This year I've been struggling with what to do with History/Geography as I have made gradual changes to our curriculum to better suit my children.  Finally, after wandering through the ages of time for a while, I settled on a study of American history/geography.

It actually began last year when we were planning our visit to the USA.  I decided it would be a good idea for the kids to learn a little bit about the states we would be visiting (Kentucky, where their Grandma and Grandpa live, Ohio where G.G., our affectionate nickname for their Great-Grandma, lives, and Tennessee, where we love to spend time in the Smoky Mountains.)  So I printed out some state coloring pages I found at Crayola.com.

I decided it would be a good time for my children to get familiar with American geography, so we've continued with these coloring pages since the beginning of the school year.

We've also been playing with an American States puzzle to try to remember where the states are located and how they're shaped.  I mounted a blank blackline map of the USA to the wall in our schoolroom, and we've been working at trying to be able to fill in all the names of the states.  We've also been working with state capital flashcards to try to learn the name of each state's capital city.

I just made these out of index cards (50 cards with the state names and their 2-letter abbreviations on them, and another 50 cards with the state capital city names on them).  We're focusing on just 10 states at a time.  Right now we're trying to learn the West Coast states.  Today we played concentration with just the 10 states and their capitals that we are focusing on.

I've tried to keep this geography aspect very hands-on for my kinesthetic learner, and so far, he, and his sister, seem to be enjoying it.  He was so proud that he went from being able to label only 4 states on the map yesterday to being able to label 17 today!  Quite an accomplishment for this guy who, though American, lives halfway around the world from this country.

For history, we've just begun reading aloud through the Little House book series.  I got the idea when I saw Dancing Queen pull them out and begin reading them again.  Roboboy has never read them, but I was given a boxed DVD set of the first season of the Little House on the Prairie TV show as a gift while we were in the USA, and he has loved it, so I thought I'd try him on the books again.  (The last time, he was not ready for it.) 

So we're enjoying both reading the books, as well as watching some episodes.  We're mapping out the travels of the Ingalls family on a map, and using some study guides courtesy of the Notebooking Corner.  (Thanks, Lisa!) 

The children are working now on a chart of the various chores and tasks that had to be done in each of the four seasons.  As I read aloud to them, they take note of any new chores that need to be added to their charts.  We're learning to sing some of the folk songs mentioned in the books, and will be doing some journaling, as well as trying  out some of the recipes and other activities provided in the study guides.  Fun stuff!

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Posted by eclecticeducation

Singapore? Wow! That is one of the things I love about blogging is meeting so many people from all over the place. What part of Ohio did you visit? I live near Dayton, Ohio. I also wanted to mention to you that Notebooking Nook has some pioneer notebooking pages. They are, I think, $6.00 US dollars and they look really neat. Just thought I would mention it. I think the URL is www.notebookingnook.com but if that doesn't work you can get there from my blog, I have the link listed.

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Posted by happimom

Hello there,

I am truly impressed! Homeschooling sounds so challenging and I'm sure it requires a lot of discipline from both mom and child.

I am in Singapore too and am wondering if you have a support network of 'homeschooling' moms.

Regards,
-happimom @ www.parentingchildren.wordpress.com

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