Although we primarily focused on building character and a strong foundation in the three R's this past year (second grade), we did do some short unit studies, including the human body, the 12 days of Christmas and the Iditarod. But there was one unit study we kept going all year - our state study. Each week, we put a new map on the refrigerator and read all the interesting facts.
A friend and I are sharing this set of Highlights' "Which Way USA?" maps that we found at a used curriculum sale last year.
We turned it into a year-long bird and flower study by printing out state bird and state flower coloring pages. Whenever possible, we looked up the bird or flower in one of our guides. We also printed an outline map of each state with the capitol. These coloring pages went into Z-Man's workboxes each week, along with the bird book or flower book. We then put everything for each state into his notebook.
We practiced our United States geography with this FUN book and game:
Now that summer is here and lots of people are traveling, we keep some colored pencils and an outline map of the U.S. on a clipboard in the van. When we see an out-of-state license plate, we color it in! We're in NY - we were SO excited when we saw Alaska! We're a little geeky like that.
I suspect that there will be a new thesaurus entry soon: under the word geek, HOME SCHOOLER will be an acceptable substitution. And I am PROUD to say so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go geeks! At least we won't get lost! (Unless driving to Oswego following Mandy... but that is another story...)
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