number of ideas to draw from. The more mechanics you know, the more variety you can put in your designs.

Are you looking forward to learning some game mechanics? Leave us a comment about mechanics you love and some you want to learn more about! Also, join us next week for our first mechanic, drafting.

Lewis and Clark: A 3 Week Unit Study

This unit study is available for our patrons over on Patreon and covers science, language arts, history, and art. You will be doing a Minecraft reenactment of the journey, working with maps, studying animals and tracks, and playing Discoveries, The Journals of Lewis and Clark. It is geared toward grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8  but can be adjusted for higher or lower grades.

This unit study contains a list of resources and  activities for you to use in your studies. Choose those that will best suit  your students, time, and learning environment. My hope is that you will enjoy  the process of learning and not feel constricted by the timeline or  activities. Make changes as they suit your needs and enjoy your time learning  together! 

Join us, at any level, on Patreon to gain access to all of our board game based unit studies and writing promts.

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9 Board Games to Supplement Sonlight Grades 3-4 Curriculum

Gameschooling takes many forms. For some, games are the curriculum. For others, it is an intentional supplement to bring their studies to life. Today we are sharing 9 games that that can supplement your Sonlight grades 3-4 curriculum. The curriculum packs are D and E. We are not suggesting you add all of these games to your collection, but if you find 1-2 that you want to add to your school day, great! Have fun with whichever game(s) you choose.

Discoveries: the Journals of Lewis and Clark

This game is about the creation of the nature journals that Lewis and Clark made over the course of their trip. Players use dice to complete portions of the journey. This allows them to add the portion to their journal. The art in the game is beautiful as well.

Mobi

If you have played Bananagrams, this is basically the same game with math. Players create what is basically a crossword puzzle of math equations with the number tiles that they have. It is a great game for practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Since the function of the equation is chosen by the players, kids can choose what they are comfortable with or parents can encourage playing with newly acquired skills.

Karuba

Karuba bring the players into the jungles of the Americas. They will be searching for hidden temples and the treasures within. It is a tile placement puzzle game. The tiles are used to cut paths through the jungle to reach the temples.

Catan Geographies

These are scenario sheets that require the normal version of the game to play. They feature various regions of the USA. The sheets have pre made tiles and numbers on it as well as facts about the region. Even the basic game can be great as your students learn about colonization and natural resources.

Timeline Americana
Timeline is a very simple game to play. Players take turns trying to fit their events I to the timeline. Repeated play will help bring the dates and events into the students' memories.

Agricola
This game is about farming. It would be a perfect addition to learning about settling the west, as many were farmers. It is a worker placement game. Players will be growing crops, raising livestock, and growing a family as well.

Planetarium

This space game has players take a hand in developing planets. The features of the planet's will be dependent on the resources they find as the planets orbit. The art was made in cooperation with NASA and is just stunning. The cards also have facts about the features they add to the planet.

Whistle Stop
This is a train game. Players are adding tracks to the board and moving their trains toward their goal. The tracks are like a maze, making it hard to work your way across the board. With trains being a big part of western expansion, this game is a fun supplement.

Bang! The Dice Game
The wild west was a bit crazy. In this game players take on various roles in an old west showdown. It does require 3 players. It is a quick dice rolling game. If you can play Yatzee, you can play this and probably have more fun doing it.

Writing Prompts for Bananagrams

Periodically we post writing prompts based on board games for our patrons on Patreon. This week our prompts are for Bananagrams. It is a great way to bring a bit of language arts to your gaming and draw out the learning from the fun. If you want to add writing prompts to your gameschool day, consider becoming a patron. It supports our blog and patrons at any level gain access to writing prompts and board game based unit studies on our Patreon page.

Is there a particular game you would like to see prompts for? Let us know in the comments below!

Become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/gameschooling

3 Games for Studying Fairy Tales

Today's 3 games video is all about fairy tales! Fairy tales are a wonderfully enjoyable topic to cover. They give great insight about the values of the culture them come from. So, here are our 3 suggestions.

Gingerbread House

In this game you are the witch from Hansel and Gretel. Fairy tale creatures keep coming and eating your gingerbread house and you are tired of it. You are going to lure them in and trap them so you can build your house in peace. It is great to talk about the characters that come up. What story are they from? Are they from a fairy tale or a movie? It's a fun puzzle game filled with fairy tale people and creatures.

Similo Fables

Similo is a quick cooperative deduction game. One person gives clues to help the other players guess which of 12 cards is the fairy tale creature that has been selected. This is a super small game as it is a deck of cards. Similo History is also available if you like the concept but not the theme.

Fairy Tale

It is a fun game of drafting and set collection with fairies, knights, and dragons. The cards interact with each other making for big bonuses at the end of the game.

Which fairy tale is your favorite? What fairy tale based games do you like? Share your favorites in the comments!

Coming Soon: Game Mechanics 101

We will be launching this video series in February. You will find it on our YouTube channel on Thursdays and will, of course, share them here and on our social media pages. There are so many reasons why it is good to learn about game mechanics, and we will share them in our introductory video. This is going to be great for your young game crafters and anyone wanting to learn games a little more quickly.

8 Games to Supplement Sonlight K-2 Curriculum

Gameschooling takes many forms. For some, games are the curriculum. For others, it is an intentional supplement to bring their studies to life. Today we are sharing 8 games that that can supplement your Sonlight K-2 curriculum. The curriculum packs are A-C. These games are going to be great for all 3 years and so will give you more bang for your buck. We are not suggesting you add all of these games to your collection. If you find 1-2 that you want to add to your school day, great! Have fun with whichever game(s) you choose.

Similo History
Similo History is a cooperative deduction game with cards. One player gives clues to the others to help them guess which historical person on the board is the selected card. It has historical characters from ancient Egypt to Marie Curie. It is a short game and can add a touch of overall history.

Cardline Animals
Cardline is another small, quick card game. In this one, you each have a hand of animals and you are trying to place them in order in the center of the table. You can order them by height, weight, or lifespan. It is a versatile game and we play it with our 3 and 12 year old often because they both love it.

Kingdom Builder
This is a game about building your kingdom. You are placing settlements in the terrain type your card shows. The goal is to build near castles and accomplish various goals that change each game. The game is simple enough for younger kids and can be modified easily if needed. It has been a hit with everyone I have played it with from small children to elderly seniors.

The Quest for El Dorado
El Dorado is a deck building game. Each person has their own deck of cards that they play through and add to. The cards allow players to traverse the map of the jungle in a race to find the lost city of gold. This one is simple but with great depth.

Imhotep Duel
This game uses a tic-tac-toe type placement to acquire pieces to build monuments and pyramids. It is very easy to pick up and works well with any level of gaming experience. This one is for 2 players and is actually on our "to buy" list. We played it at our local game store and just love it!

Word on the Street Jr.
This is a team word game. Each team will get a topic and need to come up with a word to go with it. The letters in their word will move toward them till they get far enough to be claimed. It is like a letter tug of war. The jr. edition includes all of the letters, which will help early readers and spellers. You can also make your own topic cards based on what you are currently learning.

Carcassonne
This is a board game classic! The players place a tile each turn to build medieval cities, paths, cloisters, and farm land. At the end of the game, the table looks like an old map. It looks different every time. This was our first modern board game and it is still in our collection.

Planet
Planet is a very light game of planet construction. Each person has a 3 dimensional planet that they add terrain tiles to. The goal is to gain animals for their planet based on what terrain they like.

So, those are our 8 games. We are planning on sharing picks for other years of Sonlight curriculum as well. Is there a curriculum that you would like us to give suggestions for? Let us know in the comments below. You could also keep the conversation going by sharing some of the games you have used with Sonlight k-2. Our list is by no means exhaustive after all!