jillian Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 what curriculum/method do you use to teach state history and/or when do you teach it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 When I was in PS we had it in 4th grade for the whole year, and honestly I didn't get a lot out of it. As for teaching my own, I don't plan to teach it unless we are moved to a state that has it as a requirement. We move too much to worry about it. Instead we'll do a more in depth geography of the US next year instead of history and we'll cover a few highlights from each states history instead. Being a military family I am really at a loss as to which state I would have picked , to teach. My options would have been 1. The state each child was born in (each was born in a different state) 2. The state we are currently stationed in (which could pose a problem if we moved mid year) 3. The state we call our home of record (which is not where we live or where we plan to retire) 4. The state Dh and I were born or grew up in (which again is 2 different states) That's why I decided to go with what I have planned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 When I was in PS we had it in 4th grade for the whole year, and honestly I didn't get a lot out of it. As for teaching my own, I don't plan to teach it unless we are moved to a state that has it as a requirement. We move too much to worry about it. Instead we'll do a more in depth geography of the US next year instead of history and we'll cover a few highlights from each states history instead. Being a military family I am really at a loss as to which state I would have picked , to teach. My options would have been 1. The state each child was born in (each was born in a different state) 2. The state we are currently stationed in (which could pose a problem if we moved mid year) 3. The state we call our home of record (which is not where we live or where we plan to retire) 4. The state Dh and I were born or grew up in (which again is 2 different states) That's why I decided to go with what I have planned. those are all super good points and some of our concerns as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Being a military family I am really at a loss as to which state I would have picked , to teach. My options would have been1. The state each child was born in (each was born in a different state) 2. The state we are currently stationed in (which could pose a problem if we moved mid year) 3. The state we call our home of record (which is not where we live or where we plan to retire) 4. The state Dh and I were born or grew up in (which again is 2 different states). See, and I think it would be so much fun to learn a little about *all* of those, so I don't think of it as a problem, at all.:D On a more practical note, if your dc had been in school, they'd have studied the state history of whichever state they were living in when that school did state history. It's how I got to do Virginia history in the fourth grade and Texas in the seventh. And I'm glad I did both. When my dc were young, we did California history on an on-going basis, rather than one dedicated year, with field trips, mostly. We went to all 21 California missions, the state capital, and lots of other places hither and yonder. I think good citizens should be familiar with wherever it is they live, even if they just live there for a short time. And what fun to be familiar with more than one state.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 DH and I grew up in the same state and went to the same school - and we both remember nothing of our state history! In fact, it wasn't until last year, when we were driving through our home state that we realized Lewis and Clark went right through the area. :tongue_smilie: We are now in Texas, which has an exciting state history. I am not planning on doing anything "formal" for history. This year we visited The Alamo and read a few books on it, plus visited the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin. I think DS will learn - and remember - more state history by visiting different areas of the state and visiting museums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I believe that WTM suggests that you take several weeks to do your state's history in fourth grade. I could be wrong as I'm going from memory and I'm pregnant, so my memory is not at it's best ;). For us, we move around so much and now we live overseas that I wouldn't know which state to study in depth. So we are going to make a state notebook over the next two years. We'll use National Geographic's Our Fifty States as our spine. Once a week we'll read about a state, then fill in a notebook page I made that includes that state flag, seal, tree, bird and motto. We'll go through the state's in geographic order. I'm hoping that this will help dd to learn more about the US! Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 I believe that WTM suggests that you take several weeks to do your state's history in fourth grade. I could be wrong as I'm going from memory and I'm pregnant, so my memory is not at it's best ;). For us, we move around so much and now we live overseas that I wouldn't know which state to study in depth. So we are going to make a state notebook over the next two years. We'll use National Geographic's Our Fifty States as our spine. Once a week we'll read about a state, then fill in a notebook page I made that includes that state flag, seal, tree, bird and motto. We'll go through the state's in geographic order. I'm hoping that this will help dd to learn more about the US! Hope that helps! that's an awesome idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Easy classical has a state history. You use their schedule for any state. They have it for 1st grade, but I think it could be used for older. I have it for sale on the swap board:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 that's an awesome idea! Thanks, I hope it'll be fun! I just put together all the ideas on the net that I liked and added our own personal touches. I did post my plans and notebook pages at my blog here if you want to take a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 (edited) See, and I think it would be so much fun to learn a little about *all* of those, so I don't think of it as a problem, at all.:D On a more practical note, if your dc had been in school, they'd have studied the state history of whichever state they were living in when that school did state history. It's how I got to do Virginia history in the fourth grade and Texas in the seventh. And I'm glad I did both. When my dc were young, we did California history on an on-going basis, rather than one dedicated year, with field trips, mostly. We went to all 21 California missions, the state capital, and lots of other places hither and yonder. I think good citizens should be familiar with wherever it is they live, even if they just live there for a short time. And what fun to be familiar with more than one state.:D Which is why I'm planning on doing what I am. I will do a little bit of highlights in history of each state as we do a Year long Geography study. I don't think a solid year of nothing but WI history did anything for me it would have been more fun to do a little about each state instead. I plan on using the sheets from these, they have some great fact sheets along with the maps and include many of the things mentioned on the other sheet above. I'll have to check out that National Geographic book. I also have The History Channels DVD series "The State" that we'll watch. Edited December 23, 2009 by nukeswife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 We are doing US Geography along with a study of Native Americans. These are the Northeast states, these tribes lived there and this is how they lived... then we do each state. I plan to make our own state flashcards using this website. We also have 10 days in the United States, and I plan to add in the Across America reader from Hewitt Homeschooling. Oh... and I don't recall doing state history when I was in school. ::shrug:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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