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Who has studied the 50 states?


Who Has Studied the 50 States?  

24 members have voted

  1. 1. Is studying the 50 states worthwhile?

    • Yes, my kid(s) retained useful information about the 50 states and we used (post below)
    • Yes, my kids enjoyed studying the 50 states and we used (post below)
    • No! It was a total waste of time!


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I couldn't respond since we haven't finished studying them yet, but I would not think just filling in worksheets would help with long term retention or interest unless they were paired with something else.  At least it never worked for us.  :)

 

You might look at this

http://www.home-school-curriculum.com/product/trail-guide-to-us-geography

 

I found that cooking something from the state we are learning about (and having the kids help with the cooking and serving), watching a movie or a documentary about that state, having the kids do a bit of research, some map work in paint or clay so it is more tactile, was more effective for long term retention and interest than just worksheets.  There are also some songs out there that are good.  I can't remember them off the top of my head.  There is also Stack the States and other on-line games that are fun and frequently free...

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Too weird I logged in and saw this thread. I just pulled out a "babyish" (3rd-6th) geography book and asked ds (15 yo) if he could identify any states. This book has 5 pages of 10 states in isolation. There's a star where the capital is. I could identify 4 per page at most, (Public schooled and never took geography.)

 

Ds got nearly every state right! Not to be outdone when she heard me declare ds's geography genius, dd (rising college soph) came in and id'd almost as many as ds did. 

 

Here's the kicker: other than geography memory songs and looking at the map while studying (and discussing) history, we have never formally studied geography. I tried Trail Guide for world geo a few years ago, but didn't finish it. 

 

I do have a world map displayed (pix of missionaries taped up where they live) and my dc grew up w/ tons of educational placemats and a world map shower curtain. Oh, on our school table is a table cloth that's a fabric world map. I confess, most of it is covered up by my clutter and ds rarely uses it anymore. He uses the computer in our little office and reads lying on the sofa or my bed.

 

I'm still shaking my head over their identifying so many states in isolation. I still get confused by "the square ones in the middle" and that's when looking at an unmarked map. They were just looking at the shapes. 

 

Hey, science lesson: they learned them by osmosis!  :thumbup:

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Too weird I logged in and saw this thread. I just pulled out a "babyish" (3rd-6th) geography book and asked ds (15 yo) if he could identify any states. This book has 5 pages of 10 states in isolation. There's a star where the capital is. I could identify 4 per page at most, (Public schooled and never took geography.)

 

Ds got nearly every state right! Not to be outdone when she heard me declare ds's geography genius, dd (rising college soph) came in and id'd almost as many as ds did. 

 

Here's the kicker: other than geography memory songs and looking at the map while studying (and discussing) history, we have never formally studied geography. I tried Trail Guide for world geo a few years ago, but didn't finish it. 

 

I do have a world map displayed (pix of missionaries taped up where they live) and my dc grew up w/ tons of educational placemats and a world map shower curtain. Oh, on our school table is a table cloth that's a fabric world map. I confess, most of it is covered up by my clutter and ds rarely uses it anymore. He uses the computer in our little office and reads lying on the sofa or my bed.

 

I'm still shaking my head over their identifying so many states in isolation. I still get confused by "the square ones in the middle" and that's when looking at an unmarked map. They were just looking at the shapes. 

 

Hey, science lesson: they learned them by osmosis!  :thumbup:

That's terrific!  Mine have never retained anything that way.  Heavy sigh...at least the hands on stuff has been fun.  :)

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That's terrific!  Mine have never retained anything that way.  Heavy sigh...at least the hands on stuff has been fun.   :)

 

As I drove ds to his volunteer thing after posting above, I realized I should have emphasized that the placemats, table cloth, shower curtain, world map on the wall, all of that was not my prescription for learning geography, rather they represent my "Hey! This is a good idea. I'll use this a lot!" ADHD mentality.

 

We love us some memory songs, though. 

 

I have no idea what component or combination of components of what I described worked, but I want to see what they remember of world geography next!

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We used Memoria Press "States and Capitals". It was a bit dry but it kept our virtual charter happy since memorizing the states and capitals was on the state standards for 5th grade. We were studying World Geography that year as it was, so it did fit in with that theme. Frankly, I don't care if she has any long-term retention because I don't consider it particularly important in the Google age. It was strictly a "check the box" thing.

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My dd loves the Stack the States app, and this summer when we were traveling through so many of the states we bought the Brain Box USA game. It is a memory game where you look at the card with the main facts about the state...capital, nickname, bird, flower, a few major features, that sort of thing. You then compete to see how much you remember. It is fun and amazing for retention:)

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We used the Trail Guide to US Geography and both boys liked it. Each week, each boy would study one state. They would do the map, answer the questions, do the worksheet thing at the end. Then they each had to tell their brother things they had learned. The then 1st grader and I also ended up doing a biggish year-longproject where we made posters of all the state birds, flowers and trees. He really enjoyed that and still remembers a lot of that. 

 

We also have the Scrambled States of America games that they love and several US puzzles and some other fun kind of resources like that. 

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This spring my kids started playing the Stack the States app. My oldest (9yo) can identify all the states by their shape. I'm actually a little amazed that he picked up so much from playing the game. This summer is the first half of our 50 State study - we're using two levels of Intellego's units. I'd definitely buy the 3-5 level again, but I thought the K-3 was a waste of money.

 

For my youngest ones, I found some neat notebooking pages for free online somewhere and use the state coloring pages from Crayola. Then I've been getting a book about each state from the library and then combining that with picture books that take place or are about the state we're studying. We've also been watching Reading Rainbow episodes that use literature along those same lines.

 

For my oldest we're using the 3-5 Intellego unit pretty much as written. To help him I picked up a nice US atlas from RR for when he does his map work. We recently picked up a 50 state cookbook on Amazon and ds has been working his way through the US theough food. He *really* enjoys helping make things. The cookbook even has little bits of state trivia to accompany the recipes.

 

As a family (meaning everybody but dh who already knows it) we've also been learning the 50 States that Rhyme song together. We may even branch out i to the states/capitals song from the Animaniacs.

 

The Common Shepherdess has a 50 states menu series of posts that might be helpful - http://commonshepherdess.blogspot.com/search/label/50%20States%20Menu%20Plan

 

Oh, and Scrambled States is fun, too!

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Location, capitals, physical features, main cities,- useful.

State flags, mottos, birds and flowers - completely useless.

Traveling the country and actually experiencing the states - lasting impression, priceless.

 

ETA: It would not have occurred to me to have my kids do this kind of worksheet.

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We used the app USA Geography Drive. It covers the states, capitols, imports/exports, landforms and waterways, as well as major cities. We have family on either coast so we road trip between the two. Knowing the states and which borders where cities and such has really been helpful for my son to understand not only where we are when driving, but also general information about each state.

 

The series Where the States Got a Their Shapes was quite a neat way to learn a bit of history and cultural information about each state. Much of it I did not know! It is far better than the traditional textbook about our country!

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My kids love the "50 Nifty United States" song. They still sing it all the time! As far as retention goes, I do know for sure that they know the name of every state. :lol: I think we'll review as part of a geography lesson this year.

I still sing that one for trivia game questions!

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Location, capitals, physical features, main cities,- useful.

State flags, mottos, birds and flowers - completely useless.

Traveling the country and actually experiencing the states - lasting impression, priceless.

 

ETA: It would not have occurred to me to have my kids do this kind of worksheet.

 

 

Me neither.

 

 

How old is your child?

 

I can't vote yet but I just wanted to say we are trying this this year! We are using Elemental History. Each week one state is included as a worksheet and a page number is given to read a few things about that state in Smart About the Fifty States. We also have a Dover coloring book with a page for each state. I don't know if this will be so useful yet. Seems like too much information to retain! My goal is to have him fill out the Elemental History sheet using the page in the book and look at the location on our map puzzle. I don't expect him to memorize every detail of the state, but we will mark the page with the capital. We bought the state flag stamps and star stickers like they suggest. Star stickers for the capital. Our flag stamps came in the mail today and there is a little box on the top of each state worksheet for this to go. Ds is 6 and I really don't expect him to remember it all. We also have a map app on our Kindle which might help for review later.

How much were the state stamps? I'll have 3 kids I'm teaching next fall: 10, 7, and 6. I just don't know if it's worth the time to use these worksheets. You should post an update once you've completed Elemental History. :)

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I'm going to go the song, game puzzle route. If I can find that cookbook at the library we'll try that too. I really liked the idea of posters. We're they collages? I think having each child make a collage throughout the year (one does bird, one does flower, one does...I like mottos instead of trees) would be a fun way to review and be visually appealing as well. Not to mention I have a bird crazy 1st grader.

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[quote name="jaderbee" post="5812787" timestamp=

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I'm going to go the song, game puzzle route. If I can find that cookbook at the library we'll try that too. I really liked the idea of posters. We're they collages? I think having each child make a collage throughout the year (one does bird, one does flower, one does...I like mottos instead of trees) would be a fun way to review and be visually appealing as well. Not to mention I have a bird crazy 1st grader.

 

I have to say, we did capitals, major landmarks, waterways, and mottos. I know people find them useless, but we actually used them as history memory pegs...my 4 year old now knows that Wyoming was the first state to allow women the right to vote (as well as all about cowboys!) and why that is important. She knows why Oklahoma is called 'the Sooner state' and we were able to learn a bit about westward expansion. And so on. They are great as a start...

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I have to say, we did capitals, major landmarks, waterways, and mottos. I know people find them useless, but we actually used them as history memory pegs...my 4 year old now knows that Wyoming was the first state to allow women the right to vote (as well as all about cowboys!) and why that is important. She knows why Oklahoma is called 'the Sooner state' and we were able to learn a bit about westward expansion. And so on. They are great as a start...

That sounds great. Was it a homemade study?

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That sounds great. Was it a homemade study?

Huh, I guess it pretty much was. It wasn't anything formal, I just looked up a webpage with all the mottos ahead of time so *I* could refresh:) if I didn't know the info I looked it up so that when we crossed into a state I could provide the info! It then spread to all the states when we were doing Geopuzzles or the like. Good fun.

 

Another way is to do a National Parks study...we went on a looonnng trip this summer touring them. Alex did a junior ranger program at all of them and earned badges from each. You can do something similar from the National Parks web pages, and they will send you a badge or pin in the mail. I had this whole amazing landforms/features unit picked out for fall that is now redundant because she learned it all hands-on in the parks!

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States and capitals is what I had my kids learn and more on our home state in elementary. We love settera.com. It is a great downloadable Free!! program that taught my kids well where they retained it. When they were in 3rd grade we memorized the capitals through a fun song where 6 yrs later can still recite...:) It is called Capitals and States. By www.kidzup.com.

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States and capitals is what I had my kids learn and more on our home state in elementary. We love settera.com. It is a great downloadable Free!! program that taught my kids well where they retained it. When they were in 3rd grade we memorized the capitals through a fun song where 6 yrs later can still recite... :) It is called Capitals and States. By www.kidzup.com.

Neither of those websites go anywhere.

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We're currently working our way through the states.  I don't know how many of the factoids they will remember for each state, but we have found our state study to be a fun way to learn about our nation's history and its regional diversity, culturally and geographically.  We usually complete the Elemental History "Adventures in America" sheet, read some picture books/chapter books set in the state, eat/prepare a food from the state, and do a craft or project connected to something we have learned about the state.  We also sometimes learn a song or listen to music that is connected to the state.  For example, we're currently studying Maryland -- we read Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later), Anna All Year Round, B is for Blue Crab, Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad, and Misty of Chincoteague (Virginia is our next state, so this is a good "bridge" book!); we observed blue crabs at our grocery store (hey, we have no local aquariums or beaches to visit!) and took some home to eat;  we made model skipjacks and floated them in our water table; and we've been listening to Billie Holiday who grew up in Baltimore.  Last year, we studied ten states, and the kids do surprise me occasionally by mentioning something they recall about a state we studied.  

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To complete a local curriculum requirent, we had to cover it, in 4th grade. I had dd fill out an index card for each state, listing state name, capitol, date it became a state, and the order in which it was admitted, which was also my way of introducing her to the use of index cards for studying. Then I had her fill out some black line maps.

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Oh dear. I've thought that learning the capitals of each state was mostly pointless. I have so many other things I want to teach them and I figured I'd let memorizing the state capitals slide, esp in this world of iphones and wifi. I've never, ever needed to know a state capital once in 41 years. Not even to impress someone. It has never, ever come up.

 

There's only so much time in the day. I already scramble to fit everything into 7 hours as it is. When would I add weeks or months of learning about each state? I figured I'd use our school time for other things.

 

Ugh. Am I missing it as a homeschooler? I figured state info was nice to know and not need to know. I'll have to rethink this being that it sounds like so many other people deliberately teach state info. Maybe we can learn it on Sunday afternoons. That's the only time not already packed with other learning/activities.

 

ETA: We do learn where each state is, but that's all. Not the capital and not fun facts about the state. Well, maybe where a few major things are like the grand canyon or a great lake.

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We used stack the states app.  It didn't help with much other then state name and location (DD can name and place all 50).  I wish I could remember how they taught us in P.S. because I can remember all 50 states and all but a few capitals.  Exact location of some of the East Coast I'm fuzzy on but I can place 44 states on a map (I took a "pre-test" before I started teaching it to the kids).  DH did just as good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wish there was an other option. My kids studied the 50 states and retained loads of information. But we used the Stack the States app on their iPads. All other curriculum they used before this for state studies went in one ear an out the other. But this game has been awesome.

AL

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I wish there was an other option. My kids studied the 50 states and retained loads of information. But we used the Stack the States app on their iPads. All other curriculum they used before this for state studies went in one ear an out the other. But this game has been awesome.

AL

I think your response could have fallen under "yes it was worthwhile" or whatever the option was and then elaborated, as you have done, that Stack the States worked the best. I appreciate the feedback.

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Kerileanne99's post has really stuck with me. It adds a purpose beyond trivia to studying the states. I'm going to see if I can find the book about how the states were shaped and see what pegs of info jive with our history study. I'm not stopping there. Cooking, games, songs, and the websites sound like fun enrichment. Thanks again everyone.

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="Garga" post="5818147" timestamp="1406567956"]

 

Oh dear. I've thought that learning the capitals of each state was mostly pointless. I have so many other things I want to teach them and I figured I'd let memorizing the state capitals slide, esp in this world of iphones and wifi. I've never, ever needed to know a state capital once in 41 years. Not even to impress someone. It has never, ever come up.

 

There's only so much time in the day. I already scramble to fit everything into 7 hours as it is. When would I add weeks or months of learning about each state? I figured I'd use our school time for other things.

 

Ugh. Am I missing it as a homeschooler? I figured state info was nice to know and not need to know. I'll have to rethink this being that it sounds like so many other people deliberately teach state info. Maybe we can learn it on Sunday afternoons. That's the only time not already packed with other learning/activities.

 

ETA: We do learn where each state is, but that's all. Not the capital and not fun facts about the state. Well, maybe where a few major things are like the grand canyon or a great lake.

 

Yep, learning state capitals are not a priority here either. I found a game that doesn't include capitals. This along woth map drill and puzzles are all we do. Well, except some geography like major rivers, mountain ranges, lakes, etc.

 

The game:

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Location, capitals, physical features, main cities,- useful.

State flags, mottos, birds and flowers - completely useless.

Traveling the country and actually experiencing the states - lasting impression, priceless.

 

That's very well put.

 

I think some of the states' animals or mottos have some obvious significance and could be easily remembered, but come on. It's not like you meet someone from Kansas and shout out, "To the stars through difficulties!" or "Manly deeds, womanly words!" to someone from Maryland. Reminds me of the time I was traveling in my husband's birth country, and this guy jumped out at me at a bus stop and started following me around, shouting "Guten Tag!" and so forth. He'd decided I was German. I was baffled. Maybe it was my comfortable shoes? ;)

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This is out first year homeschooling so we haven't had any formal homeschooling experience as of yet BUT since ds was little he's loved the game Sequence. Because of that games he's known the capital of each state for years. At 12 he still loves to play the game.

 

Here's a link to the game http://www.monticelloshop.org/120239.html?adpos=1o4&creative=42212924305&device=t&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQjwsJyfBRC729Oy5Pf26ekBEiQAYtd9QZfjPTgc9JqWg3InKCCzvqJLVgEyvXca3hwuETjEDMQaAgDj8P8HAQ

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