Meet Brown Beauty, Firehorse Fred, Risen Star, Affirmed, Klatawah, and other horses and horse people as you journey through the fifty US states. Have you heard of the McCurdy Plantation Horse? You’ll learn about that Alabama breed as well as others. Horseography USA also features unique horse events, such as the 100-mile Tevis Cup endurance ride, chuckwagon racing, and the Indian Relay.
Whether you dip into Horseography for reading pleasure or use it as a US geography curriculum, you’ll learn a lot about horses across the country.
Paperback, 8.5x11, 224 pages with color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-7333912-6-9
Age range: 10 to adult (there isn't anything objectionable in the content, this is just an estimate based on reading ability and interest level)
You might also like the Horsestory series. It's a natural complement to Horseography USA.
* If you're using Horsestory or Horseography with a homeschool co-op or Christian school, please purchase one copy of the book per family. Contact me if you'd like a discount for copies of ten or more.
Of course, the book can be read simply for pleasure. It's packed full of information about each state. For example, did you know?
Information about horses is included for each state. That may be a specific horse, a horse breed, or a horse event—current or from the past. For example:
Using Horseography USA as a Horse Geography Curriculum
Horses are at the heart of Horseography USA and make a subject that some children find boring, more interesting. Learning goals include:
I homeschooled my daughters over a seventeen-year-period. During that time, I didn't like being locked into a rigid curriculum schedule. Each family and child is different, so take these as suggestions only. Horseography is designed to be flexible, so adapt it so it works for you. Feel free to add your own ideas to my suggestions.
The states are covered in the book in alphabetical order. There is one quiz for every five states. If you're using the quizzes, it will make sense to work through the states in the order found in the book or at least in the five-state blocks that correspond to the quizzes.
Activity Pages
There are two activity pages in the book, following each state's content. If you're using Horseography with multiple children, download these pages and copy them as needed for use within your own family.
Fill in the top line with the basic state information—state name, capital, and nickname. Physically writing these helps imprint the information and the correct spelling.
The large, blank rectangle is for drawing any or all of the following. Students may draw the state—I find drawing the state(s) a great enhancement to learning and being able to recognize their shape/outline. Draw the state bird, flower, flag, or something about the horses from that state. If someone absolutely hates drawing, use this area for additional writing or perhaps print pictures from the internet or cut them from a magazine to paste in here.
Border states—students should list the states bordering the current state. This will vary from one to eight.
Visited checkbox—Check the box if the student has been to this state. You can also use one of the blank maps to color, or somehow indicate, the visited states.
People who live in the state—Indicating people you know who live in the state can help students relate to and remember the state.
Visiting the state—In this area, write what you'd like to see or do if you visit this state in the future. If you've already been to the state, you can use this to note things you already did there or things you want to do if you ever go back. Some attractions are listed in the information area for the state. You may need to search the internet if you're not familiar with those.
Interesting facts about the state—Write what you found most interesting or surprising about the state. If you know something I left out, include that as well.
Horses in the state—Use this area to write something about the horse information for that state. Given the limited area of one page in the book for this content, there's most likely more to the story. The Horsestory series has additional information about some of the stories in Horseography.
Horseography USA Cards
This 50-card deck is an optional supplement to the Horseography book. If purchased, they can be enjoyed simply for their content or used as flash cards to memorize the states and capitals and to recognize the state from its outline image.
One option would be to not give the student the entire deck of cards at once. They could "earn" each card by passing the quiz or completing the activity pages for a state.
The front of each card has a horse image and the state name. Show this side and ask for the name of the capital. Flip the card over to verify.
On the back is the state image, state capital, and a brief explanation of the horse pictured on the front. When viewing this side, you can cover the capital name with a finger to ask which state is pictured in the image.
The cards are 2.5"×3.5". They should fit into albums made for collectible cards like sports or trading cards—like this one, for example. You could use an album of this type to create a Horseography scrapbook. Use additional pieces of paper or cardstock to write or draw on and slip in along with the horse cards to provide more information.
Free Downloads
This page has downloadable Horseography USA items, including these suggestions.
The blank USA map may be used to indicate progress through the book, states, already visited, states you'd like to visit, favorite horse stories, etc. Those could all go on the same map if you use some kind of coding system or you could have a separate map for each. Students could also quiz themselves by filling in the state name and/or capital on the map.
Try to draw the entire USA freehand. A family that was part of a home church I attended, had an adopted son from China. He was fascinated with geography, and at the age of five could draw a recognizable US map!