gather round Europe

Gather Round Homeschool: Europe – Resources to Make Your Unit Awesome!

ByThe Lead Learner Mom

This is our 5th Gather Round Homeschool unit study and we have honestly enjoyed every one so far!

I’m both a dreamer and travel enthusiast, so naturally I thoroughly enjoy learning about countries across the world. We spent two weeks over the summer doing an “It’s a Small World” themed unit that I put together myself and we loved it.

When I saw how this curriculum goes through every continent on the globe, I was in! Asia was our first “Connecting Continents” unit and it was awesome! So many things were covered…flags, language, religion, government, animals, landmarks, trade, food…SO MUCH.

I’ve had my eye on Europe since I first saw it though, so we’re pretty excited about getting started!

Now I have an 8, 5, and just-turned 4 year old, so they’re on the younger side. Will they remember everything? I doubt it. BUT, it’s in their knowledge base now, and when they hear about these topics again down the road, I believe they’ll be able to recall learning about it.

I’m seeing it happen already when the curriculum circles back to something we’ve talked about in a previous unit. My 4 year old even surprised me the other day when she asked if a bird might be a black-capped chickadee…something she remembered from our very first unit (and when I thought she mostly wasn’t paying attention! lol).

If you are unfamiliar with this curriculum, be sure to check out this blog post that tells more about it or download free samples on their website!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. If you purchase through my link, you won’t pay a penny more, however I will receive a small percentage back. Thank you for helping support my blog in this way! With that said, I only recommend products that I personally love!

The Resources:

These “extras” are the things that I love about doing unit studies! It helps make the lessons even more immersive!

I’ve also found that our lessons go so much more smoothly when I have everything that I want to introduce to my kids all organized and ready to go. Sometimes we may not get to everything or even go down a different rabbit trail of learning, but it’s so helpful to have what I want readily available.

I understand how time-consuming this is, though! So, I’m sharing with you some of the playlists and resources we are using for the Europe unit study so that you can have what you need without all the planning!

My playlists are mostly geared toward upper elementary and under because that is where my kids are. There are lots of other videos/books/etc you could add if you have older kids as well.

While I’ve used these resources with my kids, I always recommend that you preview them before using with your kiddos to make sure it’s a good fit for your family.

Gather Round Homeschool: Europe – YouTube Playlist

Many of the videos in this playlist are favorites of my kiddos. They go in order from Lesson 1 – 20 to make your life easier! Use what you like, leave what you don’t, add what you need.

They can be used during the lesson, after the lesson, or anytime really! How they are used is entirely up to you.

For this unit, you will see that I have also included a second playlist. This is not one that I created, but one that I found by World Heritage Journey and thought would be useful as well. The second playlist covers all 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Poland. Their YouTube Channel has a lot more videos on World Heritage Sites everywhere if you’re interested in checking them out!

Gather Round Homeschool: Europe – Spotify Playlist

This is a playlist I created with traditional music from many of the countries that are discussed in this unit study. I like to play use this during writing time and often during dinner.

At dinner, especially, it adds that little extra touch that helps transport you to that country…especially if you’re eating their food, too!

Gather Round Homeschool: Europe – Pinterest Board

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy using pinterest to gather ideas…and recipes! Sometimes I use the ideas that I find directly and other times scrolling pinterest inspires an idea of my own.

This is yet another thing that takes a little time, so here is your shortcut!

The creator of this curriculum sells a beautiful digital recipe book to go along with the unit if you’d just like to purchase and print that! However, if you choose not to, this board has the recipes that I pinned for every country in the Gather Round Homeschool Europe unit…including ones for the recipes she recommends. I won’t make ALL of them, but I do plan on making many of them.

I’ve also included some extras such as additional coloring pages for the littles, basic language learning print-outs, and a few craft ideas!

Gather Round Homeschool: Europe – Book Lists and More!

Book Lists

Rebecca Spooner, the creator of Gather Round Homeschool, has an amazing book list in the front of every unit’s teacher’s guide. It’s even divided up by levels to make it easy! I was able to get most of the ones I wanted from our local library and then used Amazon and Thrift Books to get any that were remaining.

I also used a few additional books not on that list:

Shows and Movies

Here are some great choices for added entertainment that can further reinforce the theme! Many can be found on various streaming platforms and, of course, on DVD. Sometimes your local library even has DVDs for check out, so don’t forget about that option!

  • Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That
    • “Pretty in Pink” – Season 1, Episode 28 (Flamingos)
    • “The Last Chocolate” – Season 2: Episode 46 (Making of Chocolate)
    • “Fact and Friction” – Season 3: Episode 63
  • Curious George
    • “Windmill Monkey” – Season 5, Episode 79 (Netherlands)
  • Fancy Nancy
  • Mickey and the Roadster Racers
    • “Race for the Rigatoni Ribbon/Roamin’ Around Rome” – Season 1, Episode 3 (Italy)
    • “Mickey’s Perfecto Day/Running the Roadsters” – Season 1, Episode 5 (Spain)
    • “Ye Old Royal Heist/Tea Time Trouble” – Season 1, Episode 7 (United Kingdom)
    • “The Grand Food Trick Rally/Cuckoo La-La” – Season 1, Episode 25 (France)
    • “Phantom of the Cafe/Cuckoo in Paris” – Season 2, Episode 33 (France)
    • “Snow Go With the Flow/Happy Helpers on Ice” Season 2, Episode 42 (Switzerland)
  • Brave (Scotland)
  • How to Train Your Dragon (Scotland)
  • Frozen 1 & 2 (Norway, Sweden)
  • Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty (Germany…Neuschwanstein Castle was inspiration!)
  • Beauty and the Beast (France)
  • Ratatouille (France)
  • Aristocats (France)
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (France)
  • Leap (Netflix or DVD…France)
  • Hugo (Netflix…France)
  • The Little Mermaid (Switzerland)
  • Peter Pan (United Kingdom)
  • Anastasia (Russia)
  • Hercules (Greece)
  • Tinkerbell Movies (Ireland…not specifically but the music sounds like it to me!)
  • The Sound of Music
  • The Prince and Me 1 & 2 (Parents and Older Kids)
  • The Chronicles of Narnia (United Kingdom….Parents and Older Kids)
  • Fiddler on the Roof (Parents and Older Kids)
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Parents and Older Kids)
  • My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 & 2 (Parents and Older Kids)
  • Mamma Mia (Parents and Older Kids)
  • Downton Abbey (Parents and Older Kids)
  • Untamed Romania (Netflix)
  • Pompeii: Secrets of the Dead (Disney +)

I hope that these pre-planned resources help save you time in your unit study planning! Enjoy!

Make sure to check out my resource pages for Gather Round Homeschool North American Birds, Asia, Space, Oceans, Africa, Earth Science, and North America too!

What are some of the activities you’ve done or are planning to do with this unit? I’d love to know! Share in the comments below!

gather round homeschool europe

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