We use the month of August to slowly ease our way back into the school year, so I usually look for fun, engaging, and high-interest learning resources to get us back into the swing of academic work. Since we have a presidential election coming up in November, this seemed like the perfect time to explore the 50 US States and learn some fun facts about the US Presidents!
Ready-to-Go Homeschool Unit Studies
Jessica Waldock from The Waldock is an expert at interest-led learning and has developed a huge library of learning resources that make unit studies super easy to implement. I grabbed a copy of "Traveling the States" from Waldock Way and also got "All About the Presidents" Discovery Deck. (More about the Discovery Deck in a bit.)
Get a FREE Discovery Deck
Only through August 25th, if you put a Waldock Way Unit Study (value $20 or more) in your cart, you'll be prompted to pick a FREE Discovery Deck to go with it!
"Traveling the States" is designed around exploring and discovering the 50 US States. And, like any good interest-led homeschool unit-study, it provides a huge buffet of ideas so that you and your kids can pick what to dive into first, and then follow where the learning takes you!
Complete (but Flexible) Lesson Plans
Just because this unit-study is designed to be flexible does not mean that you'll have to do lots of prep work yourself. The Lesson plans for "Traveling the States" include three different sample schedules for learning about each state, depending on if you want to spend two, three, or four days per location.
All I had to do to prepare was request two books from our local library: "The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 Fact-Filled Maps" and "Eat Your Way through the USA".
The lesson plan for each state includes related pages in "The 50 States", suggested state-themed literature, and a YouTube playlist!
The Teacher's Guide also includes and appendix with a wide variety of printables you can use with your unit study, such as ...
- state brochure templates
- make-your-own state postcards
- worksheets for collecting biographical information about famous state residents
- map skills activity for naming the states
- states and capitals practice
Personal Learning Tracker
One thing that really makes "Traveling the States" an immersive experience is the printable Student Passport! Students begin with their own (blank) passports and then add state "stickers" to the pages as they continue their exploration.
The Student Workbook includes four pages per state so students can build their own reference book as they go, with
- a coloring page per state
- a page about the state flag
- a page for mapping the capital and collecting other state data
- a page for drawing and summarizing state nature facts
Guided Art and Copywork through Nature Study
Researching and summarizing are important skills but can be intimidating to a young learner. The "Traveling the States" Unit Study includes a Nature Profile for each state, and a page in the Student Notebook to record information about nature in that state. There are a variety of ways to incorporate this information depending on the age and ability of your child. For example, you could ...
- Read the nature information and ask them to tell you in their own words what they remember as you write it down
- Ask them to read the nature information and underline important phrases to copy into their student notebook
- Have your student read and summarize the nature information independently
The Nature Profiles also include sample images students can use for nature journaling so they can add their own drawings of the natural features of each state into their Student Notebook.
Unit Study Games
Of course, to a kid, their favorite part about the "Traveling the States" Unit Study were the included games! All of the games were super easy either low-prep or no-prep to get table-ready.
States Bingo
Matching States
All 50 States are included in pairs in this game. We played with 25 at a time to reduce the difficulty level a bit.
Top Trumps
Pick a card from your hand and read out one of the three stats included. Other players see if they can top that stat with one of their states!
Discovery Decks are No-Prep Interest-Led Curriculum
There's just one problem with interest-led learning - it tends to create curious kids with lots of questions! The Discovery Decks from Waldock Way are the perfect resource for this. Each deck contains twenty topic-specific questions for discovery, and a QR code kids can follow to learn the answer!
We got a copy of the "All About the Presidents" Discovery Deck and the kids have had a great time with it!
Try Out an Interest-Let Unit Study in Your Homeschool
The Waldock Way unit studies are great for large families because you only have to purchase once and then you can print as many copies as you need for each of your kids. There are so many ways to adapt the learning and the activities included for children with a range of reading and writing abilities, so you'll be able to learn all together as a family while still providing individualized learning opportunities. Go ahead and check them out!