States & capitals

[freeindeed]

Do your dc know the 50 US states & their capitals? This is on my mind today b/c my dd11 and ds9 could not answer these type questions when we played Brain Quest "America" last night. On a positive note, however, they ROCKED the American history questions. (Thank you, Sonlight Core D+ E!)

[edeemarie]

Mine do but I did not teach them-Stack the States did:)

[freeindeed]

Mine do but I did not teach them-Stack the States did:)

 

Thanks. I'll look into that. My next question was going to be about teaching ideas.:)

[regentrude]

My next question was going to be about teaching ideas.

 

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

 

We did not use the US geography games, but my son used these to memorize all countries and their capitals. He loved the site.

[Nestof3]

Nathan knows them, but he can also identify every country in the world and name most of their capitals.

 

Ben -- no. We are going to start playing States and Capitals Sequence along with our geography this year.

[Nestof3]

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

 

We did not use the US geography games, but my son used these to memorize all countries and their capitals. He loved the site.

 

Yes, Nathan loves these. I guess I should assign them to Ben.

[NittanyJen]

I went low tech. I have an atlas (not road) open to the US and Canada. I call out a state. If he cannot name the capital, a child comes forward, locates the state or province on the map, then the capital, and names it out loud. Next kid's turn.

 

Sometimes I will focus on just one region for a day; other times I will call from all over. We only spend 5-10 minutes. We conclude by tutting the atlas on the floor, and then they each pick 5 states and fill in the names and capitals on a blank line map. When that is complete, I will have them fill in major geographic features.

 

For the world, Australia, and Asia, we had been drawing maps by memory, but for the US, I decided to start here to see if it helped with the memorization process.

[zoo_keeper]

Mine do, but we learned them from memorizing

from Animaniacs.

 

For the actual location, we do the Scrambled States game and seterra.

[Homemama2]

Mine do but I can take zero credit. Scramble the States and a US map placemat (they like to quiz each other while I cook) taught them all that they know.

[brendag]

My kids are 5 so this may not apply to your kiddos. I bought placemats. On one side, the states are listed with their names and the other side has the capital cities. They can flip them over or whatever until meal is served.

 

Also, another Stack the States ipad app lover here! I just bought Scrambled States of America, but it hasn't arrived yet so no feedback.

 

Do your kids like unit studies? Maybe you could find something cheap from Intellego on their website or currclick?

 

Brenda

[delaney]

Can I just add a thought to this? I recently read the book, Love in a Time of Homeschooling, where she drilled the states and capitals but then discovered that what her child was lacking was the OTHER important cities! For instance, California is less known for Sacramento than it is for many other cities. I think it is important to know more than just the capitals but also to know famous cities that go with a certain state.

[dollhouse]

Mine do but I did not teach them-Stack the States did:)

 

My dd LOVES Stack the States. We also have geography place mats and a bog floor puzzle, but I think the iPad app has been most effective.

[moonlight]

We've done a lot of what other posters have mentioned already...

 

Something else we have is a shower curtain with all states and capitals on it...my boys spend a lot of time looking at that when they are, uh, doing what people do in bathrooms!

[angelmama1209]

mine know states, but not many capitals. they learned the fifty nifty song.

 

is there an android version of stack the states?

[MomatHWTK]

I am using these maps along with a large placemat to teach the kids the state names by region. For each state, I am spending one lesson or so in discussion. We may do a worksheet, a map exercise or watch a video about that state.

 

It is slow going as I'm not doing this daily. We are moving faster with the regional state names than with the individual state studies. I am putting everything together in a notebook for each child so even if they don't really recall the specific state facts right now, they can review later.

 

The U.S. Mint has some great printables associated with the U.S. State Quarters program. There are also a few resources in the National Parks Quarters section. I found worksheets at other sites as well and basically just choose something that looks interesting for each state.

[PhotoGal]

Nathan knows them, but he can also identify every country in the world and name most of their capitals.

 

Hoping I'm not too far off topic, but how did he learn the countries/capitals? I'd love to teach the kids (and myself!).

[Nestof3]

Hoping I'm not too far off topic, but how did he learn the countries/capitals? I'd love to teach the kids (and myself!).

 

He studies maps -- a lot -- on his own. It's one of his passions. He also plays the Sheppards Software games online that were mentioned. My husband has been quizzing him.

 

He actually learned the state capitals after he learned most of the country capitals. Its really annoying giving him map books because he's always finding errors. Five minutes after giving him this book, he complained that the ownerships were wrong on a map pf Pre-World War I.

 

Truly, I would never ask my youngest to do this. It's just one of Nathan's passions.

 

[Mrs. Lilac]

Stack the States for U.S. and Stack the Countries for world- hands down the best!

[Seeking Squirrels]

DD doesn't know them yet (only 4yo), but I just bought States and Capitals Songs from amazon. The songs are VERY catchy. I've only listened to one of the capitals songs but I now know all those capitals. Sadly I did not know them all before. Geography is not my strong point. I also memorized the east coast states song after just a couple times through. I used to get Vermont and NH mixed up, or all the small ones. But with that song now I can go straight up the coast and know them in order.

[skeeterbug]

DD doesn't know them yet (only 4yo), but I just bought States and Capitals Songs from amazon. The songs are VERY catchy. I've only listened to one of the capitals songs but I now know all those capitals. Sadly I did not know them all before. Geography is not my strong point. I also memorized the east coast states song after just a couple times through. I used to get Vermont and NH mixed up, or all the small ones. But with that song now I can go straight up the coast and know them in order.

 

Is this by the same people as Geography Songs? I know they make a states version, is that what you are referring to? Link? Thanks. :001_smile:

[Abbeygurl4]

Is this by the same people as Geography Songs? I know they make a states version, is that what you are referring to? Link? Thanks. :001_smile:

 

 

http://www.audiomemory.com/geography.php

 

I played this in the car for my daughters who are now 22 and 24 and they STILL remember States and their capitols from 10 years ago! I'm using the cds with my 9 yo dd, too.

[PookieMama]

We love Stack the States and Countries as well. Another one that really helped for state shapes and placement on the map is Wood Puzzle USA. Because of these apps, my 4 oldest children (9, 7, 5, and 3) like to try and bite their food into the shapes of different states. I had a piece of lettuce that looked like NC the other day and my 3yo recognized it. :lol:

 

The 3yo doesn't know his capitals or all the state names/shapes, but my older 3 do now. Oh, they like the states and capitals songs, too. We actually got those before the iPad, and I think that gave them a head start on learning them with the apps.

[Seeking Squirrels]

Is this by the same people as Geography Songs? I know they make a states version, is that what you are referring to? Link? Thanks. :001_smile:

 

Yes. I bought the mp3 from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/States-and-Capitals-Songs/dp/B002BIKI5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346729837&sr=8-1&keywords=states+and+capitals+songs

[dtsmamtj]

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

 

We love this site!!!

[4peanuts]

You might like this states and capitals song on youtube that we LOVE at our house. :) One of those can't get it out of your head kind of songs....(Thank you to Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler for passing this on)

 

[Delirium]

Mine do, but we learned them from memorizing

from Animaniacs.

 

For the actual location, we do the Scrambled States game and seterra.

 

Yep. We just did the states geography and Wakko helped a lot!

[Kathleen in LV]

My then 5 yo son had a lot of success just assembling a wooden US jigsaw puzzle where each piece is a different state. After awhile, he not only knew the locations of the states, but their shapes. (I could hold them backwards, sideways or upside down, and he could still identify them.) He also liked to lay out the pieces & put them in alphabetical order.

 

He learned state capitals by just playing games that he would make up with the pieces. Sometimes we would play "store", and I would ask to "buy" the piece with a given capital, and then he would have to find that piece. (And bonus, we could incorporate math into our "store" game too.)

 

For learning countries, we had a lot of success playing a game with Matchbox cars & a large laminated world map spread out on the table. I would name a country, and he would drive his car there. (On my wishlist is The Global Puzzle, where each piece is a different country. I think that will help cement some of the more difficult countries.)

 

I think it depends on your child's interests and how he learns. I don't think my son would have been interested in reading a placemat with lists of states & capitals, but I think it's a great tool for children who enjoy it. And obviously it helps if it's something your child wants to learn. My son was really into geography, so I took advantage at the time. I don't know how much I would have pushed if he wasn't pursuing it on his own.

[freeindeed]

There are some great ideas in this thread. Thanks! I bought the Stack a States app for our iPad & now my ds9 is obsessed with it. Thanks!:D Also, we have the placemats of the USA, so I'm going to use those for study/quiz time during dinner. You ladies rock!

[Kelly1730]

My guys, 11yo twins, do not know most of the states/capitals. We will be studying them this year and next with MFW but thanks for all the "extras" suggestions. I'm sure they will be helpful.

[Guest bryanilee]

You could also try to turn learning state capitals into a game. For example, here's a word search puzzle that's also a capital quiz at Knowledge Mouse. They would answer the questions, and then find the answer inside the puzzle.

 

You can also enter your own words and questions, or make flash cards.

[Mommy22alyns]

Yes, thanks to the States & Capitals DVD.

 

ETA: This.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-4067-States-Capitals/dp/B0013N6KKM/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1346803943&sr=8-21&keywords=states+and+capitals

[Walking-Iris]

I did most of what pp have already said and I started early. My boys love the Scrambled States of America book and game. Great States Jr is also fun and 5 State Rummy. We have a wooden state puzzle and then we progress to a 100 piece puzzle. We look at a wall map and talk about it constantly. We color Dover state coloring pages. We have a set of flashcards that resemble license plates with some facts on the back. We have a state quarter collection. We read Sea To Shining Sea. We list the states with their abbreviations and then with their capitals for spelling. When my oldest was 4 we made a huge chocolate chip cookie shaped like America. This year I'm working on getting the capitals memorized and we're doing brief histories of each state and learning about important landmarks.

 

This is for my 5 year olds benefit but I want to move on to world geography.

[happyhomemaker]

Dd10 knows them all and ds knows most states and some capitals. We did Stack the States and Countries, Geography Songs, and a wooden USA puzzle that dd loved. Last year, to make sure she didn't have gaps for states and capitals, I assigned her 5 a week to learn. She had them all down cold before Christmas break.

[edelweiss]

My girls know all of their state capitals. They learned them from the book, Yo Sacramento.

[serinat]

Mine don't know them all, but they could with a little refresher.

[momsuz123]

My dd6 knows all the states and many of the capitals, since she was 5, but I can claim no credit. I got "Arnie the Doughnut" by Laurie Keller from the library as a book and CD, and she LOVED it. I saw "The Scrambled States of America Talent Show," also by Keller, the next time we went, and I got it too. She LOVED it even more. I gave her one of those wooden US puzzles where the pieces are in the shape of the states, and she proceeded to spend endless hours making up stories and games as an offshoot of the book. By constant exposure, she picked up the information. She also likes the game, even though she's a little young for it. I say all this not to brag on my daughter, although I guess I am in a way, but to reinforce the idea that children can learn just about anything if they really want to. I would never have dreamed of having my then 5 year old learn the geography of the US. She even wanted the shapes of her "favorite" states on her birthday cake. The fruit of that and her obsessive interest in dinosaurs just sold me on homeschooling. As offshoots of the interest she was motivated to learn how to read. Now if she'd just develop an obsessive interest in handwriting, Mama would be really happy! I hope the above resources might spawn some obsessive interest in someone else! :)

 

Thanks for the info - I just put the book on hold at our library!!:tongue_smilie:

[GVD22]

You might like this states and capitals song on youtube that we LOVE at our house. :) One of those can't get it out of your head kind of songs....(Thank you to Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler for passing this on)

 

 

 

Love this!

[blakereese]

You might like this states and capitals song on youtube that we LOVE at our house. :) One of those can't get it out of your head kind of songs....(Thank you to Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler for passing this on)

 

 

LOVE! And my kids love it even more!! :hurray:

 

Thanks for posting this!

[GAPeachie]

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

 

We did not use the US geography games, but my son used these to memorize all countries and their capitals. He loved the site.

 

Bookmarking! Thank you!!!!

[Kareni]

My girls know all of their state capitals. They learned them from the book, Yo Sacramento.

 

Yes, another recommendation for Yo, Sacramento! (and all those other State Capitals you don't know).

 

Regards,

Kareni