momto2Cs Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 (edited) MORE INFO ADDED - PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY! Hey, is there a way to get this post stickied? I was reading The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas last night (great book btw), and came across a story of a girl doing Flat Stanley exhanges to learn US geography. So, I brainstormed and came up with this... 1. Interested people could pm me with address info, I can create a spreadsheet, and email it to those playing along. PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AS WELL. 2. Kids make their own flat selves. Make them the right size to fit in a standard manilla envelope (8x11 I think), and I would suggest making them from something like cardstock. For families with more than one child, you could handle it two ways: one, have each of them do a seperate envelope, or two, send it out as a family envelope. PLEASE WRITE CHILD'S FIRST NAME AND ADDRESS ON THE BACK OF EACH FLAT CHILD - that might make them easier to mail back at the end! 3. Please enclose an introductory letter with a little about where you live, etc.! Also, each envelope will need to include a mailing list. Please cross yours off before sending the Flat Child on to the next on the list. 4. When you receive someone's Flat Child, you take it with you when you go somewhere interesting, snap of photo of the Flat person there, and send the photo (and maybe a brief letter) BY EMAIL, then send the Flat Child along to someone else on the list - PLEASE enclose a list with each Flat Child you send out so that addresses can be crossed off, and the Flat Child won't get resent to any family. If you like, your child(ren) can write something about where they live as well (in the email). By emailing the pictures and information, we cut down on the time it will take to get the Flat Child(ren) moving around the country since they won't have to be mailed back and forth. We also cut down on postage, since you won't be adding to envelope weight. 5. This is technically open to kids of all ages, though I think those in 6th grade and lower would have the most fun with it. I'll hold the registration open through the end of June, then we can start in July. That gives people plenty of time to sign up, read the book, make themselves, etc. My plan, when we get photoes/information is to make a binder with 50 pages, one for each state. Then we can glue on pictures, write down information, look up the state's flag, bird, tree, etc. Anyone interested? Edited June 7, 2010 by momto2Cs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrightmom Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I am definitely interested. We have had a blast taking pictures of ourselves with Flat Nephews/Cousins (doing all sorts of weird and interesting things :D) and mailing them back!!! What is the ideal age/grade for this? My oldest is a rising 2nd grader and will be 8 in October. If we fit the age/grade criteria (and we'd need the book I presume) then I'll PM you with our info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I'm in! We have the book checked out of the library right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabrinainPA Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Now you got me out of my lurking mode - we took Flat Stanley on a field trip last year. He was a project for my sister's nephew who is in public school. She made our adventure into a video - "Flat Stanley Spends the Day with Homeschoolers". It was so much fun taking pictures of everything we did with Flat Stanley in the frame. We buckled him into the car, gave him beverages, showed him hanging over the rail at Bushkill Falls ... My kids loved it, and the class voted the video the best Flat Stanley Adventure of all. We will play along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I'd be interested- my son has been reading all the books and would love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 Yaaay! OPEN TO KIDS OF ALL AGES. Mine are 9 and 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsha Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 We'd be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I might be interested. I would have to talk to dh about it. But please keep me in for now, so I can get all of the info as you progress with the idea. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtolgd Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I might be interested as well. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I'll do it. pm'ing you now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 We would love to do it! This will be our first year to homeschool, so activities like this are going to be really important to help replace some of the "friend time/fun time" my kids experienced in Public school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Now you've got me thinking what a great time this would be to start up Trail Guide to U.S. Geography...:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 We'd love to do it too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I think my 8 yo would love this. He was tiny when we did it last time. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2p&j Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 We are very much in!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 Bump! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misidawnrn Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 count us in. We haven't read any flat Stanley books but will get some next time we are at the library. PMing you my info now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 MORE INFO ADDED - PLEASE READ EDITS! Hey, is there a way to get this post stickied? I was reading The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas last night (great book btw), and came across a story of a girl doing Flat Stanley exhanges to learn US geography. So, I brainstormed and came up with this... 1. Interested people could pm me with address info, I can create a spreadsheet, and email it to those playing along. PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AS WELL. 2. EDITED: Kids could make 4 versions of their own flat selves. I say 4 because that way you could send them off in 4 different directions at once, and get more feedback more often. Make them the right size to fit in a standard manilla envelope (8x11 I think). Please enclose an introductory letter with a little about where you live, etc.! For families with more than one child, you could handle it two ways: one, have each of them do a seperate envelope, or two, send it out as a family envelope. 3. EDITED: When you receive someone's Flat Child, you take it with you when you go somewhere interesting, snap of photo of the Flat person there, and send the photo (and maybe a brief letter) BY EMAIL, then send the Flat Child along to someone else on the list - PLEASE enclose a list with each Flat Child you send out so that addresses can be crossed off, and the Flat Child won't get resent to any family. If you like, your child(ren) can write something about where they live as well. 4. This is technically open to kids of all ages, though I think those in 6th grade and lower would have the most fun with it. I'll hold the registration open through the end of June, then we can start in July. That gives people plenty of time to sign up, read the book, make themselves, etc. My plan, when we get photoes/information is to make a binder with 50 pages, one for each state. Then we can glue on pictures, write down information, look up the state's flag, bird, tree, etc. Anyone interested? I am definitely interested!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Both my kids would love this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Can you post what states we have periodically, to motivate the board to sign up? Many people don't list their location in their profiles, but you'd be able to put up an anonymous list. So far I see: NY GA MI CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily of the Valley Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 This drew me out of lurking mode! My 9 year old daughter would love this. We are in Iowa, and would like to participate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2p&j Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Can you post what states we have periodically, to motivate the board to sign up? Many people don't list their location in their profiles, but you'd be able to put up an anonymous list. So far I see: NY GA MI CA We are in NC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
materursa Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Just an fyi, Flat Stanley is one of the books you can get for free with Borders Summer Reading promotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof1plustwins Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 We'd love to participate! We're in WV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blessed3x Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 We would love to participate! PMing you with our info. We are currently in VA, but may be moving in a couple of months. : -) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristineC Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 PMing you now. We live in Ohio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirch Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Definitely interested--this is perfect timing for us! :001_smile: Sending you a pm . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I did a Flat Stanley project with my daughter, then 8, last year. It was really neat. We sent Stanleys to all different people we knew through message boards, friends of friends, etc. They went to a bunch of states and a few other countries as well. We asked people to "dress" Flat Stanley in something that would depict something Stanley "did" while he was with his host family, or something that represented the area where he was visiting. We said they could be as creative as they wanted with that- they could use crayons, markers, fabric, etc. It was really fun when we got all the different Stanleys back and saw how people "dressed" him. We also sent a questionnaire along with him asking a few basic questions about where he was visiting and the types of things he saw and did while he was there. I maintained a blog/journal site tracking his adventures whenever people sent me updates either via email or in the mail or sent postcards or whatever, so that everyone who had one of our Stanleys could see what other people were doing with him. It really ended up being a fun project. People sent me some really cool pictures of them doing things with Stanley, which I'd put on the website. Some people sent souvenirs back when they returned him. A lot of people never did return him at all lol- but we got a decent amount of the Stanleys back. If you are interested in checking out the site, here is the very first entry: http://travelingwithflatstanley.blogspot.com/2009/06/flat-stanley-joins-family.html You can use the links at the left to proceed through the posts and when you get to the last numbered one, you can click "newer" at the bottom of the page- Of course the site was abandoned nearly a year ago when summer ended and I got busy with the school year but you might find some fun ideas on there if you're interested :) P.S. As you might see if you take a peek, we ended up making a "hometown Flat Stanley" for us to keep and take around our local area, too, and we put his/our adventures up on the site at the time, too, in addition to the ones that were traveling, so the people we were 'meeting' in other locations could also see what it was like where we lived, if they wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I'm interested. We are in Florida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicalTwins Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 We would like to too. We are in KY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeneralMom Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Sounds like fun - we are in TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 We've got 17 families so far, in 14 states, and we have someone in Canada who would like to play along! OR TX OH NY CA AL WI NC KY AR VA WV IA MT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 We've got 17 families so far, in 14 states, and we have someone in Canada who would like to play along! OR TX OH NY CA AL WI NC KY AR VA WV IA MT Count us in! We're in NM :D! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammaruss Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 We would love to participate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I found a printable body template here. We're going to make ours this week so we're ready when the list comes out. If anyone finds a better one, let me know! Blessings! Dorinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm379 Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Can we play? We live in Korea but have a U.S. postal address so no international postage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemy5 Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We're new to this forum and would love to join in! I have a friend who did this and she had her kids lie down and she traced the outline of their bodies on long white paper and then let them draw on them. Her pictures were really great of their "bodies" in the different locations, with different people holding them up. She had to fold them several times to fit them in the large envelope but it was a neat thought........... Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 Count me in! I ran it by my kids to see if they'd be interested & they're all excited. We're in North Pole, AK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We'd definitely love to join! We live in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, with gorgeous snow-capped mountain views. Plus I love to use my camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We're in as well. NH here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHouse Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We'd love to play, too. We're in northern NY.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzziesnowflake Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We're in! We're from Michigan! This is going to be fun!:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcross222 Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We're new to the forum and live in SW Florida. I have 6 children who would love to participate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted June 6, 2010 Author Share Posted June 6, 2010 (edited) We are up to 24 families already! And we have 18 states, and 2 addresses outside the states! AP (Korea with US mailing address) Alberta, Canada AL AR CA CO IA IL KY MI MT NC NM NY OH OR TX VA WI WV Edited June 6, 2010 by momto2Cs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyous Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 We're in from Montana! Sounds like fun! :thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOCKSINFOX Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 We'd love to participate! I have a 5 year old son, and we live in Idaho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 We are up to 24 families already! And we have 18 states, and 2 addresses outside the states! AP (Korea with US mailing address) Alberta, Canada AL AR CA CO IA IL KY MI MT NC NM NY OH OR TX VA WI WV ... and AK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 and GA (we already responded, but didn't say where we were...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TundraAcademy Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 We would like to play.... we're in Arizona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everettrj Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Can we participate even if our state is already listed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saja1029 Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Sounds fun - we're in N.J. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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