State Crazy
You know how Josiah gets into things? Really, REALLY into things? Well, his latest thing is the United States of America. He talks about the states all. Day. Long.
It started out with him doing the map--you know, I showed you all the picture of that. That was a few weekends ago. He cut out each individual state and glued it on two enormous pieces of black construction paper. A few days later, he decided that he was interested in capitals, so he looked up all the capitals and put them on the map.
Then, he started making lists of the states. Within a day, he could recite the states in alphabetical order. Forwards AND backwards, thank you very much. Repeat ad nauseum to anyone who would listen.
Next, he insisted on a trip to the library, where he picked out several books on the states and began copying entire sections of them verbatim. He would sit down at the table with a book and a notebook and start writing away...and eventually, would present us with a "report" on Arkansas (for example). Did you know that Arkansas has a state park where you can pan for diamonds? For real! And you can keep any diamonds that you find there. The largest one on record was 41 carats.
Sigh. Next up were the state flags. He memorized every state flag. We have a line of all 50 of them along a street here on post...he can go down the line and tell us which state each one belongs to. Uh, I knew Minnesota, California and Rhode Island for sure before.
This weekend, he made his SECOND set of state flags...drawing each one and hanging it up in the hallway. That's right, I have maps of all 50 states that flutter each time I walk past them. I like Ohio's the best--it's got a big O on it. Way to be creative, Ohio.
OK, here's the most interesting thing he's done with this state thing so far: he has memorized the list of dates when the states entered into the Union...that's right--he can recite the states in that order. We were sitting on a bench by a flag in the PX on Saturday afternoon and he started listing which state went with each star...this couple nearby was listening and looking at him like he just dropped in from outer space. Afterwards, they both complimented on him on his genius. And he was like "Well, duh, doesn't everyone know these things?"
Um, no Josiah. Some people couldn't point out the state they're from on a map.
He's all about finding state and capital quizzes online...he gets very intense. And here I was all worried that he'd spend the summer slacking off!
It started out with him doing the map--you know, I showed you all the picture of that. That was a few weekends ago. He cut out each individual state and glued it on two enormous pieces of black construction paper. A few days later, he decided that he was interested in capitals, so he looked up all the capitals and put them on the map.
Then, he started making lists of the states. Within a day, he could recite the states in alphabetical order. Forwards AND backwards, thank you very much. Repeat ad nauseum to anyone who would listen.
Next, he insisted on a trip to the library, where he picked out several books on the states and began copying entire sections of them verbatim. He would sit down at the table with a book and a notebook and start writing away...and eventually, would present us with a "report" on Arkansas (for example). Did you know that Arkansas has a state park where you can pan for diamonds? For real! And you can keep any diamonds that you find there. The largest one on record was 41 carats.
Sigh. Next up were the state flags. He memorized every state flag. We have a line of all 50 of them along a street here on post...he can go down the line and tell us which state each one belongs to. Uh, I knew Minnesota, California and Rhode Island for sure before.
This weekend, he made his SECOND set of state flags...drawing each one and hanging it up in the hallway. That's right, I have maps of all 50 states that flutter each time I walk past them. I like Ohio's the best--it's got a big O on it. Way to be creative, Ohio.
OK, here's the most interesting thing he's done with this state thing so far: he has memorized the list of dates when the states entered into the Union...that's right--he can recite the states in that order. We were sitting on a bench by a flag in the PX on Saturday afternoon and he started listing which state went with each star...this couple nearby was listening and looking at him like he just dropped in from outer space. Afterwards, they both complimented on him on his genius. And he was like "Well, duh, doesn't everyone know these things?"
Um, no Josiah. Some people couldn't point out the state they're from on a map.
He's all about finding state and capital quizzes online...he gets very intense. And here I was all worried that he'd spend the summer slacking off!
