Learning Party! Unit Studies Based on the Birthdays of Famous People

Learning Party: Unit studies for homeschoolers and unschoolers based on the birthdays of famous people

Learning Party! Unit studies about famous people, written in honor of their birthdays

I’m working with my fellow bloggers in the iHomeschool Network to celebrate the birthdays of some famous people each month in honor of their birthdays. In my case, I’ve chosen people whose work is relevant to our lives and our learning, and I’ve created some unschool-style learning guides or unit studies featuring basic facts about the person, questions for discussion, and places to read, watch and otherwise learn more.

From historical figures like Annie Oakley and Abner Doubleday (who, spoiler alert, didn’t really invent the game of baseball), to actors like Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford and many of the original Star Trek cast members, we choose people who we’ve seen or heard about and used their lives as a jumping-off point to learn more, talk about fun and serious questions, and just generally find out some cool stuff!

These have been a ton of fun to create! I’ll continue to add new “famous birthdays” in date order here, so pin, bookmark or share this page to stay updated!

Update: More date-based learning fun!

Long after we created this series, our family has continued on with “date-based learning.” I actually post a fact of the day on Ashar’s Facebook, usually something that happened on that date in history, a famous birthday, or what special day it is. (For instance, Nov. 16 is “Have a Party with your Bear” Day and Dec. 1 is “Eat a Red Apple” Day!)

Those little things make great jumping-off points for some cool learning experience!

Besides our birthday unit studies below, you might want to check out the following:

These all deserve their own post sometime soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to make sure to share!

Abraham Lincoln: Born February 12, 1809

Daniel Craig: Born March 2, 1968
Timothy Dalton: Born March 21, 1944 (or 1946!)

James Doohan: Born March 3, 1920
William Shatner: Born March 22, 1931
Leonard Nimoy: Born March 26, 1931

Leonardo da Vinci: Born April 15, 1452

Adolf Hitler: Born April 20, 1889

Ulysses S. Grant: Born April 27, 1822

Jim Thorpe: Born May 22, 1887

Ian Fleming: Born May 28, 1908

Michael J. Fox: Born June 9, 1961

Abner Doubleday: Born June 26, 1819

Tom Hanks: Born July 9, 1956

Harrison Ford: Born July 13, 1942

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Born July 30, 1947

Neil Armstrong: Born Aug. 5, 1930

Annie Oakley: Born Aug. 13, 1860

Keanu Reeves: Born Sept. 2, 1964

Hugh Jackman: Born Oct. 12, 1968

Roger Moore: Born Oct. 14, 1927

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, aka Eminem: Born Oct. 17, 1972

Sir Winston Churchill: Born Nov. 30, 1874

Many thanks to Pink Sherbet Photography on Flickr for the original photo used in the birthday cake graphic on this page!