Want to see what we're doing next year?

For the next two years we will be studying American History. I am very excited about it and I thought I'd tell you a little about what we are doing. I will be using Sonlight Core 3 & 4 over the next 2 years. We will be using the Sonlight core lightly, really mostly as a reading list and we will be using the History of the USA workbooks for my 4th and 6th grader to do independently. We will be using the Landmark History book rarely if at all.

But that is not what this post is about. This is what I am excited about and have been working on all weekend. Our State Study! I bought Simply Stated at the Convention this year. I have the main state history book, maps, guides, and literature, now I'm setting up the Notebook we're going to keep all our work in.

Here is what I did. First I spent HOURS going to the main tourism website for EVERY STATE IN THE UNION (for those not from around here that is 50 States!!!) and the capital city of Washington D.C. and requested a tourist guide and map. They will start arriving in 4 to 6 weeks.

This is what I am going to store all that paperwork in until we are ready for it. I'll just file them alphabetically.

Then I hit Walmart for all the needed supplies.

First up...The LARGE binder. I got a 3" but now that it is full of file folders I probably should have gotten the 5".

Then I bought a box of Manila Folders, I need enough for one for each state, Washington D.C. one for a general US history introduction page and one for the various US territories (I have learned there are several territories, we'll probably just list them all with a fact or two for each and leave it at that, so only one manila folder for all the territories).

Next I punched holes in the manila folders so they will go in the binder.

When they are open we'll have the whole inside to fill up with maps, facts, copywork, drawings, etc, about the state.

Then I took the smaller envelopes and attached them to the back of the manila folder.

I used double stick tape and stick glue. This took the most time. The envelope will be used to store the state map we get from the tourism board and any other info we can't put in the folder but want to keep with the state.

I organized the folders in chronological order of when they became states. We will study the 13 colonies first and then go chronologically from there. We will do about one state a week. We will do some out of order if we are going to visit that state or someone from out of state is visiting us, or as we see fit. We'll do Colorado first as a trial this summer in preparation for our trip there in July.

There you have it! When we are done we should have one notebook with all the pertinent info about each state, with a state map and tourism guide, included. How cool is that!

My kids will keep their own notebook (just a spiral notebook) with a page for each state. I will photo copy some stuff from each child's notebook or drawings or copywork to put in the main binder. I don't want to have 3 binders like this but I want each of my youngest three to participate in the main binder. I'll probably switch out who gets to put what information on the folder. Only their best work will be photocopied and put it the main binder. I am hoping that this will encourage them to do their best work!

I'll post some pictures of the state folders as we finish them.

This is a homeschooling blog at it's core so I thought I should share some homeschooling stuff from time to time! :o)