hollyfred2002 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 My 4 year old seems to enjoy geography and he picks up on it easily. I however don't really have any clever ideas on how to teach it other than looking at a map and pointing out different places. Is there a geography curriculum that would be appropriate for a 4 year old? If it helps...we are doing Right Start Math A, and working through Getting Ready for the Code, and The Ordinary Parents Guide for Teaching Reading. He looooves the math and tolerates the reading (somedays he is into it and somedays he's not. He does know how to read cvc words). He enjoys the Getting Ready for the Code Books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Vixen Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 :lurk5: Marisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMOm Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I think Evan-Moor's Daily Geography for Kindergarten would be fine for a 4yo. Especially if you do it orally- show him the map, talk about it & then just ask him the questions instead of having him read them & circle the answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 We are working through Evan Moore's Beginning Geography and it's right on for my 4yo. We also have HUGE maps up on our walls that we point to often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Check out the free geography games on www.sheppardsoftware.com We are using them to teach geography to our children. It has been working GREAT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhornby56 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 This is random, but my girls (2.5 and 5.5) are REALLY enjoying the Families of the World series of DVDs that I've checked out from the library. We find the places on a map and read some books, do a geopuzzle and call it good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbosh237 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I have always just read books, and then looked at our world map or US map to see where the different characters lived. We have always had fun with the books on FIAR. One of the books we have always loved and keep coming back to is How to Make An Apple Pie and See The World by Marjorie Priceman. It introduces them to so many places and when ever I pick it up from the library all I see are smiles. Some of our other favorite ones for Geography from FIAR were Cranberry Thanksgiving, Night of the moonjellies, and The Story about Ping. I would just keep it fun and light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyfred2002 Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Oh wow! Lots of great ideas. Thank you. Everytime my son creates a piece of art, it is a map...lol. He brought me a painting from yesterday and told me it was China and that we lived at the bottom in Texas. He gets his wires crossed. He loves to create "maps" though. I think it would be interesting to actually teach him some things as see the maps actually start to reflect his new knowledge. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 We are using Galloping the Globe (and I am doing it with my 5 and 3 year olds). I am supplementing with a lot of sources. We got some great maps from Geomatters at our HS convention and I am going to get a globe. I am doing really informal geography. We will talk about a country, read some books about it, find it on the map, look at the map to see if there are mountains or lakes or whatever, cook some food from that region, talk about what kids do in that region, etc. It is going to be a lot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Keep a simple atlas near your reading area to look up locations of stories. I've also used it to point out publisher locations ("London is in Great Britain; find it on the map!") for each book we read. I highly recommend this one: Rand McNally Junior Classroom Atlas http://www.amazon.com/Rand-McNally-Junior-Classroom-Atlas/dp/0528177346/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305230189&sr=8-1 ....but it's oop and costs $62 secondhand. :confused: ----------------------------------------- I've used this World Geography set from "Audio Memory"before with kids, with great success! http://www.audiomemory.com/geography.php The kids I nannied/homeschooled were older (2-4th grade) and had to fill in the maps, but your 4yo could learn the songs. ------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: I have not done the below project. Finally, a few years ago, this (below) was posted on another list to which I belong (Letter of the Week). It sounds like so much fun!!! I wish I was as brilliant as the mother posting below! Hi, My 7 year old son, 5 year old daughter and I are doing Country of the Week as our "social studies spine" in our homeschool this year. We gleaned the basic program structure from the Brightly Beaming website (thank you Katrina) and then built on from there. We are enjoying this year! For science each week we have chosen a plant and an animal which are representative of that country's flora and fauna (ie Bamboo and Pandas for China), On a page of "story book paper" (one can download this paper from Donna Young's free homeschool printables website), we have printed a picture of the plant on one side and a picture of the animal on the other, written facts about the animal/ plant on the lines below their pictures, three-hole-punched the page and placed it in a 1/2 inch binder (our "nature notebook") in the form of a two page spread. We also use DK's animals around the world sticker book for a fun review of animals and continents. Each week we listen to songs from the country we are studying on the "Wee Sing Around the World" CD. This exposes us to the language and music of that country. We do one craft each week from the book "Around the World Art and Activities: Visiting the 7 Continents through craft fun" by Judy Press. We try food from each country we study. Some of it hasn't gone over so well; but some the kids have really enjoyed. We try to play a game or do an activity from each country...I've asked some friends on Facebook who live in different countries to help me with that one :). For Japan we flew kites. For Mexico we made a pinata and busted it. For Brazil we played soccer... For story time we have been reading selections from "Around the World in 80 Tales" by Saviour Pirotta/ ill. by Richard Johnson, and DK's "Children Just Like Me" in association with UNICEF. I then give the kids short writing assignments (or oral assignments that I write down for them rather) such as "What if you lived in this child's country and were his/ her friend? What would you eat? What kind of house would you live in? What would you play with? What would you wear?", etc... I write their answers into separate special notebooks which I've labeled "__________'s Journey Around the World Journal" Oh! At the beginning of the year we made passports (little notebooks with dark blue cardstock covers and 1/4 sheets of plain typing paper inside) complete with a small photo and information about the child on the inside of the front cover. Each Friday, when we have finished studying a country, we go to the pretend "consulate" and see our "head official" (none other than my dh)and the kids report to him all that they have learned about the country. Then he solemnly takes stickers of flags from that country (from Dover "Flags of the World" sticker books) and affixes them into each of their passports as a "stamp". :) For math, spelling, and phonics we do our own workbooks/ games/ programs--we don't try to tie that in to the Country of the Week program. That's all I can think of for now. I hope that some of this post is helpful. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyfred2002 Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 Oh thanks! That's awesome:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domestic_engineer Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Expedition Earth is another option for the younger set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I second Sheppards Software for learning the names of states/countries. Both my boys have learned TONS of geography very young because of that site. I also think some of the geography printables and lesson plans at the Homeschool Creations blog look pretty good. Both of these resources are free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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