ipad app for your 50 states study

Several months ago I read about this ipad app for learning facts about the 50 states over at this blog. I didn't check it out because we had lots of materials already and I felt we didn't need anything else. Then one day I was browsing at the app store just for fun and came across this same app--called Stack the States (just do an search at the app store). There is a free version which is pretty good, so I downloaded it and tried it out with the kids. We all had a lot of fun, and I was convinced about purchasing the full app. It's only 99 cents, and is so worth it. For a very visual learner like Little Bean this app is amazing and he is retaining alot from it! If you have an ipad and are studying the 50 states be sure to check out Stack the States! If you're studying the countries, they also make Stack the Countries.

The games starts by asking you trivia questions about the different states. It asks about things like capitals, landmarks, cities, and also does shape recognition. The questions are multiple choice, and if you choose the correct state, you get to move the state on top of a pedestal at the bottom of the screen. The goal, as you collect more states, is to stack them on top of eachother in such a way that they go over the finish line and don't fall off the pedestal. Once you have stacked the to the finish line, you earn a state.

The states you earn are stored on a blank U.S. map. You can go and look at them whenever you like. As you move through the game, other mini-games are unlocked. My player has unlocked 2 of the 3 games already. One is a timed game that focuses on state recognition. Several states are stacked up and it tells you which one to touch. As you touch and eliminate states, more states are filling up the area above. The goal is to get rid of all of them!

Another game is a puzzle game where they give you several states that are just floating around on the screen. You have to try to put them together according to how they are on the map. Each game has easy, medium and hard levels.

I'll admit, even I am learning alot from this game. I have never memorized the states, and this is a very addicting way to do it. My dh and I played it for about an hour one night after the kids were in bed, lol! Both kids love it too. Miss O has earned 2 states and Little Bean has earned 6 so far.

U.S. History and Geography Study

I wanted to share a bit about what we are currently studying--the United States! I was inspired to start this study when we were in the process of moving. All the school stuff was packed, and we had taken that entire month off. Little Bean was restless, so I hopped on Currclick and spent $3.50 on a unit study/copywork printable. It looks like it is now $4.00 dollars because she has added another 5 states to the package since we bought it. We ended up starting it shortly after we moved to OK, lol. It was unrealistic to think we could get anything school-related done while we were moving across the country!

The Currclick notebook has lots of elements to help Little Bean learn about the 50 states--a facts page, crossword puzzle featuring state insects, birds, tree, fish, capitals, etc, printing, cursive and manuscript copywork, a matching game, and usually an "interesting facts" page with a coloring sheet. There's more, but I'm not going to list it all. We modified the matching game, and instead of cutting out the pictures to play memory, we cut out one set and stapled them into tiny books (Little Bean loves anything tiny), and cut out the other set and glued them around a printed picture of that state. You can see samples of what all is included on Currclick. For $3.50, this was a great base. BTW, the $3.50 covers only the first 35 (I think) states. She is not quite done making them all, but I just received notice that the next set of 5 are now available for .50 cents.

Here in OK, we have a lovely half-priced book store. I really have no need to go to the regular book store anymore because this one is just as good. There I picked 3 more books--a hard back called Don't Know Much About the 50 states, and two smaller workbooks that contain stickers and various activities for each state. These books are more enjoyable to Little Bean because frankly, he hates writing, so the Currclick notebook is harder for him.

We happened to have on hand a Melissa and Doug 50 states floor puzzle, I feel like Little Bean got from my sister in law for Christmas. The kids pulled it out today, and I was so impressed, even Miss O is learning some of her states! Also, I had an Amazon gift card and spent it on The Scrambled States of America game. It's a little advanced for the kids, but we can still use the materials to play games with it.

Adding to all this, I searched around the web and found a couple of free printables and coloring sheets of the state shapes and also the flags. Here's one link and here is the other.

Our Hideaways

So, I've said before that we are using Winter Promise Hideaways in History for our history this year. Little Bean is REALLY enjoying Story of the World, and the historical picture books that go with this program. And the really fun part is that for each people group we study, we make a hideaway to go along with it (all this is planned for you with WP). Mind you, I have been collecting boxes and milk jugs for a few months now, and my garage looks like a recycling center, lol, but we are having a blast doing these hideaways, and my neighbors are benefiting from me passing them along as we go! ;) We are on week 4, and have made:

A cave with cave paintings in an alcove closet in our house:

An igloo. Thank you to all who donated milk jugs--we used every last one of them!! :)
The Great Wall of China:

And an Egyptian pyramid:

Good times!