The K and L States are what we focused on this week: Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana! We did the K and L states this week instead of moving onto M’s because we can cover them in 2 solid weeks and it makes for better blog titles. That’s kind of joke, but not really. There are 8 of those so it just makes sense to do them in one chunk. Another time I might focus on regions, but for now just introducing them alphabetically lets them know what the states are and provides a little information. I’m happy that they have been enthused with learning geography and hope that next year we can cover the world!
The K-1st finished her shapes/money/counting/numbers review and will have new/additional workbooks for addition. She has done some picture math in the past but definitely needs a review. She’s rather advanced for Kindergarten language, but needs a better foundation in math, I focused mostly on numbers in Pre-K. As a result, she’s not quite ready for number to number addition. The 2nd-3rd grader needs some speed improvement for her math facts. It is probably providing a lot of frustration as she works with 3 and 4 digit numbers and will also slow her down as she works on multiplication later.
After a weekend full of soccer and chores, getting into the routine of school was a good thing. Tuesday the kids had a library event in the evening. They made galaxy bottles that have been a centerpiece on our table ever since and are a great talking point! I had several meetings again, and with practices, and library usage, we ran all week. Go figure. I did! I found a cool calculator for how much value you get from your local library. My value for what we used in a single month for 2 of our accounts (we have 4) was over $1000. You could say we use our library a LOT! We had two awesome kits out for learning Spanish via SkippyJonJones!
Art was kind of sketchy this week. Monday they had their first ‘club’ meeting so they worked on crafts there, and Thursday was MOMS group, so we skipped that day as well and instead focused on 2 of the states–Kentucky and Louisiana mid-week. Based on my knowledge of LA weather, I asked them to draw a city rain scene and a race horse for KY of course! Tuesday we had fun listening to bluegrass music for Kentucky, with featured artists Ricky Skaggs and Bill Monroe. I love how incorporating their art and music allows them to know a tiny bit more about each state that we cover! They did most other subjects every single day. I had my older one reading to the younger kids so everyone gets a little practice, in reading, and patience!
Resources Used:
Scrambled States of America BOARD GAME! I can’t recommend this enough!
Name that state flash cards from Teachers pay teachers, Kindergarten Princess
First 2 pages of ‘mystery19’ from Build A Bundle sale mystery package this year. It features state ‘fact’ info and a bit of history.
Topical Books in particular we’re reading the info out of THIS ONE that shows topography and THIS ONE that shows fun facts.
Books the kids are reading on their own, see their Good Reads Lists: K-1st / 2nd-3rd
Linking up with Weird Unsocialized Home Schoolers for their Weekly Wrap up. Click HERE for info/to join!
