Geography/ History Update

Well, we haven't really had a geography/history post since our Minnesota State post. We have; however, been doing geography/history, in our own sort of way. After doing units on Utah, Oklahoma, and Minnesota, (states mom and dad were raised in, and the one we currently live in) we have mostly just been learning about different states that we travel to. I bought quite a few state books, including a cook book, and a sticker chart so that we could keep track of what states we have been to since starting school last summer. Whenever we travel into a new state, we read all about that state in our books, mark the state on our map, and try to find some activities to do while we are there that coincide with what we've read.

For instance, when we went to Chicago, Illinois at the beginning of the year, we learned about the World's Fair there where they built the largest Ferris wheel, we read about Sue, the largest T-Rex Skeleton, and studied up on the Chicago fires. Then, while in Chicago, we visited the Ferris Wheel, went to see Sue, and sang that silly "Fire, Fire" song everywhere we went. We also ate Chicago Deep Dish Pizza--the recommended recipe in our cook book. We try and do this where ever we go so that the kids get a sense for different people and places. It's really quite fun.

Here is a picture of the kids holding up our sticker chart of where we have been since last June.



The states we have visited are: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, (We actually did a little Missouri state unit too, but that write up is in the family tree post.) Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah.

In the next six weeks we will also add Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. With this trip, we will have made it just over halfway through the Unites States! I'd say that's quite the accomplishment for our little home school.

We'll keep this up as we visit new states, but I've decided it's time to take on a little more serious study of history. Originally my plan was to learn about the USA as a nation (which we did), then learn something about all of the states (which we were in the middle of), then study some different countries (the ones in Epcot, remember) and then do small units on the seven continents. After that, we would finish up with space. This seemed like it would give the kids a general overview of the world before moving into a real history class. While I think this would have been nice, we have had a slight change in our plans. Last week, Nick found out that Mayo needed him to attend a conference in Washington D.C. the week after we finish our Florida rotation. After much consideration, we've decided to go ahead and drive from Florida up to D.C., attend the conference, and then head home from D.C. This will actually take us right past Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg. So, I've decided to go ahead and dive into our American History Class.

During the month we're in Florida, we're going to hurry and cover early American exploration including Christopher Columbus and many, many others. This course of study will naturally introduce us to some other countries, but will hopefully do it in a more meaningful context than simply picking countries to study at random. After looking at early exploration, we can get straight into the Great Virginia Adventure, with a big focus on Jamestown. This will set the stage nicely for a visit to Jamestown.

After visiting Jamestown and Williamsburg, we'll only have a month or so of school left before taking our summer vacation. As a result, we will only be able to get through the puritans, pilgrims and Indians--a subject we did already in November, but one we'll review again briefly now. (We have to, after all, since we're going to try planting a plot of our garden with the three sisters method the pilgrims used. You'll hear more about this later.) Then we'll let history be for a while and pick back up in the fall with an in-depth look at the original thirteen colonies. Then we'll continue studying American history all the way up until our rotation in Boston during the month of November. By then we hope to have covered everything through the Revolutionary War so we can do some meaningful sightseeing while we're there. With this new plan, I'm not sure when we'll get to look at some of the continents not covered in our early exploration unit (Africa, Antarctica, and Australia), or at outer space, but hey, we'll get there someday. Maybe even when we have enough money to visit them--all except space that is. I don't think we'll ever have enough money to visit the moon!