Something the kids and I have really been having a fun time with in our homeschool lately is “Fifty State Fridays.” I decided, over Christmas break, that I’d like us to learn more about our fifty states. I’d tried this a time or two and abandoned it, so I decided that I wanted this go around to be fun, simple and low-key.
So, on Friday afternoons we take off from our history and science studies and learn about a state — one a week, in alphabetical order. Yeah, I know that only doing one state a week will take nearly a year — actually longer when you figure in breaks — but I decided that I’m okay with that. After all, we homeschool. We’ve got all the time we need.
We kicked the study off by making an edible map of the United States. Jimmie, from One Child Policy Homeschool, has these fantastic forms that she shares on her Squidoo page. Younger kids can use these forms from Crayola. We fill out the forms with all the listed facts, such as state capital, statehood date and rank, population and so on.
I don’t have a certain site for most of the information; I usually just Google “[state name] + facts.” This weekend, though, I did unearth a book that should provide most of the basic facts, First Facts About the States by Stienecker. However, just about any basic book about the states should have most of the information.
We also read a book related to something about the state. For example, we read A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David Addler when we studied Alabama. Helen Keller was born in Alabama and is on the state quarter. For Alaska, we read The Gift of the Inuksuk by Mike Ulmer.
We make a rubbing of the back of each state’s quarter on our state forms, as well — at least, the states for which we have quarters. We have stickers for each state flag and I let the kids draw the state bird, which has been a lot of fun. While we do all this, we like to listen to a CD of state facts and capitals and play games such as Fifty State Rummy or The Scrambled States of America game.
We also like to do some activity related to the state, whether it’s making a recipe (a cheese ball rolled in pecans for Alabama whose state nut is the pecan) or a craft. The more obscure the fact, the better. For example, I found that Alma, Arkansas considers itself to be the “Spinach Capital of the World,” so we’ll be making spinach dip that week. I have found 50states.com to be an excellent source for obscure facts.
So far, the slow and steady, low-key approach has been great. We’ve been having a great time!
Kris is the sweet tea drinking, classically eclectic, slightly Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom to her three Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
Photo by archibaldjude
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Great article! We’re studying the 50 states next year (we may start over the summer….) and this gave me some fun ideas!
We’re using the Star Spangled States Book and companion Workbook as our basic unit and will pick a state each month to go more in-depth on. You can check out samples from both the book and workbook(mine came with printable CD for making pages for my other kids) at http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com . I’ve also seen a great Squidoo lens on this here:
http://www.squidoo.com/50statesnotebook
I’m taking notes from your ideas! When we start this we’ll have a 3rd grader, K, prek, toddler, and baby! I need ideas for all of them to be involved in some way!
Yes, that Squidoo page is Jimmie’s page that I linked to. I agree — it’s fabulous! She always has wonderful ideas.
That’s a good idea about choosing one state a month to study more in-depth.
What a fabulous set of resources you have set out for us! I emailed this article to myself to keep checking out later!
This sounds like a great way to work across the country!
Naturally, I have some more games to recommend! Check out Sequence States & Capitals and 10 Days in the USA. If you want a little more advanced game, TransAmerica and Ticket to Ride are both train games based on a map of the states.
There was a great older card game that played like Crazy 8's called Borderline where you had to match up states that shared a border. You can also look for Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego or the Brain Quest Know the States Game at thrift stores!
Thank you for the great information! We are definitely going to have to make the map cake. My little one loves to bake and decorate, so he will love learning while doing so! Thank you!
The States for is wonderful! A great way to document some of the information that we will learn. Thanks!