50 States Printable Flashcards

Report cards finally came yesterday after some delay due to the arctic blizzard we had a couple weeks ago. I was thrilled to see that the hard work Lena has been putting in this quarter is paying off. The areas she'd received an unsatisfactory in have moved up to progressing. We're not at the finish line yet, but we're getting there.

One of the areas she still needs help in is Geography. Since they're only one test per quarter on the states and capitals, it means we have to get it right on the next test to improve her grade. At first we tried using an app for her Kindle. Honestly, it's a really great app, she just couldn't get into it.

We moved on to writing them 5 times each in hopes that maybe the repetition would help it stick with the capitals the same way that it does with the spelling words... No such luck.

This time around, we're doing flashcards. I found a great site last night that had TONS of options so you can print out which flashcards you need. You can check it out here. I spent over an hour last night making friends with Elmer's Glue and a stack of index cards. I'm fairly certain I have a permanent indent in my thumb from the scissors, but if this method works it was well worth it!

There's An App For That!

I forgot just how hard 5th grade homework can be! When I first shared that post, I originally thought it was funny. Today? Eh... Not so much! At the rate I'm going, I'm going to become outdated when it comes to homework help. Oh wait! I already am!

Lena has started the dreaded states. Ugh! Her first state test is next week and it's going to require a whole lot of studying... For both of us. Tonight, she presented me with two maps at homework time.

One that look like this...

And one that looked like this...

And then, I looked like this... In my head...

Of course, I had to play it off like I knew exactly which states were which. Thank goodness the teacher provided a parental answer key or I'd be screwed. It's been a long time since I had to identify the states. And certainly even longer since I had to know them by shape. Is it wrong to feel better that she didn't know them either?

I have exactly a week to get myself united (hehe, sorry couldn't resist) and figure out which squiggly line is which. To help me (and her) in this process I pulled Amazon up immediately. I knew there had to be a way to make this a little more fun for both of us. And guess what, there's an app for that! I don't know how people survived without internet, tablets, computers, and all other fantasical wifi savior-type devices. I'm soooo glad I live in a time where my inadequacies can quickly be masked by my Kindle Fire co-parenting dependency.