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Need US Geography suggestions


momtolgd
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What is your favorite curriculum/resource for learning US geography? What do you really like about it? We are working through Sonlight core 3 (D) and will move onto core 4 (E) after we finish. I would like to add in some more geography to it but am not sure what. Don't want to add anything too intensive, but would really like to give the kids a solid foundation of US geography this year, and move into world geography next year.

 

Our older two kids will be in 5th and 3rd grades this year.

 

So what do you/your kids like and why?

 

Thanks!

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The kids in our co-op really enjoyed Little Man in the Map

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Man-Map-Remember-States/dp/0978510046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308866791&sr=8-1 but that is mostly to learn the states..

 

We are using the Complete book of Maps and Geography to supplement our World Geography and Culture program for next year.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Maps-Geography/dp/1561895032/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308866874&sr=1-12

 

 

or I recently just found this website that may be helpful. It has a long list of books to supplement the different Sonlight cores.

 

http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/sonlight.htm

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I read through A Child's Geography of the World (old Hillyer book like CHOW), and I really liked it. The first part of the book goes through all of the states. It is outdated, so it needs some editing on the fly, but I thought it was great. After the chapter, I have my kids find the places on our large, laminated USA map.

 

I just bought The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide from Geomatters. It is a resource that you can use as a curriculum or as a supplement for K-12 from my understanding. I haven't gone through much of it yet, but it looks like a very good geography resource which includes a CD for printing maps, etc. It is a Cathy Duffy recommendation.

 

We are also planning on using the ideas from the geography chapter of The Core (Bortins). That involves mostly the kids copying and drawing their own maps. I think that chapter is the most useful in the whole book.

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We're hitting US Geography this Fall with the following:

 

 

- Interactive 3D Maps, which has activities on major events in History. There are at least 10 we could use this coming year. This is part of History.

- remarkeable map from Sonlight, where ds has to locate and trace each state

- reading the book United States: A State-by-State Guide. Ds will

read it and write down the facts he's gleaned into his notebook.

- we'll use the Geography US map puzzle weekly or biweekly

- Holling C. Holling books A Tree in the Trail and another I can't remember now

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I would highly recommend 10 Days in the USA as a method for learning where states are. I've never played it, to be honest, but I have played and love 10 Days in Africa, the first game in this series, and i believe the game mechanics are identical.

 

For a little test of your children's knowledge of the geography, try playing the game without the board! (The board is a map and you don't actually move pieces on it, so this is quite possible.)

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