Preparing for Montana State Study

I've finished preparing for the Pacific Coast States: Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Now I'm moving on to the Rocky Mountain States starting with Montana.

For all 4 of the Pacific Coast States I really liked the HomeschoolShare printable lapbook pieces.  So, I will continue to print these and use them for these states as well.

I found this mini unit on Montana from diyhomeschooler. 

SchoolExpress has these printables for Montana (and other states as well.)

Lots of fun Cantering the Country!

Planning for NEXT Year!

Well, we are finishing up school for this year. We'd gotten a little behind on Math, so we've pushed through the month of June and now into July trying to get finished. I'm letting myself start to plan for next year {I had to make myself wait because I LOVE the planning part--it's the carrying out part that is hard for me.}

So, here is the beginning plans for Trenton {1st grade} and Bethany {4th grade}::
Cantering the Country
Five in a Row {Volume 2 selected books}

We are going to read Gramma's Walk.
And we will study Washington State.

Here are some resources I've found for Gramma's Walk:
Oceans of the World map (so far, I'm just using this one lapbook piece from this unit.)
Lapbook for Gramma's Walk

Here are some resources I've found for Washington State:
US Geography Resources
Enchanted Learning--Washington
Official Washington State site--with coloring pages, activity book, etc.  

For this coming year, I'm doing our lapbook/unit studies a bit different. Last year, I printed out resources, put them in a folder and several folders remain untouched. :( SO, this year, I'm printing out everything, cutting it all out, pasting it on cardstock paper and binding it together. Then when we do the study, the kids will decorate the title pages, fill in the mini books and learn, learn, learn. :) I'm excited to see if we have more success doing it this way. {Not to worry about the untouched folders; I imagine they will be used before it's all said and done.}

I'd love to hear how others organize, plan and carry out their homeschooling...so please, feel free to leave a comment!