Where in the World is..........?

We are studying the wonderful world of geography this year!  It's something I've always been fascinated by, and decided to learn more  with my children.  Since we're studying US History, we're starting with the United States, but we'll move on to the rest of the world shortly.

I've always been fascinated by other places.  As a child, I went on many  trips with my family.  I was born in upstate NY and we traveled the New England states for camping and fishing.  Later, we moved to Virginia and my mother's parents moved to Alabama.  We made many road trips  from Virginia to Alabama.  My father was from Hungary and all his family still lives there.  When I was six, we traveled there to meet them.  I went on to live in UT, NJ, CA, and finally WA.

I remember driving through little towns seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, or big cities all lit up at night,  and wondering who lived there, what their lives were like, and what was it like to live there.  I used to wish I could live in all  of those places just for a little while, to see for myself.  (I still feel that way sometimes...  I  warned you earlier, I'm a dork).

The world is just so amazingly beautiful and diverse.  Wouldn't it be cool to travel the US in an RV for a year and just explore as you go?  Well, that's not happening for us this year (but maybe someday), so instead we're taking a virtual trip.

We found a great little resource for basic facts about each state (they have a world one too).  We've learned them in order of statehood, doing our best to memorize the first 13 that changed from colonies to states.  We use a dry erase marker to outline and label by number each state, doing about 5 each week.  We have this great wall map that's laminated, so we can write on it and erase later.

Once we've done them all (we're almost finished), we'll learn state capitals, and read some about each state's  history.  I had almost forgotten I even had this book on my shelf, and we're looking forward to diving in.

We'll take some extra time to mark the map with states we were born in, or traveled through, and talk about which states we'd like to visit someday.   We'll work on a puzzle of the United States so they get a physical feel of how they all connect together. We'll probably connect it to cooking, and talk about regional cuisine and make some together.  Geography is the favorite part of their morning, which makes me happy, because I love it too.