BatmansWife Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 The other geography thread got me thinking about what I'll be doing with dd next year for 3rd. She really wants to learn about the states. All I can come up with right now for choices are the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography, Road Trip USA, and Cantering the Country. Here's the thing.....I hate printing. All of those choices above I'd have to print. I'll do it if I have to...but our printer goes through ink so fast and it's so expensive. Road Trip looks like fun, but there are colored pages to print (more expensive than b&w) and I don't know how many pages I'd need to print. Cantering is a unit study and I don't really need that. I already have Trail Guide. I know it seems that the obvious answer is Trail Guide, since I have it. But, has anyone used the Trail Guide for a 3rd grader (it just seems that Road Trip would be more fun for her, but I don't know). Even though I already have TG, it's not a big deal....since the school will buy what I want. Are there any other U.S. geography programs for this age that are fun and don't require all the printing?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmama Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 It might be easier and cheaper to take the file to somewhere that prints things and have it printed there - I've done mine at office max and fedex office stores for a small fee - less than the ink would have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 It might be easier and cheaper to take the file to somewhere that prints things and have it printed there - I've done mine at office max and fedex office stores for a small fee - less than the ink would have been. I've considered that too. Where we live, I would suppose the closest place like that would be about an hour away. We are in boonies and all we have is a Walmart a half hour away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakshmi Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 It might be easier and cheaper to take the file to somewhere that prints things and have it printed there - I've done mine at office max and fedex office stores for a small fee - less than the ink would have been. Agreed! And they might even bind it too! Then your dc would have made her very own book! We use Road Trip and I've really liked it. It is simple and straightforward. And the only color thing I printed out was the flags. Other than that I printed it all in B & W. Some of the links are a little like products, but it is a great starting point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillehei Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 We are using Trail Guide with my 3rd and 5th grader. We print from Uncle Josh's Outline maps. Not too much printing. We use the primary sections and just the mapping, not all of the other activities. It is going well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xilka Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm is a fun interactive geography site for kids. My son started using it last year in 3rd grade and really enjoys it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 We are doing Road Trip U.S.A. now. I am an owner of a laser printer and still don't like printing!!! I don't mind printing the math but Confessions of a Homeschooler's curriculum's are ink hogs!! With that being said...there really aren't that much colored to print! Nothing like the prek program she has! :glare: I printed ALL the trivia questions and come to find out we don't even use them! That took up like 45+ pages!!! :( So really just print what you think you'll use! I was going to do her other geography curriculum for my kids next year but both have expressed they want a WORKBOOK! :p I'm thrilled! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra in va Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) You know what I did for this year? I am using a mix of stuff.... I am using the state sheets from My Father's World Adventures. We color in the bird/flower with the flash cards, use the flag sticker, and then label/color the map. I pick a different geography term to study each week (from CTC) and we add it to the geographical term dictionary (which I printed out from Trail Guide) and label things on the map. For ex. for New Jersey, we defined sound and labeled Long Island Sound. We also do major rivers and anything else I want to add on. The state sheets have info about the state on the back which the kids like to read. We are doing this in addition to an American history program, so I keep it pretty simple. I relate to not wanting to print out a million pages - just wanted to mention these state sheets as an alternative! I think you can get all the student sheets/flags/flashcards for around $20 from MFW. (By the way we have done TG and my 6th grader is using them. It isn't so bad printing those out for just one student and we are only doing one state per week. He fills out the State of the Union from the appendix for the state, does the questions and map. I have used Trail Guide for a 3rd grader in the past and it wasn't the most fun - but it got the job done. He was a pretty independent worker and liked it.) HTH! Edited January 25, 2012 by sandra in va Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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