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U.S. Geography
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Alright ladies, we are going to do Early Modern next year for year 1 and for geography I’ve decided to add in the US by region.
I don’t really want to just go state to state, heres the flower, flag, stats and done. I figured I would go more by region. Learn to map it, read books about it, you know like Charlotte would
The Barefoot Ragamuffin curriculum (50 States and Where They Are) might be something you’d like. I’m wishing I’d have gone with that instead of pulling my own together. (cutting and pasting from the web every week gets old x 50 states!)
I have the Barefoot Ragamuffin Fifty States course and like it. I can print out as much as I choose. There is a page for each region labeled and unlabeled. There is a blank map of each state individually for that region . There is a page for each state in that region with a place to write interesting facts, color the state bird and flower and flag. (I’m a little uncertain at the moment about the flag part as I don’t use that portion.). At the end of each region is a little follow up activity. I have not utilized this. Also, a crossword puzzle that reviews some of the interesting things learned about the states. My 9 year old enjoys the crossword puzzles. My 7 year old just labels the states.
I cannot remember if the Study and the Workbook pages were separate purchases or not, but I don’t think I paid more than $10 for the download. The study guide is nice because it includes color, suggested reading to loosely correlate with the region, suggested mapping ideas, and brief histories/ interesting facts for each state. There is a full color glossary of geographical terms at the end.
I did add states and capitals flashcards for my oldest who used this resource in third grade. This year, I am using the blank region pages as review for my fourth grader and as an introduction to US states for my second grader.
If you have any other questions about this resource, please ask.
I have the Barefoot Meandering 50 States, but have not used it yet.
I want to do US this coming year but was looking at the beautiful feet program http://bfbooks.com/Literature-Packs/Geography-Through-Literature-Packs Ihave thebooks, I would just need guide and maps.
My biggest draw back to Barefoot Meandering 50 States, is the printing. I know I do not want all the pages, but deciding what to print, and getting it printed on time (silly I know, but I tend to forget to print things, so prefer to have everything already printed for theyear) We also do not have color printer, and I do not want to pay for specific pages in color. It looks like a solid program, so I might use it. I am going back and forth right now.
I did see that you can order hard-copies of the Barefoot Meandering curricula (geography and others) on Amazon — for around $35. Pricey. worth it??? I don’t know. But I totally understand about the printing out of stuff. If I print it out early, I lose it (or a daughter finds it and I’m not ready for her to have it yet). If I don’t print until I need it, then we’re rushed and by the time I get it printed, the natives have become restless and run away….and then I need to gather them back. (Or I get distracted at the computer!)
We used the Beautiful Feet Geography this year and last year. I basically did the maps for my children (this year, ages 10, 8, 7, and 5). The maps are beautiful. But I found that they weren’t detailed enough for all the drawing/mapping of Paddle-to-the-Sea’s route and Minn of the Mississippi’s route. I had a HARD time finding the beginning of Minn’s route. I was so disappointed in that particular map that I did put a review on the BF website.
We have the BF guide – but I didn’t really use it. I basically used it to color in the states in a certain order (the guide’s order). Last year, I did make a vocabulary sheet for my oldest daughter and used the guide to get the vocab words. My oldest still does not like to follow written directions and work on her own, so I’m not sure if we’ll ever use the guide quite that way. I’d love to, sometime…..maybe with another daughter, maybe when my oldest is older.
Sarah, I’m also considering BF’s geography study next year. I’m aiming to do as much as possible all together. One thing that appeals to me about BF’s guide is how it digs a little deeper in the Holling books than I would by just asking for narrations. Plus, I like the guided directions for the maps.
I did not print out colored pages, but used my iPad for the Fifty States guide. If you decide ahead of time which pages you would want to print for the children, you could print them and keep them in a folder labeled Fifty States so they are ready when you need them. Just helping you think through the organizational part of teaching. 😉
I had wondered about the Beautiful Feet maps, I remember a while ago someone having the same comment. I remember a few months ago someone posted a link on the forum to better maps that go along with the Holling C Holling books. I had to reload my computer last month 🙁 so lost all my bookmarks. I will try to search for it later.
It looked like a great link with printable maps.
I have both the Barefoot and Beautiful Feet guides. The Barefoot guide recommends and schedules the Holling books right in there. She has you map them out as well. I think that if you wanted to make a more in depth study, you could combine some of the activities in both together and have something pretty cool since the BF books have further research ideas of areas (I’m thinking the coal/iron industries, etc.), while the Barefoot is more about the individual states.
I don’t know if this would work for the Barefoot mapping ideas, but I decided that I couldn’t afford 4 or 5 sets of maps, even with their discount, so I took the BF guide to a self-help copy center and blew up the maps at the front of each book section in the guide. They are working just fine, although we drew in a couple of states for Paddle-to-the Sea. 😉
Here is a link to a Minn of the Mississippi map that another homeschooling mom made. I’m not sure if this is the link that Sarah is referring to.
http://littleschoolhouseinthesuburbs.com/2012/04/minn-of-the-mississippi-images.html/
Here is a video I found of Paddle to the Sea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IbCPJkLn0k
You can purchase the 50 states guide and workbook as ebooks from the Barefoot Lulu site here:
We are going to use the Visits to North America, I think. I have all the books for it, plus the HCH books. I do good with some guides and not with others, not sure why. I may not print it out at one shot but maybe a page at a time that we choose to use, not quite sure about that. I may have my oldest do this by himself and my younger two use the Holling books but not with the maps from BF (which I’ve had and have the guide)…those did not work for me. Same issue, couldn’t find that starting point.
I had purchased a curriculum several years ago called Road Trip USA and that was ok. It did have books to read and activities, but again, it just didn’t work and I pre-printed a boatload of pages 🙁
Thanks Ladies. I’ll check those out. Since it’s for year 1 I’m really leaning toward maybe just doing the Holli g books and maps and adding in some others. I found a list of living geography books by state on Pinterest that I’m going to look into a little more.
That’s perfect for Y1. The Visits to… has some great choices of picture books. I think I ordered all of them and can’t wait to use them!
We love the Holling C. Holling books and I think they’re a spectacular way to teach geography by region. I’m not familiar with Barefoot Ragamuffin, but I can recommend Beautiful Feet Geography as we’re half way through it.
I just did a post earlier this week on geography resources we’ve used so far…
http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-study-of-geography.html
Blessings,
Melissa
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