Geography Tour of the USA: Pages and Places
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Geography, and US Geography in particular, has been a hot topic on my homeschool group forum lately. And it is one that I am passionate about, so I figured we should discuss it a little. Let’s be honest no one really likes textbooks. Most of them are boring to read, especially if you try to read them out loud, and you don’t remember much from them. But what if there was a way to study geography and feel like you are there? What if there was a way so engaging that you would look forward to your geography “lesson”? Could there be a way to travel without leaving your couch? Good news: There is a way to accomplish all of this: Pages and Places!
Pages and Places
Pages and Places (found under Mom’s Helpers) is a free geography tour of the USA, perfect for families, co-ops and anyone itching to travel. Through it you will explore all 50 states through carefully chosen living picture books, maps, nature, music and easy, kid-friendly recipes, because everything is always better with food! Pages and Places is a simple but very complete curriculum for the whole family as it is easy to scale up or down depending on the ages you are learning with. It is an open-and-go way to travel through the USA, especially on the eve of America250! What a perfect opportunity to discover our fabulous country!
The Picture Books
For living picture books we will be using the Sleeping Bear Press Discover America State by State series. These are “alphabet style” picture books with each letter of the alphabet corresponding to something or someone special and noteworthy in each state. Each letter consists of a short rhyme (perfect for younger learners) and a longer description of what the rhyme refers to. These longer descriptions can be skipped if all learners are on the younger side, I would say 8 and under. The longer descriptions are perfect for older students to dig a little deeper. These picture books are not our usual living books as they are not particularly well written. But the rhymes are engaging (and easy to learn by heart, if you so desire) and make a state study much more engaging and memorable. And the illustrations are beautiful and well researched. Hence why I still classify them as living picture books.
Maps
Pages and Places offers both printable maps and draw-it-yourself maps. We have personally really enjoyed the Draw series for geography work. Both Draw the USA, by Kristin J. Draeger and Draw the Natural Wonders of the USA, by Kristin J. Draeger are wonderful books for all budding cartographers. These easy to use and easy to follow books guide you step by step on your way to drawing a full US map. It is a great exercise to help memorize the location of each state and natural wonders. I would start with this process over printable maps.
However, I love the printable maps as they give more surface to enter details about each state. I find that they allow for a more in depth study of the state.
So what to do? Well, do both! The Draw maps can be done as a separate endeavor alongside the printable maps. The printable state maps are a wonderful foundation for narration.
Map narrations
Printable state maps are the perfect starting point for a narration. First locate the state on a USA map, choose a color and color it. Both on the US map and the state map (the same color, of course). Then on the state map you can add, both on the map and on the blank space around the map, all the details you could wish for. These details should include at minimum the state capital, main rivers and mountain ranges and other important sites. On the surrounding space we like to add the state bird, flower and tree (nature study). It could also contain the civics aspect of the study such as the state flag, motto, population, elevation, etc… as well as anything that tickles your curiosity more specifically, such as weather patterns, etc. Creating a map narration will enable the retention of so many more facts about each state than a simple reading will.
Historical narrations
For older learners I would also recommend a historical narration. After reading the picture book each person could choose one of the 26 letters to explore in more depth. Anything that ignites curiosity is the perfect springboard for learning. This narration does not have to be very long, but it has to be well researched and include facts other than the ones presented in the picture book. An illustration is always a great addition to such a narration. For research material, we usually rely on a good set of encyclopedias, the internet and picture books that might be related to the person, event or place.
Music
Did you know that each state has a song? I had no idea! These are beautiful and expand our knowledge of each state even further. They also give us a great insight into the people of the state. A quick search on YouTube will also give you the tune. These songs can be used for music study as well as penmanship and memorization. These state songs have been a great addition to our state studies, they have livened things up and we always look forward to listening to them. Many tie back to the love of the land, and I love that.
Recipes
Your choice! State cookie or state dessert? Which one will it be? A friend also suggested sugar cookies, cut out in the shape of the state and decorated with either the state flag or anything else that made an impression for your decorator. I love the idea, but maybe it might be best suited for a grand tea party at the end of the study with each cookie representing a different state! That would make a fabulous cookie plate! Including food related to the study always seems to anchor things better. Just like the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, it appears that the way to our brains is through our stomach as well, lol!
Nitty gritty
Over the years we have cycled through this study regularly. It usually takes us two years to go through all 50 states at one state a week. We have attempted to do 2 states per week in order to do a one year study and that worked pretty well also. It was a little heavier, obviously, but since it was our main focus for that year it worked. I would recommend keeping it simple and keeping it to what works for your family. Only you can decide that. You know your people, your time and your flexibility. Pages and Places is just a suggestion, there is always room for expansion and implementing your own ideas and desires. It is still a work in progress and I will be adding to it regularly.
All the things I would add
Pages and Places is a simple, cover-all-your-bases US geography curriculum. I would happily add some read-alouds, board games, a study of the National Parks and National Monuments and anything else that strikes your fancy. Again our imagination is the limit. So check out my list of resources in the download to maybe ignite some other rabbit trails for your family. You are very welcome!
Please leave any other suggestions you might have in the comments! Let’s help each other.
Love,
Mattie
