Download N Go Unit Study Australia | Review

 

This past week we started our third Download N Go unit study by Amanda Bennett. Download N Go unit studies are one week themed units that have everything planned and ready to go for learning. We had already finished and blogged about Winter Wonders and Birthday Bonanza, and were excited to try out the Australia unit.

Ages: K-4th

Cost: $7.95 per unit, though there are package options available that reduce the price per unit. Since it is a downloadable product, each unit can be reprinted for other siblings to use, or to go back and do again.

Supplies Needed: Paper, notebook, file-folders (or cardstock) and access to a computer.

Preparation: A weekend to print materials, set up the folder and gather books. Once that is done there is virtually no daily prep. needed.

The Australia unit has been our favorite unit so far. My 2nd grade daughter loves the subject matter and the different types of activities that are included. The unit is laid out so that the student can work through everything independently if they are able. It really is Download N Go! My daughter and I work on the unit together. We pull up the PDF file on our computer since Amanda Bennett links directly to the videos, websites and learning activities for the day (I love this feature!! Takes us directly to where we need to go). My daughter also has her notebook open to follow along with any reading and to complete the written portions. Usually there is a combination of videos, websites, notebooking/lapbooking activities, and read-alouds for each day.

Now that we've done a few, I have a certain set-up that I like to do for each unit. The nice thing is that you can use the unit as-is or tweak it to work for you. I have found that my daughter needs two weeks to complete a unit. This is because the unit is not her only curriculum and she also needs my help moving through things (though she is getting better at being able to do more of it independently).

  

First I print everything out. Then I use 5 color pockets and 10 divider tabs. I also 3-hole punch several sheets of cardstock and place them at the front of the folder. We adhere all our lapbooking elements to the cardstock instead of creating a lapbook.

  

Since the original unit is made for a week, I place all the printables listed for that day in the pocket.

  

Then I place two divider tabs for the days it takes me to complete the one day of the unit. I've found that usually I can evenly divide one day's workload into two.

 

Then behind each day tab I made an assignment sheet to help my daughter and I know what activities we need to do each day. Each day my daughter does her two vocabulary words, and we read at least 1-2 books on the topic together. Sometimes we have additional crafts or projects to do along with working though the unit materials. This sheet is not necessary for the unit, but is something I added to help our day go smoother.

Once a unit is completed, I move all the papers from the white working notebook into a big 3" blue notebook that holds all our completed units. You can find a free cover from The Old School House store. Then I reuse the tabs, pockets and notebook for our next download.

The Download N Go units have been a perfect fit for my 2nd grader. Just the other day she commented on how much she liked doing her special units. For the price, the time it saves me in preparing my own units, and the ease of implementation --we will definitely be adding more studies to our year.

-------
The Australia Download N Go unit was given to me for review purposes. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.