Random Homeschool Lesson Plan Question:
The kidlets are going to be learning about the 50 states. I will *not* be responsible for the fact that most Americans can’t put half the states on a map and they think that New York City is the capitol of New York. But I’m not sure where to start. Eventually Stephen will veer off to learn about the government, and Hannah’s going to be doing a unit on the great state of Maine.
If you were teaching the states, what would you do? Would you go state-by-state in….
- alphabetical order?
- chronological order? (i.e. when they joined the US of A)
- geographic order? (starting with one coast and moving across the country) And which coast?
*ETA*
Thanks for the input! It really does help. I’ve decided to do it geographically, with a fair amount of history thrown in. I wrote up a Timeline of the States (through the 1950′s) which includes important people and events. The kidlets will have to pencil in the dates of statehood as they learn them. For instance, they’ll learn about the Missouri Compromise in order to understand why Maine became a state when it did. On the geographic side, we’ll work on placing states, knowing landforms, etc. Because it’s important to know that, no, Colorado isn’t on the West Coast. Not that I ever thought that…;-)
And once we’ve learned about our own country, we’ll expand to North America. Today, Maine. Tomorrow, the world!
Chronological makes the most sense; then they get additional history as well. However, doing chunks of states geographically would also make sense because they’d have a better understanding of the layout of the US. I’d start with New England, then the Tri-states and work your way down the Eastern seaboard and then across the country.
Alphabetical.
There is some cute song about the states, and I think it goes alphabetical. I dont know it, but my husband does.
Anyways, if I had to pick, I would say geographically from East to West coast. Since the East coast was the beginning of the country, and for me it helps to see things visually like that, and that would help with placement on a map.
When they became a state is nice and all, but I think a general idea is okay and I would personally rather be able to put them on a map and know their capitals.
I would go in geographical order because it will give them a visual to go along with the head knowledge.
hahahha we all have different opinions!
I think it will depend on how the kids learn. Since you are able to taylor make their learning experience (unlike public school setting), think about how they learn. Do they remember dates and date order? Are they more visual and seeing them on a map would help? Or do they do better with alphabetical lists?