Each of these unit studies consists of three downloads. Part 1 introduces the study and provides a lesson plan schedule. The lesson plans call for 33 days of study on the cats and 40 days on the dogs. These can be adjusted as you take into consideration the age of the child(ren), the time you have available, the extent of the children's' interest, etc. For instance, if your child is a great fan of dogs, you may want to take longer with the dog study and let him or her really dig deep.

Part 2 is the lessons. Domestic and wild varieties are covered in both studies. This section has beautiful illustrations and clickable links to more information and some fun things available on the Web. Lesson topics include the anatomy of the animal, the care of the animal, the animal in history, etc. There are clickable sound bites of a cat purring and also a lion roaring in the cat study. The dog section has little-known facts in the margins. This was new information for me: "Every known dog except the chow has a pink tongue - the chow's tongue is jet black." There is a section on working dogs (guard dogs, herding dogs, police dogs, guide dogs, etc.). There is also a section on performing dogs. There are two dog quiz links in Part 2 of the dog study.

Part 3 contains project information, handouts, printable coloring pages, recommended books and videos, and essay writing instruction. There is a lot of information here, and it is all presented in a well-thought-out way. There are bulletin board ideas as well as a notebook project for each study. For both the cat and dog notebook projects, you will need a 3-ring binder (1/2 to 1" thick), 15 tabbed dividers with labels, Internet access, a printer (color preferable), a glue stick and a fine-tip black marker. There are links to more quizzes and worksheets in Part 3 of the dog study.

These studies are for elementary-aged children and are fun and easy to use. One very nice feature of these studies is that the purchaser has access (through a provided password) to any updates that become available on the website. I am very pleased with this and the other Brandenburg unit studies I have seen, and I recommend them to any and all homeschoolers. I intend to use four of these studies during this school year.

Product review by Christine Hindle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November 2009