Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies

Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies and Download N Go are downloadable topical unit studies published through Unit Study Adventures, priced for impulse purchase and designed as short-run thematic add-ons rather than a stand-alone curriculum. The editorial stake: families who buy Amanda Bennett should know what these are for and what they are not for before they budget a homeschool year around them.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Unit studies; literature- and internet-research-based
Worldview	Christian-evangelical
Grades	K-8 (two-level structure covering K-4 and 5-8 in Unit Study Adventures; Download N Go designed K-4)
Formats	Digital downloads (PDF); some legacy print options
Cost tier	Budget
Parent intensity	4 (parent reads, guides discussion, and curates internet links and activities)
ESA-common	Varies by state
Accredited	No
Established	1990s (Unit Study Adventures is the original series; Download N Go launched later)
Website	unitstudy.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Good topical depth; not a sequenced academic progression through reading, math, or writing
Ease of teaching	3	Daily plans make implementation manageable; parent still curates and presents
Content quality	4	Topics are organized thoughtfully with readings, activities, and reflection prompts
Flexibility	5	Use as written, stretch across weeks, pick and choose activities, combine with any core curriculum
Value for money	5	$7.95 per unit; subscription options below $6 per unit; free Unit Studies 101 included
Worldview scope	3	Christian orientation is visible in some studies (apologetics, Christmas, Easter, Creation) and absent in others
Visual/design	3	Functional PDF layout; not glossy-publisher production
Support resources	3	Author's writing; community forum; limited live support

Who the publisher is

Amanda Bennett is a homeschool author and publisher whose Unit Studies work dates to the 1990s when she began producing thematic unit studies for her own homeschool and then publishing them for other families. Her company, Unit Study Adventures (also published as Southern Hodgepodge, LLC), operates out of her authorship and shop at unitstudy.com. Bennett has written and published several generations of unit study products across decades: the Unit Study Adventures series (four-week studies with two levels, K-4 and 5-8), which were her original longer-form unit studies; Download N Go, a shorter five-day one-week format designed for K-4; and a steady cadence of seasonal, holiday, and topical studies produced and distributed as PDF downloads.

The publisher is explicitly Christian in orientation. Some unit studies are thoroughly Christian in content, including Creation-themed units, Christmas and Easter studies, Expedition Israel, and apologetics-oriented topics. Other units are topical without explicit religious content (baseball, Olympics, electoral process, weather). Bennett's own stance is clearly Christian, and references to scripture, Biblical themes, or Christian interpretive framings appear across the catalog with varying density depending on the topic. Non-Christian families can use many units without modification; some units are structured around explicitly Christian content that would require substantial reworking for a secular family.

The market position is specific and consistent. Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies are not a complete K-12 homeschool curriculum; they are topical supplements priced for impulse purchase. Families most often use them as a change of pace from a primary curriculum, as vacation-week or summer enrichment, as an accompaniment to a family trip or current event (an election year, an Olympic summer, a presidential anniversary), or as thematic deep dives that temporarily replace conventional subject-by-subject work. They work well in that role. They do not, and are not trying to, work as a family's sole educational resource for a full year.

The core pedagogy

A Download N Go unit study is structured as a five-day PDF with daily plans. Each day presents a topic focus within the broader theme, a list of recommended readings (including library suggestions), internet links for research, age-appropriate activities, discussion questions, vocabulary and spelling words, and hands-on project ideas. The parent opens the PDF Monday morning, reads through the day's plan, gathers books from the library or home collection, and leads the student through the day's activities — typically a mix of reading aloud, exploring linked internet resources together, completing a short written reflection or journal entry, and doing a craft or hands-on project.

Unit Study Adventures, the longer four-week format, works similarly but scales up to roughly twenty days of plans with two levels running in parallel — a K-4 set of activities and a 5-8 set. Families with multiple children in that age range use both levels simultaneously, which is one of the format's strongest features. The daily plans share a theme and readings so the family is working together, but the specific activities, vocabulary, and writing expectations differ by age level.

Signature mechanics: (1) Topical rather than systematic organization — each study focuses on a single theme (horses, volcanoes, the Olympics, the election process, Pearl Harbor, baseball) rather than an academic subject track. (2) Internet-link integration — Bennett's units rely substantially on curated web resources for primary-source exploration, current information, and video content. (3) Two age levels in parallel (Unit Study Adventures) — the older format's dual-level structure supports family-style multi-age teaching. (4) Short study runs — Download N Go at five days and Unit Study Adventures at four weeks fit naturally into homeschool year pacing as interludes, themed weeks, or supplements.

A day in the life

A homeschool parent running a Download N Go unit study for a seven-year-old across a vacation week opens the PDF Monday morning. Day one of an Olympics study might focus on the ancient Olympic Games: the parent reads aloud a short historical passage (from the unit or a library book the unit recommends), the student narrates what they heard, the parent guides a discussion around the day's questions, they explore an internet link showing the ancient Olympia archaeological site, and the student completes a written journal entry — what surprised you, what would you have competed in, what does fair play mean. Vocabulary and spelling work uses words from the day's reading. An art or hands-on project closes the day: designing an imaginary medal, drawing an ancient athlete, building a Lego amphitheater.

The parent role is substantial but manageable. Each day's preparation typically takes 15-30 minutes the evening or morning before — reviewing the day's plan, gathering books from the library, checking internet links. During the school day, the parent is actively teaching — reading aloud, guiding discussion, helping with writing. A Download N Go study fills two to three hours of a typical homeschool morning for five days, leaving room for math and independent reading alongside. A Unit Study Adventure over four weeks can function as the primary humanities work for that period while math and language arts continue in their usual programs.

What they do exceptionally well

Low-cost topical depth. At $7.95 per Download N Go unit, $30 for a four-pack, $114 for a semester subscription of 19 units, and $190 for a full year subscription of 38 units, Amanda Bennett's pricing is genuinely budget-tier for structured topical content. A family who subscribes to the year gets 38 weeks of curriculum content for under $200, plus bonus studies and Bennett's Unit Studies 101 introduction as included material.

Topical relevance for teachable moments. When an Olympic Games is happening, when an election cycle is running, when a historical anniversary matters, families often want to teach into the moment without overhauling their curriculum. Amanda Bennett's catalog has studies for most of these moments, and the five-day Download N Go format lets a family insert a unit without disrupting their primary program for more than a week.

Family-style multi-age teaching in Unit Study Adventures. The dual-level structure in the longer format lets parents teach elementary siblings together in a shared theme with age-appropriate work for each child. This is a feature that boxed single-grade curricula typically do not provide and that multi-child homeschool families genuinely value.

Internet-link curation at a time when most curricula ignore the web. Bennett's integration of online primary-source links, museum collections, documentary clips, and interactive resources matches how families actually use the internet for learning. This is a sensible and underrated feature — many older curricula treat the internet as invisible.

What they do poorly

Not a stand-alone curriculum. Families who mistake Amanda Bennett's catalog for a complete homeschool program will be disappointed. There is no reading program, no math program, no phonics sequence, no writing program, no systematic science or history progression. Bennett's studies are supplements and thematic add-ons; they require a primary curriculum for the core academic subjects. The marketing on some third-party sites can blur this distinction.

Christian content density varies unpredictably across the catalog. Some units have essentially no religious content; some are thoroughly structured around Christian themes. A family previewing one unit may not accurately predict the content of another. Non-Christian families using Amanda Bennett should screen each title for fit rather than assume a consistent worldview density across the catalog.

Internet-link freshness is a persistent issue. Units produced over multiple decades reference internet links that rotate, disappear, or change ownership over time. Bennett has revised and updated many older units, but families using a given study should expect some link work — checking whether the recommended sites are still live, substituting current alternatives where they have changed. This is true of any curriculum that leans on web resources; it is especially true across a long catalog published over many years.

Production values are workmanlike rather than polished. These are PDF download products authored by an independent author, not publisher-polished boxed curricula. Families who want glossy production, consumer-grade graphics, and a branded look will find Amanda Bennett's studies functional but unshiny. Families who value the content and pricing will not care.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies if: you want inexpensive topical supplements to insert into a primary curriculum; you have multiple children in the K-8 range and want shared family-style studies with age-level differentiation; you want to teach into current events (elections, Olympics, historical anniversaries) without overhauling your curriculum; you are a Christian family comfortable with varied religious content density across units; you want a low-friction entry point into unit studies before committing to larger programs.

• Skip Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies if: you need a stand-alone complete curriculum that covers all academic subjects; you want the worldview posture of every unit to be consistent (secular and Christian content blend unpredictably across the catalog); you prefer polished publisher-grade materials over author-produced PDFs; you do not want to handle internet-link freshness checks; you want accredited coursework with graded transcripts (these are teaching materials, not accredited school products).

Cost honest assessment

Per third-party reviews and Amanda Bennett's own shop, Download N Go individual units are $7.95, four-packs are $30 ($7.50 per unit), a semester subscription of 19 units is $114 ($6.00 per unit), and a full-year subscription of 38 units is $190 ($5.00 per unit). Subscribers receive bonus birthday and summer studies, Bennett's Unit Studies 101 introduction, and the Unit Study Journal. Unit Study Adventures pricing varies by title but runs in a similar budget range. Weekly specials and sales bring individual units as low as $5.

Compared to other unit-study publishers: Five in a Row, a well-known unit-study curriculum, prices its teacher manual at roughly $25-$35 per volume, with volumes covering many weeks of plans — comparable value when amortized over the study period. Simply Charlotte Mason's family-study units run $30-$60 per study. Konos Curriculum's volumes run $90-$200+. Amanda Bennett's Download N Go is, by unit-study publisher standards, the budget-tier option.

A realistic all-in family budget for Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies: $50-$200 per year depending on how many units the family uses. A subscriber to the full year at $190 gets 38 units plus bonuses. A family using one unit per month at $7.95 each spends about $95 per year. These numbers include the PDF purchases themselves; book and material costs depend on which books the family sources from the library, bookstore, or home collection.

ESA eligibility notes

Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies are generally eligible on state ESA marketplaces that cover curriculum purchases. Arizona's ESA, Florida's Step Up For Students, Utah's Utah Fits All, West Virginia's Hope Scholarship, Iowa's Student First Scholarship, and Arkansas's LEARNS Act marketplace have historically approved similar downloadable unit-study publishers. Families should verify that Amanda Bennett specifically is an approved vendor on their state's marketplace before purchasing, and should note that some state programs restrict religious content, which applies to the Christian-themed units in the catalog. Because individual units are inexpensive, many ESA families find the purchase worth making out of pocket rather than managing the ESA workflow for each small-dollar transaction, using ESA dollars instead for larger curriculum purchases.

Alternatives

• Five in a Row — a family would choose Five in a Row over Amanda Bennett because Five in a Row's structured unit-study approach built around specific picture books offers a more defined weekly rhythm for younger children, with a well-developed methodology and community.
• Simply Charlotte Mason family studies — a family would choose Simply Charlotte Mason over Amanda Bennett because SCM family studies apply Charlotte Mason pedagogy (living books, narration, short lessons) to topical studies, a different methodological frame.
• BookShark Unit Studies — a family would choose BookShark over Amanda Bennett because BookShark delivers secular literature-based studies with fuller curriculum integration, a different product category for families wanting unit-study feel in a complete program.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies materials at unitstudy.com, including the About Author Amanda Bennett page, the shop catalog structure, the Download N Go listings, and sample unit content. We cross-referenced against Cathy Duffy Reviews' coverage of Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies, third-party review sites covering Download N Go pricing and structure, and broader unit-study market surveys. Pricing and program details verified April 2026.