I will hopefully be moving to Georgia soon and two random questions.

Firstly what is the situation with mobile phones and schools. My daughter is 11 and has a mobile at the moment as she gets the bus to school etc, but is not allowed to use the phone in school. Do US schools generally allow kids mobiles in school?

And secondly I am trying to put together some fun learning activities for the kids (11 and 7) so that they can start learning about America and american history. Anyone know of some good websites or books.

Thanks
Dave

Most schools allow phones, but it will be down to the local school district and the individual schools as to the exact rules and how they are enforced.

Take a look here for children's history books, but you should be aware that there is a lot of political meddling in the teaching of history (and other subjects ) so that children are taught the "right sort of history", which may, or may not, have much to do with the big picture of the history of what was actually going on at the time. ..... There was a story just a few days ago about the state legislature in Oklahoma considering banning the teaching of college level history to high school students because it does not include enough "American exceptionalism", in other words, enough drum-banging "isn't America the greatest country!"

I subscribed my kids to the USA edition of Little Passports. They get a monthly activity book with fun facts and activities for two states. They also have a big map of the states that I also refer to!

Phones -
I have 2 in Junior High - they are both allowed to bring phones in, but must be off/silenced during lessons unless the teacher tells them they can use them. They do seem to use them quite a bit for internet research, although mine both have tablets for this that they carry on a daily basis. During lunch/between periods they can use them for whatever although the school wifi is, naturally, fairly well restricted. At our school, only the 6th graders are upstairs, and the are prohibited from using the phones on the stairs - teachers are posted to ensure compliance!

I also have one in Elementary, and they are allowed to bring phones with pretty much the same restrictions. Mine doesn't have a phone, but does use her kindle and ipod touch at school quite a lot.

Books -
mine enjoyed the "Who was" series - "Who Was George Washington" etc etc. You'll find them on Amazon. Same series runs "What was" - Pearl Harbor, Gettysburg etc. All pretty good,although I can't speak to the actual historical accuracy, as I got a lot of my US history knowledge there too
Failing that, have them watch Forrest Gump a few times - just remember to fsat forward through the "ee ee ee" scene