? About Combining World Geography, History, & Literature

[jibaker103]

I am so confused on what to do after reading the thread on Trail Guide to World Geography!!! :lol: I was planning to correlate World Geography with World History stretched out over 2 years and then move on to US History & Geography. I want ds to learn physical and cultural geography for each country we study. I want him to have fun and depth with this at the high school level. If I add on the Ultimate Geography Guide do you think I will have the time to fit in History (TWTM with Spielvogel's Human Odyssey for a spine), Geography (World Geo, Ultimate Guide, Notebook CD, Geo Thru Art, & Cooking), Literature (TWTM), & Composition (IEW's History Based Writing) in 3-4 weeks for each country?

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

[jibaker103]

:lurk5:Anyone, please! I need advice!

[plimsoll]

I have given up trying to correlate so much. This has freed me from much strain. Instead of spending huge amounts of time trying to correlate uncorrelatable (?) things, I can spend more time homeschooling my son.

 

Find a geography book/curriculum that you like, allocate a certain amount of time per week to geography, and just do it. Kids are capable of learning US geography while simultaneously studying the history of Ancient China. Similarly, it is possible for them to learn world geography while studying American history.

 

Same thing with writing - find a writing program you like and allocate x amount of time for writing per day. Then let that proceed at its own pace. Don't worry about it diverging from what you're studying in history. If you wish, once in a while take one of the writing assignments that are found in whatever books you are using for history and assign that as a writing assignment. While working on that particular assignment, that constitutes your daily writing time. When that has been completed, return to your regularly scheduled writing curriculum.

 

This approach and attitude has helped me a lot.

[JennW in SoCal]

I don't combine lots of individual programs as I rarely use any, but I do integrate subjects as much as possible.

 

This is how I'd go about it using a great book, for instance as the starting point.

 

First I'd have my student write a context page as described in the WTM, using a text like Human Odyssey. Next, if I really wanted him to learn about the country and cultures, I'd have him fill in a blank map, either of the modern or historical area, with the major cities, mountains and rivers all identified. He'd either have to use a reference atlas we have or research on-line. I might also have him research the current politics, culture, languages or religions of the area. We'd watch a travel DVD or an historical documentary about the area.

 

While reading the book he might have to research an unfamiliar term so as to understand what it is. An essay assignment might be about how the writer's circumstances shaped the story, whether the history of the time or the culture mattered, and more research and thinking will have to go into this exercise. If the book is long and I plan on taking many weeks with it, then I'll throw in more short research topics along the way that cover related people, places and events.

 

A subscription to National Geographic would be terrific for learning about the world -- the articles, photographs and maps are endlessly fascinating. Buy a good atlas, too as they often have many pages at the beginning about reading and interpreting maps, and they often have maps showing everything from population density to precipitation details! Perhaps you can use a geography or writing program simply as a reference tool rather than trying to schedule it all in.

 

Hope that helps your thinking and planning process.

[jibaker103]

Thank you both for your advice. I have somethings to consider now!

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

[Julie in MN]

? About Combining World Geography, History, & Literature

 

I was planning to correlate World Geography with World History stretched out over 2 years and then move on to US History & Geography.

 

I am planning to do this with MFW. So I know it can be done. But you have to have balance. Your student can't learn "everything" about "everything." (Believe me, I tried that :) )

[Cathy in TX]

I am so confused on what to do after reading the thread on Trail Guide to World Geography!!! :lol: I was planning to correlate World Geography with World History stretched out over 2 years and then move on to US History & Geography. I want ds to learn physical and cultural geography for each country we study. I want him to have fun and depth with this at the high school level. If I add on the Ultimate Geography Guide do you think I will have the time to fit in History (TWTM with Spielvogel's Human Odyssey for a spine), Geography (World Geo, Ultimate Guide, Notebook CD, Geo Thru Art, & Cooking), Literature (TWTM), & Composition (IEW's History Based Writing) in 3-4 weeks for each country?

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

 

I did something similar this year, but only did one-third of the Spielvogel Human Odyssey book, chapters 21-34, which are the modern history years. I had my dd study any new countries mentioned in the history spine. (This worked well until we hit Africa. She ended up doing African geography in the summer because it was too many countries too fast to do with the chapter or two on Africa.)

 

Here is the course description I typed up for the course I titled "World Geography with Modern History":

 

Description: mapping borders, major waterways, capitals, and major cities, as well as writing informational pages (including official name, capital, form of government, area, population, life expectancy, official languages, literacy rates, religions, ethnic groups, currency, GNP, climate, highest point, and an interesting fact discovered while researching the country) about 153 countries of the world; identifying countries from memory by filling in blank outline maps of the world, and filling in each country’s capital; concurrently studying world history from 1850 to modern days and its impact on the current borders of the world’s countries; writing a research paper on the Great Depression.

 

Good luck!

 

Cathy

[jibaker103]

I did something similar this year, but only did one-third of the Spielvogel Human Odyssey book, chapters 21-34, which are the modern history years. I had my dd study any new countries mentioned in the history spine. (This worked well until we hit Africa. She ended up doing African geography in the summer because it was too many countries too fast to do with the chapter or two on Africa.)

 

Here is the course description I typed up for the course I titled "World Geography with Modern History":

 

Description: mapping borders, major waterways, capitals, and major cities, as well as writing informational pages (including official name, capital, form of government, area, population, life expectancy, official languages, literacy rates, religions, ethnic groups, currency, GNP, climate, highest point, and an interesting fact discovered while researching the country) about 153 countries of the world; identifying countries from memory by filling in blank outline maps of the world, and filling in each country’s capital; concurrently studying world history from 1850 to modern days and its impact on the current borders of the world’s countries; writing a research paper on the Great Depression.

 

Good luck!

 

Cathy

 

Thank you so much for this. Helps to know I'm not completely nuts for attempting this!

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

[jibaker103]

Does anyone have an opinion on the Ultimate Timeline Guide? Is it absolutely necessary to make Trail Guide to World Geography a high school level course?

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

[Julie in MN]

I haven't used Trailguide, but the Ultimate guide is something I keep on my shelf for the long-term. It has timeline figures that I've used to fill in on occasion (presidents etc.), a few timeline games, a notebook page for listing different types of events in one time frame, & other things.

 

Julie

[Cedarmom]

I used Omnibus and Spielvogel along with Trail guide. Even though Trail is a one semester class, we spread it over a year. He spent about 30 minutes a day. I gave him 1 credit for World History and Geography.

[Mommyfaithe]

I have given up trying to correlate so much. This has freed me from much strain. Instead of spending huge amounts of time trying to correlate uncorrelatable (?) things, I can spend more time homeschooling my son.

 

Find a geography book/curriculum that you like, allocate a certain amount of time per week to geography, and just do it. Kids are capable of learning US geography while simultaneously studying the history of Ancient China. Similarly, it is possible for them to learn world geography while studying American history.

 

Same thing with writing - find a writing program you like and allocate x amount of time for writing per day. Then let that proceed at its own pace. Don't worry about it diverging from what you're studying in history. If you wish, once in a while take one of the writing assignments that are found in whatever books you are using for history and assign that as a writing assignment. While working on that particular assignment, that constitutes your daily writing time. When that has been completed, return to your regularly scheduled writing curriculum.

 

This approach and attitude has helped me a lot.

 

:iagree: yup- uh-huh...what he said!

 

Faithe