poetic license Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Does anyone have any comments on this book, Evan Moor Beginning Geography, Grades K-2? I'm tired of hunting the net for pdf maps so I thought I'll give this a go. Also, any good, non-"twaddle" books for reading about geography? Preferably secular, but I don't mind a religious reference that mentions God as long as it's not full of scripture references. This is for early elementary age. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 By far our favorite book about geography has been the Amazing Pop-up Geography Book. :thumbup: Other favorites have been: Horrible Geography of the World Geography from A to Z Maps and Globes As for the Evan Moor book, I've been really happy with it (just finished it off recently). It's easy to implement and relatively fun for my kiddo, who enjoys working through it. I'll be buying it for subsequent kiddos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I like the Evan Moor workbooks. I ordered the Geography book to use next year and plan on tweaking it to work with a new 3rd grader and K'r. I also like Scrambled States of America, both the book and the game and will use these with our geography program. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1427207305/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009XBY1W/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER There is also a Scholastic PDF on sale right now for $1.00 that I downloaded and looks really good. http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/instant-habitat-dioramas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 As for the Evan Moor book, I've been really happy with it (just finished it off recently). It's easy to implement and relatively fun for my kiddo, who enjoys working through it. I'll be buying it for subsequent kiddos. That's good to know. It's on my list for next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mohsmom23 Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 We are using the Evan Moor Beginning Geography book this year, and my dd absolutely loves it. She always begs to do geography whether it's on the schedule for the day or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I used EM Beginning Geography last year and really like it. When we did it, it was in three books. This year, I plan on doing thte newer version with my up-and-coming K'er. As I was ordering, I decided that my 2nd grader would enjoy doing it again with his brother so I ordered two copies. Unfortunately, we haven't found a good follow-up yet. Galloping the Globe provides book titles and ideas for studying different countries and is a good resource but not exactly what I'm looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudGrandma Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I never used the EM begining geography, but all 3 of my kids are using the EM daily geography books and we love them. I have a 6, 9 and 10 year old.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I used EM Beginning Geography last year and really like it. When we did it, it was in three books. This year, I plan on doing thte newer version with my up-and-coming K'er. As I was ordering, I decided that my 2nd grader would enjoy doing it again with his brother so I ordered two copies. Unfortunately, we haven't found a good follow-up yet. Galloping the Globe provides book titles and ideas for studying different countries and is a good resource but not exactly what I'm looking for. The new one is FAR better than the 3 book set was!! And you're right- I haven't found a good follow-up to it yet either. :( I don't like a lot of EM materials but I really wish they'd come out with a book to use after this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poetic license Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 This is great to hear, I ordered the EM on a whim and hoped it would be good. Hearing from you all has me excited. DS loves maps so hoping this will be fun. Anyone have thoughts on Hilyer's Geography book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krismoose Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I got the pdf version of Beginning Geography from CurrClick, and it's been great because I wanted to do the pages in a different order, with 2 kids. My K ds really likes it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skueppers Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 For those of you who have used books like this -- can you tell me why I should? What will my children learn from them that they won't learn just by using maps and globes with me, reading books about history and nature, going to museums, etc.? I've looked at the National Geography Standards, and I really can't figure out why I would need specific geography materials. I feel like geography comes up all the time in day-to-day life or in other studies. What am I missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 (edited) For those of you who have used books like this -- can you tell me why I should? What will my children learn from them that they won't learn just by using maps and globes with me, reading books about history and nature, going to museums, etc.? I've looked at the National Geography Standards, and I really can't figure out why I would need specific geography materials. I feel like geography comes up all the time in day-to-day life or in other studies. What am I missing? I doubt your missing anything. For me, with 4 young kids I already have a lot of stuff to do and subjects to cover in a day that geography doesn't always get done in the younger years. Books like the Evan Moor one don't necessarily teach my kids new concepts but at least reinforce things that I hope we've covered at some point- what a mountain is, what are the plains, how to read a grid, etc. We talk about directions IRL but I don't always have the time to take out a city map and teach them how to use it so having little mapping activities helps get that area covered, however simplistic it may be at this level. I actually think the simple maps teach more at K/grade 1 than a real map because those can be overwhelming. When we go to a museum, it's difficult to spread myself between grade 4 and the toddler and make sure they all take in what I'd like them to take in so I like to have decent quality workbooks here and there so they have some written activities to reinforce or touch on certain topics. I'm not a big workbook person myself, and again, not a big fan of EM materials but unfortunately, I have to rely on them since most days I have more kids than one on one time to teach them all I'd like to. :001_unsure: If you're already doing mapping with your kids and covering geography topics, there's no real reason why you "should" use a workbook like this- although it is quite fun- my dc really like it. I don't think you're missing anything by not using it. :) Edited February 19, 2011 by plain jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyz Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 We completed EM Beginning Geography and LOVED it! We just started Expedition Earth. We only do the secular portions and there is PLENTY to do and learn. Even after cutting out all of the religious references, I had to extend the planned week to about 2 weeks instead of one. I added in the notebooking pages from Galloping the Globe as well as the lapbook (which is scheduled in Expedition Earth), and so far we really like it. At the end, we'll end up with a nice geography lapbook and keepsake notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nov05mama Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 We just started Expedition Earth. We only do the secular portions and there is PLENTY to do and learn. Even after cutting out all of the religious references, I had to extend the planned week to about 2 weeks instead of one. We are also doing Expedition Earth. I actually created a separate wiki instead of posting everything on my blog b/c I wanted to include links for each country we are visiting. We've only done "Intro to Geography" and visited the Poles and China so far...and we are about to head to Japan at the beginning of March. You can see my full wiki here with links and everything: http://www.exploringourearth.wikispaces.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skueppers Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I doubt your missing anything. For me, with 4 young kids I already have a lot of stuff to do and subjects to cover in a day that geography doesn't always get done in the younger years. Thanks for your response, it was very helpful. I sometimes wonder whether I'm failing to cover some important area, especially when I see that other people consider it a discrete subject for which they prefer to use dedicated workbooks or curricula. It makes me think that maybe there are some skills I don't even know exist that my kids ought to be learning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 My daughter totally eats up geography workbooks! We've done the first few years of all these programs: Maps, Graphs, Charts and Maps, Graphs, Globes, and Scholastic Success with Maps, something by Rand McNally... We're now getting into the Evan Moore Continent ones, starting with Africa. I didn't want to be a big workbook fan, but changed my mind with geography workbooks. She now draws world maps, state maps, country maps, etc... We're going to do our own thing with mapping the world by heart soon, she digs this stuff so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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