It's all about the states

So if you have read my previous Busy as a Beaver post, then you realize I have been working on the geography stuff for the up and coming year.  And I promised to do a geography post...so here it is.

I stumbled across this State Symbols USA site-and boy was I like whooping it up over the wealth of info and such here.  Good place to start.  I used this one to get the seals and other goodies to really make our state study "pop" with neat stuff! I noticed on the side-bar there was this book for Alabama (since we are going in alphabetical order here) and thought-could it be?  Could there be a book for every state? Yeppers!  Now, since I did the study before these were written with my older 3, I was unawares.  So stop giggling if you already knew about em.  The most exciting part-outside of the fact that now I can start each study with a book as the lead in and it fits the Charlotte Mason method, and it is just so beautiful and, and, and...can ya tell I am excited about it?  Best yet-our library has em all-now that is like a one in a thousand chance and I am so geeked!  So-then I searched and saw that they also have this baby available-so I put it on hold (since it was one thing our library didn't own) and got it today-not that I am big on teacher's guides (always seem to not follow em too closely) but figured I could glean some useful ideas to make this a great stroll thru the USA.  Take a look-see here...

Look how nicely each book is illustrated and ties into something major the state is known for!

The series is called Discover America State by State-but when I did the search thru the library-I had to look for each individual state's book-guess our library website is a bit fussy-LOL, so anyhoo-when you go to the State Symbols site-just look on the side-bar for that state and you will have the name.  

I will take some notes and let the rest be (in the guide) but I am always looking for ideas-now to find time to go thru it!

The HIP Pocket Change (US Mint) site has lots too.  I actually downloaded the quarter info-the background about the decisions behind the state's quarter design-look under the extra resources sections for each year...they are about 2 pages long each. I just ran those off.  There is also the full quarters listing in picture form under the 2008 stuff.  If you go thru the earlier years, you won't have em all.  I ran those 2 pages off and then cut out the quarters to add to the info packet for the individual states.  There are also coloring pages that you can run off (good for younger siblings to keep em busy) and lots of other links/activities.  

Found this one, but haven't explored it yet: Teacher Guide to the 50 States

A to Z Teacher Stuff has a recipe for edible state maps (why not enjoy a wee bit of food when doing this heh?)

Maps that Teach  offer up some good online links/activities

This 50 States Book List is going to come in rather handy during our study.  I will just use what I can get thru the library-on top of the cool state books noted above.

The US50 site offers up those stamps I downloaded. I did have to shrink the size of em a bit, and tried to fit as many as possible on the page too.  They have more state info to help you with your studies as well. The license plates are from MS Word-images, I think the only one I couldn't find was SC, so I searched the internet and found one that would work-sized it and added it to the document to print.  

I will also be using a few goodies I was able to review whilst being on the TOS crew:

The Little Man in the Map  This is a delightful way to learn the states and where they are located on the map.

My Review 

HS in the Wood Olde World US Maps  I will be using the states maps and notebook pages, and the brochure document too-I think that one is under the World maps tho.  I will have to double check-but these are sooooo nice and perfect for this study.  I am also the materials for the Geography Center.  But if you are on a super tight budget, you can find most downloads for free from various other sites-they simply won't be as detailed or have all the data, but they certainly can create a lovely notebook for your student.  I suggest Googling or doing Swagbuck searches, which frankly is a great way to get free $ (Swagbucks that is-you can join and earn-I have already earned $20 worth of free Amazon gift cards just by searching!) Click the icon below and it'll get you there.  :o)

 My Review

TOS Travel the World eBook I will pull some elements out of this eBook to help with our studies too.
My Review

I also have a mishmash of atlases, coloring books or map books about the states, and of course-where would I be if I didn't tie in some kinda lapbook to this?  Well-I purchased

Hands of a Child State by State lapbook  and will pull out components as needed. 

10 Days in the USA

This is on my wish list-a nice to have but not totally necessary...

I have found flashcards at the dollar section of Target, a poster listing the state names/capitals at the Dollar Tree and so forth. Been building the collection for some time and now when we get to it-I can draw from all sorts of good products to make this a fab project.  

HTH ya out too.  So that is the big stuff-I am sure I have more, but it gives ya a good idea of what one can use to pull together a study.  I have seen a few other great ideas from my pals via their blogs too-but since I am pretty sure I have enough to make this a detailed enough to remember kinda study-I am using what I have available.  :0)

Boy have I been busy -some school project ideas

So as the new year approaches, I am busting my tail to get some things done to make my life easier and to be sure the year runs much more smoothly than the last few. What that means is that I have been planning, organizing, printing, cutting, laminating, packing into Ziplock bags, and filing. The goal here is to have this stuff ready to go so that all I have to do is pluck out the necessary items and load the workboxes, files or whatever and call it a day. I kept finding that the only thing I seemed to be doing was running from pillar to post trying to find the stuff I needed to pull off a lesson, or frankly-have the stuff so I could teach it-which wasn't happening as much as I would have liked over the last couple years. Instead, I was not getting as much done simply because the prework was not done.

SOOO-my totally MOM MAKEOVER for the year is to be as organized and prepared as possible. I am currently working mostly on the boy. He has so much more prework for his curricula. Lapbooks, notebooking pages, materials to put into them, or on them-and so forth. Plus, getting the centers updated and re-done to go with our current studies. Which has taken a lot of time. But I try to do a little here and there and not do a major hyper-burnout frenzy to get it all done. My hands and elbows couldn't take it anyhoo, with my carpel flaring up. So-this is what I have been doing lately-

Working on getting the Lapbook components for July-Nov done. That is finding the mini-books and other goodies, printing them and then cutting em out. After I am done-I put it all into a baggie to hold it. I still have to get the Raft figured out-I may just do notebooking or may throw some lapbook stuff into it-not quite sure yet.

So each book has all the necessary goodies in one place-I printed off the cover of the books to use in our lapbook book

The forms for the FIAR books and my form of what I want to cover

Since I am focusing on BK 4 of the FIAR series for the boy this year-I wanted to have a print out of which country/area the story is centered around-so that I can tie it into our geography studies this year too. So I typed up a chart I laminated to use (actually for all 4 of the books). I have that up on my scribd pages, if you are interested. Then I made a paper noting the books I want to do and which months-where to get the resources and if it is completed. I am finding I really like this form. I just keep adding my info and will use it to get those projects completed B4 the time comes to present them.

I have had these tiny envelopes in my stash-so I used it to keep the mini-components together in one spot. The flag is from the US Maps from Homeschool in the Woods, the stamp and seal are from State Symbols USA {awesome place to get a lot of info and these goodies}, and the Quarter is from the US quarters section on the US Mint section for educators site. I will do a Geography post with all the details soon.

For Geography-we are doing the US States. So what I am thinking is that we will hit about one state per week or so. Figure if we hit 25 this coming session (Aug-May) I will be happy. My son is only going into mainly 3rd grade materials-so we can lean this out and take our time. I am also having my teen do the notebooking pages and map work for each state. It has been quite some time since she did the state study and it wasn't near as cool as this one I am planning-so she gets a refresher course to go along with the boy's.

I have found tons of state links to get some really neat things to include in our States Notebook. I have found a way to have them ready to go too-but again-included a lot of printing, cutting and organizing. I chose to do color printing for this, and normally I wouldn't-but because it is detailed and BLK/WHT would lose a lot of the appeal-I splurged. I will share those links on another a post.

Put together 2 folders (one for each student) with the first 6 states and their info in them-all they do is pull the current state of study and go to town on their assignments. Not a new process by any means-but something I have failed to do in the past-so now, we're ready. I will continue to copy the materials in batches of 6-10 to not over drain the ink in the printer. That will be easy to stay up on. Maps from HS in the Woods site noted above.  LOVE these sets-not only are the maps awesome, she includes the NTBK pages that go with em, and the maps-plus a ton of other map related things.

Organized the postcards I have been collecting for some time-by states-so that I can put those into the mailbox I created for the Geo Center-still searching for a few MIA postcards I need to finish the States of the Union book we're making. But I did jot those down and have begun my search for em again, so we're getting somewhere.

I built the postbox like the one that is in the NT Lapbook of Amy Pak's.  Loved it-and so why not reproduce it to fit the postcards?  Yes, lots and lots of work-oi.  I still need to get the title typed up and laminated for this section.  Now, if you looked at the post about my World Geography center-well I just removed the World globe and  sign to the US ones.  Then changed out the maps and other things to what is now US related materials.

Put together new components for the Geo Center, which I had to either create, copy, laminate, figure out the areas I want on it and so forth. But it is really coming together. All I need to do is type a couple titles and figure out what I want the kids to do to the main USA map-thinking of just having the boy put star stickers on the states as we learn em. I will get to it when my brain is refreshed.

Each state will get a moment in the spotlight in this section-I printed and then just colored the water and rivers on these maps.  Laminated 2 per sheet.  When done, we'll have a nice map book to use.  My teen needs these to fill out her blank sets, and I am having them work together to find the other top 5 cities and mark em with a marker on these maps.  The boy struggles with a lot of writing-so he has the maps that are already printed.  He will just color and add a couple cities to his.  The coloring book is from the dollar store.  It has the info they need to fill out the other notebook page with the state stats.  It also has some mazes, word searches and such for the boy to do.

Did ya see the State Facts Wheel?  I posted about that in a post on my WKBX blog.  Found at the Dollar Tree.  Just swirl the arrow to the state of interest and look across the way at the answers. Neat.  I added the State Songs CD here-and that is about it for this side.

Printed off 2 more planet and the lapbook parts for the Meteor and Asteroid chapters in the boy's Apologia Astronomy book. Again-since he is young enough, we are moving slower through this series. I figure we'll be done by Jan. and can start the Flying Creatures then. These go into our Lapinder  and this update on the Lapinder shows how it is moving along. I still have the moon, and Mars to glue into it-kinda behind in that, so I guess finishing those go on my list of to dos.

I worked out my goals and materials but still need to type that up-

Working on my To Get list still, keep finding little things I don't have that will help with our focus studies this year...and starting to do my school supply shopping as I see good deals. Love doing that-love it!

Still need to fine tune the classroom-but since I am in the midst of creating stuff-it can wait. It will take a couple days-but once done, it will be nice. It will remain like a disaster site until I am done doing what I need to....

and that is sorta it-
also been working on TOS reviews/projects, trying to enjoy some summer stuff, and so forth.

WHEW! And I have not even touched the teen's stuff (outside of the Geo materials) and still need to wrap up the boy's things.  But slow and steady, surely I will get at least the first couple months done.

Lots of neat form downloads for organizing your school

Found this link via the The Homeschool Mom Site (sign up for her free eNewsletter)-

It is a great place to download some most needful forms to help you organize your year:

Highland Heritage Forms

Enjoy!

For those who are FIAR rowers-esp. for bk 4, need help

I am compiling a listing of the locations of where these stories take place (well as close as we can get for some) and b/cuz I don't own them, and I haven't received them yet from the library inter-loan...was wondering if you all could help....

I need to know the specific/general location for these (BK 4)

Arabella (I know it is an island-does it pinpoint any specific region of the world?)
Roxaboxen (any place?)
Higgins Bend (?)
Hanna's Cold Winter (?)
Mailing May (I remember it being out west, OR or WA?)
Hickory Chair (southern USA?)
Albert (would NY be a good guess?)

Just leave a comment with the answer if you know it.  Thanks.  I will Scribd these for ya all later-I was trying to get a fix on where these books take place so I can pick ones that match our continent studies/state studies, etc. and will also need it for the new co-op, so I figured I would compile it and hey, why not share it too-just in case someone out there wants a quick rundown of where these take place...:0)

**Elinette at His Wonderful Works directed me to this lovely resource on Homeschool Share-not sure why I never thought to click that master link-thanks!  Because I need boxes and not so linear layouts for my info-I am going to still publish what I created, since I see theirs is hard for me to follow-but there are plenty of good links there at HSS's FIAR section, so do head there if you need more FIAR helps.

For those of you who have or will soon have high school aged students

I have now posted the lecture notes from my HOPE Ministries session.  There are 3 different documents...one with additional notes, the lecture notes themselves and then the resources listings.  Also, Leah has her notes there too. They fit so wonderfully with what I spoke on.  Her notes are pretty self-explanatory...just fill in the areas as you feel best answer the questions asked of you-it can be a great baseline for your homeschool career.  All of them can be found on our site.  I hope that this blesses you, helps to ease the fear of teaching high school, and offers you enough sources to get you started in your research.

HOPE June Lecture Notes

Oh, and I found a fellow TOS Mate has some good links to her article and more on high school too-take a look!  

All American Family