Geography

After hearing the neighbor kids argue over where France was on a map and looking over and seeing that none of them knew I knew geography was going to be a huge focus this upcoming year in our homeschool. These kids were current 4th, 5th, and 6th graders and they could only place 3 countries in Europe correctly on a map.

I haven't really stressed geography much so far. We do maps with our history but never much more than that. I've attempted several made for public school geography programs and well to be honest they weren't that exciting. We've done Me on the Map and made the really cool book that most homeschoolers do but I'm ready to really work on geography in a bigger sense. We've also done the GeoPuzzles which have helped my kids a lot and are loads of fun to do. We've also played the 10 Days in .... and loved them.  Okay moving on from what we have done and moving on to what we are going to do.

First up this year is a book called A Child's Introduction to the World: Geography, Cultures, and People. This books seems to be a really nice introduction to geography. There is loads of info in here and it all looks to be easy to understand for elementary school students. It starts with basics and moves up from there. It has some fun ways to do hands on projects to make geography come alive.

Second up is a book I discovered in a university class on teaching kids social studies without a textbook. I loved this book and have kept it all these years. I'm so excited I found it and plan on using it this year. It's called EarthSearch A Kids Geography Museum in a Book. It appears to be out of print but amazon has some used dealers who have it and I highly suggest you get it if you plan on doing geography with your kids. It starts with an introduction and it has loads of fun facts. It's not your typical geography book but it has a way with kids. Fun hands on projects to teach geography and loads of fun little facts. Trust me your kids will love this book.

Lastly we are touring the USA with this last curriculum in geography this year. It's Road Trip USA from the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler. Hopefully we will like it. I like what I've seen so far and other than a few tweaks to make it work for us I see us doing this.