If you teach classically, history. When do you have your child learn the states and capitals?

[3 ladybugs]

I understand that you can teach in the classical method and cover most of the history, but what about the states and capitals? Are we just not at that point where it is taught or is it glossed over. 

 

We are using History Odyssey and we really enjoy it. We are about 1/3 the way through book 3. 

[Amateur Actress]

We used Tapestry of Grace, also a Classical curriculum, and they teach states & capitals during the Anerican History portion...late 1700s through the mid-1900s. So it begins at the end of Year 2 and continues through the middle of Year 4.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

We learned about regions of the nation and states through a worktext that used to be available from Borders bookstore. I don't remember the name...

 

and we learned our state capitals from Animaniacs and with practice on a Melissa and Doug puzzle.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I think this looks pretty good: States and Capitals set from Memoria Press

 

https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/american-and-modern-studies/states-and-capitals-set/

[Tanaqui]

I don't. We read Pippi Longstocking instead.

 

"Come now! Imagine how unpleasant it will be for you to be so ignorant. Just think, when you grow up and someone perhaps comes and asks you what the capital of Portugal is, you couldn't answer."

 

"Oh, yes I could," said Pippi. "I'd just say 'If you're all that anxious to know what the capital of Portugal is, well, by all means write direct to Portugal and ask 'em.'"

 

"Yes, but don't you think you'd be sorry you didn't know it yourself?"

 

"Might be so," said Pippi. "I suppose I would lie awake sometimes and wonder and wonder 'What the dickens was the name of the capital of Portugal?' But then, you can't have fun all the time," said Pippi, turning a few cartwheels. "Anyway, I've been in Lisbon with my father."

 

And Pippi's quite right. When they're grown, if they urgently need to know that the capital of Nevada is Carson City, they can look it up on Google or in an almanac, or they can ask somebody else. If none of these options are available, then society has collapsed and they probably didn't need to know anyway.

 

Additionally, I'd say that geography and history are different subjects, and can be taught separately. (Or you could consider state capitals to be memory work.) So it doesn't have to line up with whatever you're doing history-wise anyway.

[MeaganS]

We don't do it on purpose either. I have some map puzzles and apps that they play with occasionally. We also take a lot of road trips (just got back from one where we drove through 17 unique states) and look at maps and talk about where we are. I do have them do a geography workbook, but that is for more general maps skills and geography. I don't care one bit if they never learn the Capitols. I never did and it has never hurt me. It seems absolutely useless and I am a big fan of memorization in general.

 

So far they have a decent understanding of the geography of the US, which I imagine will grow as they get older.

[Tanaqui]

I never did and it has never hurt me.

 

I did (state and world) and it's never once come in handy. Nobody has ever suddenly stood up in a restaurant and yelled "Quick! Does anybody here know the capital of Suriname?" If and when that happens, I'll be ready to declare it's Paramaribo, but I'm not holding my breath :p

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Tanaqui

[HomeAgain]

We need to get another copy, but we used to play the Scrambled States Of America during year 3 and 4 of our classical history, when it was correct on the timeline to do a more local history as well.

[mommymonster]

I have them watch this video periodically. They know their states, capitals and where everything is generally located. We did an in-depth dive of our state last year because we traveled quite a bit. 

 

[alisoncooks]

I think this looks pretty good: States and Capitals set from Memoria Press

 

https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/american-and-modern-studies/states-and-capitals-set/

We have this in the line-up for this coming fall. It does look good, though I wish it had a bit more instruction.

 

OP - we are doing States & Capitals this coming year because my 10 year old thought Indiana was in China, LOL. We are "technically" doing Middle Ages for history, but we are adding in state geography because of the need. :o

Edited July 13, 2016 by alisoncooks

[3 ladybugs]

We have family (grandparents) in 3 states. We have extended family in 4 more states, and we got married in a different state then we live in currently and they were born in yet another state. In order to get to see any of the family (mainly grandparents) we need to travel through a good portion of the states (17 other states to get to any of them from our house). So that is over half the states right there that they could encounter just while talking about them or the family. This is why I think this is important. 

[Miss Tick]

We have family (grandparents) in 3 states. We have extended family in 4 more states, and we got married in a different state then we live in currently and they were born in yet another state. In order to get to see any of the family (mainly grandparents) we need to travel through a good portion of the states (17 other states to get to any of them from our house). So that is over half the states right there that they could encounter just while talking about them or the family. This is why I think this is important.

Well, that sounds like your answer right there! Supplement with the Scrambled Started game if you want to take on the whole U.S. at once.

[CelticHaiku]

I would say that State capitals is not inportant but knowing the basic geography of the USA (states- location and name, geological landmarks -mountain ranges, major rivers, etc) is worth teaching them. You can incorporate it as you do US history, watch How the States got Their Shapes on Netflix, do geopuzzles, etc.

[MeaganS]

We have family (grandparents) in 3 states. We have extended family in 4 more states, and we got married in a different state then we live in currently and they were born in yet another state. In order to get to see any of the family (mainly grandparents) we need to travel through a good portion of the states (17 other states to get to any of them from our house). So that is over half the states right there that they could encounter just while talking about them or the family. This is why I think this is important.

Haha, I could have written your post word for word, down to a recent trip covering 17 states. Except that between grandparents and our siblings, we cover 9 states. That's the reason I am unconcerned. My still fairly young kids have a very solid grasp of US geography simply from very deliberate talking about it and car trips several times a year. I absolutely think state geography is important, but I just can't bring myself to care about capitals. We do focus a lot on important features and landmarks. Obviously, Ymmv. 😀

 

Eta: I realized I'm not being helpful. There are several iPad apps we use. Mostly puzzle maps and Stack the States. We also have a wooden puzzle of the US that they enjoy. And geopuzzles. We also have a us map on the wall at their height and very regularly reference it in conversation when talking about family members or places.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Meagan S

[Ms.Ivy]

I have my kids play with a US map puzzle a couple of times a month, and they memorize the states and capitals when they are about eight years old. We add two states and capitals a week until they are all memorized. The kids also like to play on Google Earth and "visit" different cities.

 

My kids pick up a lot of US history from literature, and from watching documentaries. I figure we will cover it more in depth when they are high school aged and can read primary sources and such.

[Kfamily]

We include geography as we encounter it every year, but we do a focused study on states and capitals in Year Four. Because we cover a lot of US history in Year Three, we actually pick up a lot of it then, but I use Year Four to cement it. We also keep a pad of blank US outline maps, puzzle maps and a US map on the wall around too. Also, my girls have enjoyed the series "How the States Got Their Shapes"...I think that is the name of the show.

[Sahamamama]

State capital bingo is popular here! Just Google it, and you'll find a PDF to print out (the one we used is below, I hope the link works).

 

We have also worked through a section of Memoria Press States & Capitals for the past two years, and we'll do another section next year.

 

We have at least two USA puzzles that the girls enjoy making (on their own). We have a large, laminated wall map of the World and another of the USA on the walls in our homeschool room. I think we got them from Staples? That was a while ago, so that memory is foggy, LOL. Whenever we read about a place in our other studies (History, Literature, just talking about life), we can go to the maps and find out "where" this place is.

 

We used to have a tiny, laminated "Daddy" that we taped to the map and moved around to indicate which state he was in that week. He's a bit more local now, and the girls know the states, so we don't do that now. Also, we actually lost him in the move...

 

https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/states/states-capitals-bingo_WNBMM.pdf

[rjand6more]

We did a world cultures core last year and my 8 and 11 year old did an amazing job at memorizing countries.  Way beyond my expectations.  This year we are doing American History and focusing on elections and US states and capitals(also landmarks.)  We are going to do a sketching the US in chunks.  I really think this will help them learn it.  

 

I really don't care if they commit it to permanent memory.  I think general location(Virginia on the east coast) is my goal. But, I take the same stand when it comes to timeline stuff. As long as they know the Civil War came after the American Revolution and the right general time frame I count it as a success.  

[carriede]

Sort of on topic... this post from FiveJ's has a free ebook to learn states geography and postal abbreviations. No capitals though.

 

http://fivejs.com/my-case-against-learning-states-and-capitals/

[EKS]

I never specifically taught the states and capitals.

[birchbark]

I agree that capitals are not as important to know as state geography. However, if you want a super fun and easy way to learn them, get Yo Sacramento!

[BusyMom5]

I plan to get Ticket to Ride for the kids for Christmas (or maybe sooner if it goes on sale).  I also have a US map up on the wall in the school room.  My kids like to just look at it and point to names.  I am going after general geography, major landmarks, rivers and mountains, deserts, oceans, ect.  but I did buy a map book for our American history this year, and I hope to have them at least learn most of the states.  I'm not really concerned w/ state capitols, but there are some major cities I would like for them to recognize, and a lot of them are not necessarily capitals.

[borninthesouth]

Try the Stack the States app.  It is nice for down time and they learn the shapes of the states, fun facts about them and capitals.  

[EmseB]

My kids sort of learn them incidentally through games like Stack the States and just games we play while waiting for a table at a restaurant or in the doctor's office or whatever, but we use Memoria Press and they do States and Capitals in 3rd and 4th grade.  Fourth grade is a review of what was learned in 3rd.  But the bulk of history/classical studies those years is Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome.

[luuknam]

My youngest did a state mazes book the first half of last school year, so about 4.75-5.25yo. To be clear, he'd do the maze, and then I'd make him point at the state on the map in the front of the book, and say the capital, and then he'd also find and say the capitals for the other states he'd already done, so he didn't *just* do the mazes.

 

He also played the Stack the States app some. That said, it's not like I consider this to be a "did that and now we're done" kind of thing. He'll get plenty more opportunities to refresh his memory of where states are and where major cities are in the future.

 

My plan was to have my oldest do a different (harder) state mazes book last year, but he thought it was too hard, so I handed him the country mazes book instead. My oldest was in public school from preK through 2nd grade, and last year (3rd grade) was his first year at home (and we ended up focusing more on major countries and their capitals), so we haven't really covered states and capitals. I think we'll do that this coming year (4th grade, 9yo), but we'll see. We've got 10 Days in the USA, and I think both kids are old enough to play that now, so we'll probably play that, and he'll maybe do the harder state mazes book. I'm not worried about states and capitals - the important ones will be memorized over time. I've memorized countries and capitals and states and capitals multiple times, and over time the less important ones are forgotten, over and over again, so I don't really care. Like the Carson City, Nevada one... I'll remember that while we cover it, and then forget about it within days/weeks. If you ask me what cities are in Nevada, I'd mention Reno and Las Vegas, and forget about Carson City, but imo, that's good enough (we don't live in Nevada).

[73349]

Instead of a tablecloth, we have a large, laminated US map on the dining room table, oriented so DS has the best view. I do plan to use the states & capitals for memory work in 4th grade, but he already knows a fair number of them.

[Bics]

We are about to use the Memoria Press set mentioned above for 3rd grade, as well.  I plan to supplement that with good old-fashioned tracing. Reading The Core by Leigh Bortins, I was struck by how simple and enjoyable memorizing a map could be.  I also have been blessed to have seen an older homeschool mother use a technique from Charlotte Mason that worked really well, and jives with classical education. 

 

She handed out labeled maps and we were supposed to study it as she read, letting our eyes find the places she was mentioning, tracing the path as it was described (she was reading an excerpt from a travel writer).  Then she let us discuss it. "What did you notice?", etc.  Then she took our labeled maps from us and gave us unlabeled maps.  We were asked to fill in as much as we could.  I was astounded at what I could remember, and I could tell I was not the only one who was surprised!

 

Then she gave us back our labeled maps and let us compare, then fill in what we wanted to add.  She said she did this for any new region, nation, whatever.  In the workshop we were studying South Africa, which I promise I had never looked at in-depth before!

 

All that to say, if you want your child to memorize the states and capitols by region, Memoria Press.

If you want them to be able to map it, The Core will line out a cheap and simple solution for you.

If you want to add the dimension of experience and can't take them, you might like the third technique.

Hope that helps,

 

[boscopup]

My kids played Stack the States a lot for a while. They also have US and world Geopuzzles. I've never explicitly taught the states and capitals, yet my 7th grader knows them all (probably better than I do - I memorized them long enough to get a 100 on the test in 10th grade, then promptly forgot the ones I never encounter).

[boscopup]

Also, Google Maps!!! My kids play around on Google Maps, seeing various parts of the world, zooming in with street view, etc. They can spend hours navigating the world that way. They've learned so much geography with it!

[Guest]

We have family (grandparents) in 3 states. We have extended family in 4 more states, and we got married in a different state then we live in currently and they were born in yet another state. In order to get to see any of the family (mainly grandparents) we need to travel through a good portion of the states (17 other states to get to any of them from our house). So that is over half the states right there that they could encounter just while talking about them or the family. This is why I think this is important.

That is funny, because i was going to suggest going for a real long drive and talking about it :-) We just drove across the country coast to coast and as we got to new states, i read a blurb about it online, they looked it up in the road atlas, and sometimes drew a picture in their main lesson books.

 

Your kids already have "hooks" for the states....ppl that live in the, and the routes to get to them. So tell them. Talk about it every now and then to keep it relevant in their minds. They could write letters to ppl telling what they know, or asking questions about their state. Collect state capital postcards!

 

And, yes, stack the states!

[serendipitous journey]

My older child got a very firm grasp of state locations with Stack the States & his general education, and we're using Memoria Press' States & Capitals program to learn the capitals & also the correct spelling. 

 

The MP program is simple and effective.  We're skipping the bit about reading about the states (because this isn't our main geography) and just learning the capitals, and reinforcing the locations. 

[Garga]

I randomly taught the states as something we did on the side and not as part of a curriculum.  We learned states at the same time of day that we memorized bible verses.

 

I found free online blank maps of the states and we would learn about 3 new ones a week.  Each week, they would add the three new states to their master maps and then each day they'd fill in a blank map with all the states they'd learned so far.  States from week's past were filled in with abbreviations.  New states were written fully and with abbreviations.  It was pretty effortless.

 

I do think it is important to know where the states are. I absolutely do not think it's important to know their capitals.  I have made it 43 years without knowing them and I can't think of any situation where it makes a whit of difference to know the capitals.  Where the states themselves are, yes.  Capitals? No.

 

Does anyone know why it would be important to know the capitals?  If I'm wrong in not teaching them, I'd like to rectify it.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Garga

[Holly]

We are covering US geography with The 50 States and Where to Find Them from Barefoot Meandering (author of Wayfarers and ELTL).  It covers states & capitals by having them create or color pages for each state.  It also schedule in Holling C Holling books and some geography terms.  

 

Ironically, two of my DC learned states & capitals from a HS co-op class.  My oldest DD has yet to really study them.  :blush:  I am comforted that the Hive doesn't seem to think it's terribly essential.   :lol:

[lmrich]

In fourth grade - simply because I have found kids like to memorize things at that age (still in the grammar stage), and it is a challenge not a negative thing. It helps them learn to memorize. I have them memorize 10 - 13 at a time and then build so the next week it is the first 10 + the next 10 etc..  I give them a US map with the states numbered for them so they have to know location too. We always review states and capitals when we walk in the forest to keep the conversation going to let the bears know we are in their home. 

 

All that being said, it is not a big deal to memorize the states and capitals. It is a big deal to know geography. I love that clip from Sleepless in Seatlle when Tom Hanks asks his son about how far away a state is and he pulls down an old-fashioned map...Who has such a great map in their home?! and not keep it down at all times. 

[Aloha2U]

One of my little man's favorite things to do in the grammar stage was to listen to the States and Capitals Songs while we played Sequence States & Capitals. Great times that I will never forget! Geo puzzles are nice, too.

 

We also used MP States and Capitals for geography this past year in sixth grade to solidify them, alongside VP's 1815 to Present history. Simple and easy. We'd used MP's Geography I and II previously. Next year we'll use MP's Geography III, which includes a States & Capitals review section.

 

I used to think it was a non-issue, learning the states and capitals, when my little man was younger. However, my view point changed in recent years. It isn't just about history or geography, but it's about government, too. How and where the state and local, as well as federal, governments are run. It's important to know. Small pieces in a bigger puzzle, but important to know. Why not make it fun and easy to learn those facts sooner than later?

 

ETA: My little man also enjoyed reading through Yo, Sacramento! and Yo, Millard Fillmore! Cracks him up.

Edited July 17, 2016 by NCAmusings

[3 ladybugs]

Thank you for all the ideas. I am starting to get the impression that I should have my son at least memorize what states we go through from here to Grandma's (we do this every year) and then talk about the other relatives as needed. I  might also need to start looking at doing some fun unit studies on the states. Maybe I can find a recipe that would bring that state to us or something. Hmmm.... 

 

At least I know that it isn't typically covered with the history so I need to make time for it. 

[Tita Gidge]

We do states and presidents as a separate subject. And not a true subject, more of a supplementary thing using a lot of the ideas mentioned here:

 

Scrambled States (book, audio book, game)

Sequence (US States edition - game)

Flashcard quizzes at the kitchen table

How the States Got Their Shapes (tv show)

... and some random DVD from a conference 12 years ago that teaches by region using songs to memorize.

 

I spend two years on states (2nd - 3rd) and then two years on Presidents (4th - 5th). It boils down to about one per week and we forget weeks sometimes. Years ago I bought a program that has book lists for States and also for Presidents. It's no longer in print. But on our weekly-ish trip to the library we pull a few books from those lists and the kids read. From those the kids do a page for their "scrapbook" - for the states, it's basic info (capital, major cities, points of interest) and an illustration of the state bird/flower/flag or a scene from their library book; for the presidents, it's basic info (name, number, party) and a coloring page or illustration of something relating to the president taken from their library book. Mostly busy work that they can do on their own, while I'm teaching a sibling or hiding in the shower LOL.

 

I do a re-cap of states and presidents over one year in middle school, again as a separate subject. I get a boring workbook for the states and make them do a project on their "home" state (they can pick anyone we've lived in). Same for presidents - workbook and an oral exam on a president they choose. I also make them learn the First Ladies, and pick one to write a research paper about. I have them compare their chosen First Lady to whomever is the current First Lady.