Flat Stanleys/travelers

I have to admit, that I've neglected geography this year. I don't know why I thought my kids were too young for young it, but after seeing all the fun things going on with geography over at confessions of a homeschooler, I know I'm wrong. And when I found out about a new facebook group just for swapping flat travelers and state boxes, I thought it would be the best way to teach my kids geography in fun creative way (and on the cheap). Were planning on working on the United States first, and then expanding to the rest of the world once were done.

The travelers go out once a month, for a week or two at a time (that's between you and your host family), and you must host as many travelers as you send out. What a great way to learn about America! I think my 3 year old is a bit too young to participate, so she won't be sending out her own traveler, but rather participating in our activities as a group. So we'll be sending out 2 per month, which means we can spend 2 weeks on each state were learning about. I know it's going to take a bit to get through all 50 states, but I'd rather go a bit more in depth. I plan on using random worksheets I find for free around the web, to make sure we keep costs down, but I will buy books, and check them out if we need them :)

 Here's an up close of the travelers my boys made. They wanted to make some that looked like mega man, so we did our best! I laminated them, and then gave them real felt capes that are loose (so they can fly on their adventures).

Here are the travelers with their paperwork. I sent each traveler with a record sheet, where each host family can record the date of arrival/departure, host names, and location. They also went off with a set of journal questions for their host families to fill out about their state. If anyone wants these forms, let me know and I'll put them in my printables section :) I didn't send the folders, because of the weight (don't want host families paying too much). When the forms come back, we'll go over them, and they'll get put into our folder in order that the states became a part of the United States. The record sheet won't be placed into the folder until it's full, but the other forms will be printed per state.

One of our travelers being tucked into his envelope with his paperwork, we'll miss you little guy!