50 States Unit Study: Recording Your Journey

Welcome to Day 5 of 10 Days of Hopscotching Across the USA!  Today I’m sharing ways to record all the information you’ll be learning during your study of the 50 states.

Your children can create a notebook of their 50 states study that is a tool for later reference as well as a treasured memento.  My children still enjoy looking through theirs.  We started with a sturdy binder and added dividers for each region of the United States, then simply added to it as we worked through the fifty states.

Maps

Of course a geography-based unit study notebook needs maps, and here are two options I found for great free printable maps:

• Education Place has free printable maps for each state and Washington, DC.  They also have maps of the different regions of the United States with and without labels.  In addition to coloring in the outline map of the state, I would recommend having your child also color each state on an outline maps of the United States to reinforce that state’s location within the U.S.
• You can find loads of free U.S. Geography resources on Homeschool Share.  The “Where is…” printable are great because they show the outline of the individual state and a full map of the U.S.  It is offered as a full size notebooking page and a minibook.

Notebooking

As you learn about each state your children can record the information using notebooking.  (What is notebooking, you ask?  Well, The Notebooking Fairy has a great definition on her home page.)  From plain paper to more formal notebooking pages the options are endless!

• Our favorite ended up being a simple blank sheet of paper that my children made into a mini travel poster for each state. I got their creative juices flowing by telling them these three things to be on the lookout for to add to their poster: What is fascinating about the state? What is the state famous for? What is your favorite thing about the state?
• Another idea would be to use the outline maps as a notebook page–draw or write your information directly on the map.
• Homeschool Creations offers two options for free state notebooking pages, each with spaces for recording specific information.
• NotebookingPages.com sells two different bundles of state notebooking pages.
• Homeschool Share has minibooks for state symbols, flowers, birds, flags, and general trivia that could be added to your notebook.

One of the things I love about notebooking is how flexible it is!  You can add as many pages for each state as you want.  Other than a general page for each state, your children could create additional notebook items for anything they learned about that was interesting to them.  For recording extra information like this I keep Jimmie’s free General Notebooking Pages set (scroll down to “General Printables”) in a binder and have my children choose one for their topic.

Here are some ideas for topics to notebook:

• the history of the flag design, state name, or motto
• a famous person, event, or place
• animals or plants found in the state
• recipes: I’ll be sharing about food from the 50 states next week, and recipes can be great to add to your binder.
• photos: Did your son build the Statue of Liberty out of Legos or pretend to be a cowboy when you studied Texas? Snap a picture and add it to your notebook.
• postcards would be a fun addition if you could join a postcard swap

I hope you’ll come back next week because I’ll be sharing ideas and resources for all the extra information you can dive into during your 50 States unit study!   Subscribe via email or RSS so you don’t miss a post!

Here are the topics from this series:

Day 1: Introduction to the 50 States Unit Study
Day 2: Learning About the States
Day 3: Getting to Know Your Geography
Day 4: Games to Play
Day 5: Recording Your Journey
Day 6: Famous Places in the USA
Day 7: Natural Attractions
Day 8: Nature Study
Day 9: The People of America
Day 10: Food from the 50 States

I’m teaming up with over 25 other iHomeschool Network bloggers. Hop over to iHN for ideas from veteran homeschooling moms on topics ranging from Teaching with Legos to Project Based Learning.