Geography Travels: Kentucky

I’m well behind on geography!  Here’s our unit on Kentucky, completed several weeks ago:

Week 1

Located Kentucky on a map, located capital, major cities, and borders.

Listened to “Middle United States Song” (Geography Songs)

Explored Kids Konnect website on Kentucky—this website has all the general information you would want to know about Kentucky as well as some great links.

50states.com also has interesting facts about Kentucky.

Had KFC for dinner!

Notebook page #1 (from Homeschool Creations).  The title here really does say “Kentucky.”  Isaac just likes to get creative with his lettering!

Discussed Kentucky Coal Industry and mining using the website Kentucky Coal Education website.  The site also has games and videos.

Geography from A to Z: caves, hills

Map page (Enchanted Learning)

Discuss Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world (over 390 miles, and the end has never been found)!  Here’s another website on Mammoth Cave, from the National Park Service (click link).

Began Famous People log

Discussed Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.  Both of 2 Civil War presidents (North/South) were born in Kentucky.  Click on the following links to read about their birthplaces:  Lincoln and Davis

Here’s an interesting video clip on Lincoln and Davis.  It’s an author describing a book he wrote on them, but it has lots of illustrations, and I feel it gives a fair description of each president and what they had in common.

Reviewed “Middle United States Song”

Flag page (from Apples 4 the Teacher)

Discussed “Land Between the Lakes” area of Kentucky

Week 2

Began reading Daniel Boone (Katharine E. Wilkie)

Notebook page #2 (from Homeschool Creations)

Discussed John James Audubon

I intended for Isaac to sketch a Kentucky bird, like Audubon, but we ran out of time.  He’s studying birds in science, anyway…  The Kentucky Ornithological Society has a checklist of Kentucky birds if you’re interested.

Discussed the Kentucky Derby (click on link for information and videos) and Chevrolet Corvette (built in Kentucky and also the  official state sports car).

Discussed Colonel Sanders and KFC (the 2nd link is the KFC website and has an interactive history timeline).  We watched (on YouTube) a 70s KFC commercial, featuring the Colonel, but that video has since been removed.  There are others, but I had trouble finding one of good quality.  Here’s another clip we watched just for fun:

Listened to Bluegrass music

And here’s the Kentucky State Song:

Just an extra note here.  I found it interesting that the official name of Kentucky is “The Commonwealth of Kentucky.”  I had no idea that any of the states were designated “commonwealths,” but so are Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.  Geography has always been my favorite subject…so why did I not know this??? 

For more geography posts, visit Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn!