A Gather Round Homeschool Review: Oceans...Did We Love It?

If you’ve been following this blog or my Pinterest account for long, then you know that we LOVE using Gather Round Homeschool as our primary curriculum! Last year was our first year fully homeschooling and I found myself completely overwhelmed when I started researching curriculums…mostly because there are so many AMAZING options!

I had already been watching the curriculum reviews from Homeschool On (the blog of the creator of Gather Round), when I first heard about it. I have three kiddos and I was instantly drawn to the concept of being able to teach most subjects “family style”. It was what I was looking for and decided that we were going to give it a try as we began our homeschooling adventure.

As of now, we have finished our first year of homeschooling, and completed six units and one mini-unit from Gather Round’s Year One. I have been organizing and sharing the resources that I use when planning units on this blog, but decided it may be equally as helpful to review our experience with each unit!

I reviewed Space first, but am choosing Oceans second because it is the other unit that my girls still reference most! Just today I overhead my two youngest having a conversation over what sea creature they wanted to be and giving reasons why or why not. 🙂

I’ve since done a review for Europe and Christmas as well!

If you’re already using Gather Round and want to see how we went about this unit, or if you’re still considering this curriculum and want to see what you can do with it, then keep reading and see how it’s working for us.

I hope it can be a help to you in some way!

Some of the links in this post may be affliate links. If you purchase through my link, it will cost you nothing more, but I will receive a percentage back. Thank you for supporting my blog in this way! With that said, I only recommend products that I personally love!

Gather Round Homeschool: Oceans Unit Review

WHAT WE DID

PREP:

Before I start every unit I spend a little time doing the following:

Order student books from Barnes and Noble Press (more about this to come in another post)
Create a YouTube playlist to go along with different topics throughout the unit (find the one I made for this unit here!)
Check out books from the library
Buy any books/games/etc. that I want to use
Scope out potential field trips
Gather ideas for enrichment activities and/or projects (often from Pinterest!)

Remember, though, that one of the beautiful things about this curriculum (and homeschooling in general!) is that you can keep it super simple or add in whatever interests you and your kiddos. All that’s necessary for this unit is the Teacher’s Guide and Student Books. If you are a busy mom or dad that doesn’t have a ton of time to add in a bunch of extra things, that’s ok! Don’t let it discourage you from doing it! 🙂

EXTRA SUPPLIES/MATERIALS:

Our book haul! Many from the library, some I bought, and others I had.

GATHER ROUND SPACE UNIT ACTIVITIES:

Art Hub for Kids is a favorite around here.

FIELD TRIPS:

This was one of those units where living in Central Florida really had it’s perks! Not only are there countless places to go nearby for this unit, but even just going to the beach provided some really good discussions.

If it’s possible at all for you to get to a beach sometime during this unit (or anytime during the school year that you do this unit) then I would highly recommend it! However, I absolutely know that isn’t an option for everyone…but that’s ok! It’s doesn’t have to be. There are some amazing aquariums and science centers nowhere near the ocean. 🙂

Here are some suggestions in the United States and beyond to get you started:

Blue Springs State Park – Orange City, FL (see manatees from Nov. – March!)
Coral Reef Restaurant/ Finding Nemo Ride – Walt Disney World, EPCOT, Orlando, FL
Florida Aquarium – Tampa, FL
Georgia Aquarium – Atlanta, GA (Been here and it’s great!)
South Carolina Aquarium – Charleston, SC
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher – Kure Beach, NC
Audubon Aquarium of the Americas – New Orleans, LA
Texas State Aquarium – Corpus Christi, TX
Denver Downtown Aquarium – Denver, CO
Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium – Omaha, NE
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies – Gatlinburg, TN
Tennessee Aquarium – Chattanooga, TN
Newport Aquarium – Newport, KY
Shedd Aquarium – Chicago, IL
Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium – Bloomington, MN
New York Aquarium – Brooklyn, NY
National Aquarium – Baltimore, MD
New England Aquarium – Boston, MA
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration – Mystic, CT
Odysea Aquarium – Scottsdale, AZ
Birch Aquarium – La Jolla, San Diego, CA
Monterey Bay Aquarium – Monterey, CA
Oregon Coast Aquarium – Newport, OR
Seattle Aquarium – Seattle, WA
Alaska Sea Life Center – Seward, AK
Waikiki Aquarium – Honolulu, HI (Hawaii in general would be awesome for this unit right?!)
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium – Okinawa, Japan
uShaka Marine World – Durban, South Africa
Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo – Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tropicarium Budapest – Budapest, Hungary
Oceanografic – Valencia, Spain
AquaDom – Berlin, Germany
Nordsoen Oceanarium – Hirtshals, Denmark
Sea Life London Aquarium – London, UK
Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Centre – Gibsons, BC, Canada
Marineland of Canada – Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Ucluelet Aquarium – Ucluelet, BC, Canada
Aquarium of Quebec – Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

And many more!

WHAT WE THOUGHT

Even though it’s hard to choose, I think Oceans is my favorite unit so far! I know my girls loved it, too, and they learned a TON.

Not only did they learn about several different sea creatures, but they also learned about the ocean zones, the Mariana Trench, tides, oil spills, Jacques Cousteau, nautical flags, how to use morse code, and so so much more.

They now know the difference between an ocean and a sea, a squid and an octopus, a seal and a sea lion, a sting ray and a manta ray, different whale and shark species, and why a starfish isn’t really a fish at all!

I know some people think Gather Round isn’t enough to use on it’s own, but I’m always personally impressed with the variety of topics and ideas that are taught and discussed in each unit. This one is no exception! And by going in order through Year 1, I’ve been able to see how some topics are touched on again in other units so kids can keep adding to their knowledge base. It’s such a fun way to learn!

But it can’t be ALL great you might say….well….if I have any critique of this unit, it’s that it IS pretty heavily focused on ocean animals. Now it does cover some ocean specific things like I mentioned above (and we were able to do some pretty cool experiments about these things too), but I do wish it taught a little more about the ocean itself.

Overall I would definitely recommend the Gather Round Homeschool Oceans Unit for your homeschool! The possibilities are endless on what you can do and learn…it’s all up to you how much or how little works for your family.

Whenever you plan on working on this unit, make sure to check out this post for some organized resources to help you plan.

Make sure to check out the resources I have for the following units as well:

If you’d like to follow us through these units in real time, then hop on over to Instagram and find us @theleadlearnermom!

Have you done the Oceans Unit already? What kind of activities did you do? Did you find a cool place to visit that I didn’t mention? I’d love to know!