Why a USA Unit study?

I decided that it would be a good idea to do a USA Study Unit after two funny conversations I had with my 6 yr old.  The first conversation occurred late spring when she asked how far her friend lived from us.  I told her about 35 mins and then she said, "Wow, is that still in America?"  The next one was this summer when we stopped at a gas station in Iowa while travelling to Illinois.  When we walked into the gas station, she looked around in amazement and said, "They have the same foods as we have!  Do they speak English in Iowa?"  Hence the study of the USA!:-) 

We started our unit by reading, Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney.  This is a great book for teaching kids where they are "on the map".  The girl in the book goes from her room, to talking about her house, street, town, city, state, and so forth.  After reading the book, Carysse completed her own Me on the Map booklet that I found at Currclick.

When I saw this idea, I just had to use it! It's a great visual for the kids!

God has been so faithful to provide all that we need.  That's a BIG blessing because we homeschool families have to pay for everything out of pocket.  I can't tell you how many times I've needed a particular item and then walked into a store and immediately saw what I needed!  I get most of our activities from online.  However, here are other inexpensive resources that I found for this unit: 

Flashcards - Target $1

Workbook - Target $1

Activity Book with dry erase marker - TJ Maxx $3

Book of many fun activities - I got this from a Veteran homeschool friend for FREE! 

We plan to study one state per week.  After we finish each state, we complete that state's coloring sheet & write it on our big map (found at Target $2.50).   Also, I printed a map in color and a map in black & white and then cut the states from the map with color so the girls can place each completed state on the black & white map.

I look forward to sharing our completed states: Alabama, Alaska, & Arizona...Yes, we're going in alphabetical order!