States Quilt

We decided not to continue the Monday class because of the distance (100 miles per day with 2 trips) and because it was too much classroom lecture and not enough hands-on or outdoor time.  After wondering about the content/method of this class I posted on Relaxed Homeschoolers Unite and got some helpful responses.

Then my friend April had a wonderful idea.  I won’t give you a play-by-play of our planning, but will try explain what we are planning to do.

We are going to make a “United States of America” quilt with our 2nd Grade boys.  Each week we will read one book from the Discover America State by State series.  Our first book is “F is First State.”  The alphabet and short poems with state facts and interesting information is something that will also appeal to our younger children.  These books are beautifully illustrated and in the side bar there is a couple of paragraphs of *interesting* information.  We will read the books in order of Statehood, starting with Delaware.

From these books we will draw inspiration to find fabric.  The boys will take turns picking the fabric by alternating weeks.  We will buy a fat quarter and cut it in half and send it to our Quilt Pal.  Moms will help the boys use the sewing machine or hand sew the squares.  Then we will create a Favorite Facts sheet for each state and attach a fabric swatch to it.  These will go into a binder to document our quilt.

Our boys will Skype each other once a week to *hopefully* talk about the states and this project and then I’m sure they’ll be talking about their personal interests and get to know each other too.  If we reveal the fabric choice over Skype maybe that will spark some good conversation.  Hunter likes this idea.

I am so excited about this project!  There is so much we can do with this too.  The books are interesting and have some fun facts about the state.  We can find the state birds, flowers, trees, quarters, etc.  We can read extra books and follow our own rabbit trails.

With our friends we committed to do four things together.  Read one state book each week from our local library, find fabric bi-weekly (send half), make a fact sheet bi-weekly, and have a video conference once a week.  Finishing our quilts will be on our own time, but I hope the boys will be excited to share that process also.

We might also send extra tidbits that we find interesting about the state.  For example, Holly is Delaware’s state tree and we have a holly tree in our yard.  The berries are just starting to turn red.  So we will send some to our friends.  We won’t do a bigger package every week as it will get expensive but it will be fun to do sometimes.  There are plenty of interesting thing we can send in a flat envelope too, all optional.

I feel like this gives us a great project for 2nd Grade.  It will take a year to complete.  The books are challenging enough that it will take a whole week to read them.  We can incorporate all of the subjects into this project, really.  Literature and science happen naturally at our house.  We are focused on the 3Rs too.

We are also using Five in a Row.  Our year is full.

P.S. She might blog about our States Quilt project. If she does I will post a link.