Give each chapter its own week and plan two or three sessions of about 30 to 45 minutes. Your child picks one question in week 1 and carries it all the way through to a presentation in week 6. I laid out the full version, with objectives and activities for each day, in How to Run a 6-Week Research Unit Using Only a Coloring Book.
Week by week
- The Spark of Curiosity. Color and talk about wondering. Stick "I wonder" notes on a wall or the fridge. By the end of the week your child has one clear question they can answer.
- The Library of Leaves. Find one book or trusted source about the question, and write or draw one fact from it.
- The Great Guess. Write a prediction with "I think ___ because ___." Post it next to the colored pages.
- The Adventure Kit. Make a simple plan with four lines: Question, Materials, Steps (1, 2, 3), and What I Will Measure.
- Counting the Treasure. Run the experiment, keep tally marks or a small table, and make a bar graph or pictograph.
- Telling the Story. Write three or four sentences (my question, my guess, what I found) and present them. The unit ends with the Junior Researcher diploma.
A sample weekly rhythm
- Session 1: read and color the chapter, then talk about one "Talk about it" question from a page.
- Session 2: do the hands-on task for that week.
- Session 3 (optional): finish up, share, and look back through the colored pages to retell the story so far.
Short on time?
For a four-week version, combine weeks 1 and 2 into one week and weeks 5 and 6 into another. Keep the prediction week and the planning week separate, because those two steps need the most unhurried thinking. And if any week needs an extra day, take it. Understanding matters more than finishing on schedule.
Want a record of the unit as you go? See How do I document this for our homeschool portfolio?