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Matilda
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 7:46am | IP Logged
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I am not sure this counts as a Unit Study, but some ideas hit me after a trip to the post office.
I wrote about it here.
Any other ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated! 
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11 , 10 , 9 & 5 ) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
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MaryM
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| Posted: July 14 2007 at 12:39am | IP Logged
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This is most definitely a unit study! So where are all the other philatelists?
Well, we'll hop along with you, Matilda. We have already been pursuing many things postal this past year. I very much view the postage stamp as a miniature work of art and I am very intrigued with the numerous possibilities for making them the starting point for all kinds of homeschool activities. Last winter I posted some of my reflections on the nostalgia of stamps along with intentions to post more as we went along this year. I have many, many postal ideas and we have done some but I have not actually blogged them. So many ideas so little time to spend hours on a post (don't know how everyone seems to whip them up so quickly!  )
Matilda, it's so funny you should mention the National Postal Museum and ask if anyone had heard of it. We were just there last week while in Washington DC! We specifically sought it out as a destination and are so glad we did. Many of you are probably saying - "Postal Museum? How interesting can that be?" - Well you all are creative homeschoolers so you probably aren't saying that, but everyone else we told about our visit did. Really, it is a great museum as all Smithsonian museums are. Another great thing about it was that it was not crowded at all. The kids enjoyed it more than the other SI museums for that reason. We didn't have to wait in lines to do the interactive exhibits. I plan on posting a travel review on it when I'm back at my computer. Many of their interactive exhibits are available on the website (posted here and on Matilda's blog) in the Activity Zone section. I highly recommend really searching through that site - it is a treasureland of postal possibilities.
In the blog post I mentioned the Art of the Stamp exhibit. It is part of Smithsonian Institute's traveling exhibit collection. It is beautiful and we really enjoyed visiting it when it was here last fall. It is currently in TX (til August 5) - how convenient, though don't know it's really close in that huge state! But if you can get there it is well worth the time. Other upcoming locations of the exhibit listed here.
If you can schedule one, a field trip to the post office is interesting. We actually went with our homechool group to the local central mailing facility. Very interesting behind the scenes tour of all the sorting machines and such. If you can't get to a central mailing facility it is still fun to go to a local post office and see what goes on there behind the scenes.
For anyone living in the west or midwest you may be able to visit a Pony Express station along the old PE route. We stopped at one in Wyoming last fall on a trip to the grandparents. Then did some more study about the PE. I didn't realize how short-lived that service really was in our history - only 18 months. We also did Pony Express relay races as an activity at a history day here.
An interesting postal rabbit trail is the story about Owney the postal dog. (Article about Owney) The US post office gave the kids a small booklet about his life when we went on the tour. One of the books about him is listed in the booklist link Matilda posted. There are also these picture book about him.
A Small Dog's Life: Around the World with Owney
A Lucky Dog: Owney, US Rail Mail Mascot
All Aboard, Owney! The Adirondack Mail Dog
And an on-line book Owney the Traveling Dog
(And we did see his stuffed body at the National Postal Museum.)
The booklists from SI are good (we really like the Gibbons book and Mailing May). Here are a couple others not listed there:
Hi
Mr. Grigg's Work
American Philatelic Society has a great section for kids. It's an awesome place for lots of ideas for integrating stamps into learning (not just collecting) and has fun activities as well. I have more postal links on my computer and will add those when I have access,
There is something called Stamp Camp USA that started in Pennsylvania. They are starting to attend more and more of the regional/state stamp conventions around the country. They were here in Denver this spring at the stamp show for the first time. They had a variety of activities and a great exhibit with hands on materials. In general the stamp shows are not very kid friendly, but the ones that include a children's section or Stamp Camp are and seem to be growing. Check locally. We are finding the collectors shows like this (whether it be stamps, rocks/minerals, astronomy, etc.) to be fantastic place to for us as a homeschooling family to learn a bunch from people who are passionate about the topic! I just found that the Texas stamp show in Irving did have a Stamp Camp this year (June  so it's already past) - it's worth checking out next year. And a press release at that site looks like there will be a Stamp Camp at the Portland, OR show in August.
Another very interesting event coming up (anyway I think it is) is the release of the Gerald Ford commemorative stamp. We have been following this since his death in December. As you probably know, there is a postal rule that US stamps only depict portraits of people who have died. It is the tradition of the Postal Service to honor prominent Americans with a stamp no sooner than 10 years after their death. The exception to this policy is for a US President, who may be honored with a postage stamp on the first birth anniversary following death. Since Ford died in December and his 94th birthday would have been in July, I was wondering if a stamp would be released then. I have recently seen that it indeed will be released this summer. I have thought this was really interesting to follow since this is the first presidential stamps since our postal interest started.
And speaking of history and/or current events, Lady Bird Johnson's life and death can be discussed with these US postage stamps as a prompt since she was instrumental in the Beautify America laws and campaign of the 1960s. I say that just to point out that for almost any topic you cover, you can find a stamp to add to the study. They can become story prompts, narration illustrations, history timeline illustrations, nature journal additions. You can use them to discuss/illustrate/prompt science, art, history, literature studies. You can do geography and culture studies with stamps from around the world (and fun activities like matching stamps to their countries on a map). Study math with postage denominations and multiplication/division with stamp sheets. The possibilities are endless!
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 11:22pm | IP Logged
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 I just sat down to do a "quick search" before dh gets home, with the words "stamp collecting" to get some pointers and advice on starting this with my girls, who have become fascinated by stamps since the Lincoln stamp came out AND after finding out that there is a Our Lady of Altagracia stamp for the Dominican Republic....from this year's feast day celebration.
And, lo and behold, Charlotte and Mary......you have completely got this COVERED!!!! A few click-clicks here and there, and I'll know more about stamp collecting than I ever DREAMED!
Did you know there is actually an organization -- Collectors of Religion on Stamps (COROS)???
Ah yes......."The Possibilities ARE Endless!" That's your motto, isn't it, Mary?  
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Suzanne in ID
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Amanda
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After years of my casually bringing up stamps, my ds (almost 12) has finally expressed an interest in putting the stamps I've been setting aside into some kind of order--however, he envisions a map where you can put the stamps on the countries they're from. Are stamps ever stored in little plastic pockets, the way collectible coins are? Ooooh, my favorite kind of research--shopping! But if anyone has any brainstorms, please let me know.
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St. Margaret Clitherow Homeschool
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MaryM
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 3:13am | IP Logged
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I'm catching up with old threads - Amanda, you posted while I was on vacation - and I meant to answer you a long time ago, Suzanne. I would love to share any philatelic advice I can...
We are really getting into the hobby here. We are fortunate to have local to us our state's Philatelic Library. They have a kid's club (very small) and one of the volunteers has taken us under his wing - providing lots of info and freebie materials. The average age of stamp collectors is... well...quite elderly. Let me tell you they are super excited to see my kids and thrilled they are developing an interest in the hobby. They fear it will die out - well, other changes to the postal system might make that happen anyway...
My daughter put together this exhibit of Lincoln stamps for the recent state stamp show. She learned a lot - it was a great addition to our Lincoln bicentennial studies.
Amanda wrote:
| Are stamps ever stored in little plastic pockets, the way collectible coins are? |
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Yes, there is a clear storage mount that would be the equivelent to plastic pockets for coin or sports cards. I found this site which has a picture of the product and a great video for how to use them. Postage Stamp Clear Mounts
You can also just use postage stamp hinges to adhere them to your display. Video demo with that link also. We use a combination of the two in our various collections and displays. We like the mounts for the more valuable (or special) stamps.
The idea of mounting them on a map is a GREAT idea for display - postage stamp collecting and diplay can be anything you want it to be.
Suzanne, I know you had questions about books for collecting. You can get them from some of those dealers who are linked above. But a more economical route if you want the books is to check craft stores. Michaels used to sell them, though I haven't seen them recently, but Hobby Lobby has a stamp collecting section. The prices are a lot more reasonable there - especially with a coupon . The basics you need are just hinges (which are really cheap) and you can then mount stamps on any paper. For my youngest we started out with plain paper in a binder and mounted with the hinges. He arranges his by theme - each page being a different set or theme. I'll try to remember to take some pictures and upload them.
Hope this helps you get started. I have so much more to add, but know if I want to complete this post I won't get it done. I'll just keep adding info as I find time. Hopefully there are some other philatelists out there who will contribute their ideas as well...
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Mary M. in Denver
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Kathryn
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I find this interesting as well. I think of the stamp as a means to send forever greetings to loved ones near and far. There is nothing like a hand-written letter greeting you at the mailbox and to re-read those letters 5, 10, 20+ years later is priceless...esp. if it was one from a now deceased relative. I say STAMP AWAY....I sure hope the art of collecting stamps as well as the hand-written letter doesn't die out to email and texting.
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Kathryn in TX
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SuzanneG
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Getting a start on the stamp collecting is one of my projects for the summer....not a lot, i just want to get a simple system set up, so I'm checking in here again, and looking at some of the links.
That exhibit of the Lincoln stamps is SO GREAT , Mary@!!!!! 
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Suzanne in ID
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MaryM
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A postal service story from 1800's gold mining era. Well done picture book.
Calico Dorsey by Susan Lendroth
And another Owney book:
Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch by Mona Kerby
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Mary M. in Denver
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JennGM
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Great! my library has both! Thanks, Mary!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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MaryM
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I wanted to add another book I found through the fairly recent thread which made me aware of the Petershams' work. I found this oldie - America's Stamps (Maud and Miska Petersham). It is a wonderfully illustrated book with short bios on the various stamps of the US through the 1940's. Includes pictures of the stamps. Includes the history of stamps, letters and the postal service in America.
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Mary M. in Denver
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SuzanneG
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bump
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Suzanne in ID
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Rabbits at the Post Office: Stamp Study
