We call this "rabbit trail education" - where one idea leads to another, and learning feels more like following a mystery than completing an assignment. Our home is full of opportunity to possess books, watch documentaries, do random experiments, and dig into Google searches that start with “do animals…” or “can you really…”

In simple terms, a unit study is when we take one main topic — like “The Solar System” or “The Human Body” or even “Toys Through Time” — and build a learning journey around it. Instead of separating reading, writing, math, science, history into little boxes, we blend them together under one theme.

That way, our kids learn like humans actually learn in real life — with connection, purpose, and curiosity leading the way.

The biggest shift? Letting my kids choose what they read - or what they wanted to understand.

• One started reading menus, street signs, game instructions, and Roblox chat messages.

• The other fell in love with books that looked like cartoons and didn’t care if they “counted.”

They were reading. That’s what mattered.