Does your kid actually know geography?

[Karen in CO]

If so, help me.

I've decided, partially through the influence of one of ds's professors, that I want my girls to know the name, capital and location of all of the countries. yep, all of them.

 

We've tried the country puzzles, but one girl hates puzzles and the other is an emergent reader so that isn't going to work. We have a cool, talking globe, but it is more random, I want systematic. I could make flashcards, but that isn't going to happen. Is there any hope?

 

Thanks

Edited December 16, 2011 by Karen in CO

[regentrude]

My son has memorized all the countries and most capitals playing these games:

 

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm

 

He started with one continent and learned all the countries, then moved to the other continents. After that, he started on the capitals. You can also do rivers and mountain ranges.

 

ETA: He also has a wall map of the world, and we have a globe sitting in the living room. As soon as a country comes up in conversation and we are not entirely sure, we look it up on the globe.

Edited December 16, 2011 by regentrude

[Critterfixer]

Well, mine don't know enough geography yet, but they properly identified Mesopotamia last summer on a map, so I have high hopes. I've got some vintage geography books for help with instruction methods, but I haven't been able to use them yet this year.

 

When my brother and sister were young homeschoolers we had a Geo-Safari. Both of them loved to use it and it is fun and interactive. Not sure how available they are now...

[LibraryLover]

Talking Globe

Stack the States app

Stack the Countries app

Sheppardsoftware.com-- which is awesome and my fav

[zenjenn]

I have a world map, a US map, and a globe in our school room. We reference the map as often as is practical.

 

My youngest (1st grader) can identify all the continents correctly, and locate a few major states (the state we live in, the state she was born in, and iconic states like Texas, Florida, Alaska...) She can locate a handful of major iconic and large nations (China, India, Canada, the US, Mexico.)

 

My oldest (3rd grader) can locate all of the above, plus several additional states, oceans, and major countries that have come up in the study of history or literature. If I name most major nations, she will be able to in most cases place it in the correct continent.

 

We haven't done much formal geography study - just discussions using the map as a focal point, and then I will occasionally quiz them by asking them to point out locations on the map that we have previously discussed. I did teach them N/S/E/W as well.

 

I am content with their geographical knowledge for now.

[Kuovonne]

We use Visualize World Geography to memorize the names and locations of all the countries. It is super easy. Just pop in the DVDs. (I wouldn't recommend doing it without the DVDs.) I do reviews with post-it flags on a blank map, and even my 5 year old can label all the countries in Asia.

 

It won't do capitals though.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Kuovonne

[In the Rain]

:bigear: Could you share what your ds's professor said? I'm curious why it is important to know every capitol city. :001_smile:

 

My 10yo is getting a talking globe for Christmas. She is interested in geography, but I wouldn't say she knows much yet.

[Amy Jo]

How about drawing the map from memory as in The Core by Bortins? That's what we are working on.

[NotSoObvious]

My 9 year olds know all of the states and most capitols, just from a poster in their room. They know a lot of countries from the map work in the SOTW AGs. They also went to an IB school from K-2 where geography was emphasized, so they have a solid foundation for continents, oceans, and generally where most countries are located.

 

The met a man from Serbia the other day and he explained to them that Serbia is between Italy and Greece. They couldn't wait to get home and find it on the map. I'll sheepishly admit, I didn't know exactly where Serbia was, even though I learned all of the countries and their capitols in 6th grade.

 

For my girls, their retention is much higher when it is linked to something meaningful. While I might eventually use a program to just "memorize," I think it's equally important to use the map when discussing history, current events, stories, holidays, etc.

[julikins]

Right now we are doing MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures. It doesn't go in-depth in studying about every country, but there is a Country game included (that they developed) that you learn the countries by continent, then once you know those, you add another continent. Then once you know the location and names of all the countries you can add in the capitals and then landmarks. My kids love it (4th and 1st).

 

Another thing I plan to do in middle school is the program called "Map the World by Heart", or something similar. I want my children to know the countries of the world, something about the actual geography of each place, and something about those people, so they can be globally-minded. This will open up a whole world of opportunity (heehee) for them with international business possibilities if they want to go in that direction. I think regardless of their career choices later on, it will be a positive benefit they received from homeschooling that will mean they are truly educated in the things that matter to God and not only what's cool or in vogue with the public educational system. I don't know if that last statement makes too much sense. Oh well, it's just really important to me and I believe it is to God as well, since He made and loves the whole world.

[regentrude]

Sorry, but since most people here misspell the word:

a capitol is a specific building. Most countries do not have capitols.

 

Every country, however, has a capital: the major city which is usually the center of government.

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

We use Visualize World Geography to memorize the names and locations of all the countries. It is super easy. Just pop in the DVDs. (I wouldn't recommend doing it without the DVDs.) I do reviews with post-it flags on a blank map, and even my 5 year old can label all the countries in Asia.

 

It won't do capitols though.

 

Does this have Christian content?

 

How long are the videos, and can you give me an idea of what the lessons are like?

[higginszoo]

We didn't really start systematic study until my boys were in 4th and 7th grades. It came pretty easily to them then with Runkle. My now-5th grader's favorite reinforcement is an iphone app on his itouch called Stack the Countries. Their sister between them (in 7th now) and baby sister are still working on states and how to get to friends' houses who live in a mile radius without calling me, lost. :glare:

Edited December 16, 2011 by higginszoo

[jakesask]

Sorry, but since most people here misspell the word:

a capitol is a specific building. Most countries do not have capitols.

 

Every country, however, has a capital: the major city which is usually the center of government.

 

 

Thank-you!

[stm4him]

My kids are learning quite a bit of geography from CC Foundations and also will actually draw the whole world in Challenge A in 7th grade........

 

stm4him

[JudoMom]

I have Expedition Earth if you want to look at it.

[Amira]

I had to learn all the capitals and countries in 5th grade and it's turned out to be one of the most useful things I learned in elementary school. I use the games at Iliketolearn.com and then quiz my children once a week. We're always going back and reviewing and will continue to do so till I'm sure everything is in their heads. We also play lots of geography games and when they were little, we listened to Geography Songs. If we live in a place where I can hang maps up, we always have many around and I make sure that anytime a country comes up, they know where it is.

 

They're best at Asia, since they've lived here, but I don't know that we can live in Africa just to learn the countries there better. :)

[jakesask]

I have a major complaint with how most homeschool programs and classical education books approach geography. Knowing where places are on a map isn't equivalent to knowing geography. This is a misinterpretation of the discipline of geography and geographic work. Believing that geography = maps is what seems to keep so many students away from studying geography in university, and I have found that once students do take a geography class, they find that it is a truly interesting and holistic subject.

 

Geography is a study of the relationships between places and people, and the study of spatial patterns on the Earth. Geographers study everything from how blind people navigate down a city street, to where hospitals should be located to best serve a population, to how the local environment impacts diarrhea rates in Bangladesh. Geography has been neatly defined as the study of human-environment interactions.

 

The best way to learn where countries are on the world map is to learn about them and develop relationships in your head. Rote memorization of maps is certainly possible, and filling in blank maps over and over and over again is one way to do that memorizing. But those arbitrary patterns can be forgotten quickly without constant review.

 

I've found that students who know something about the lay of the land, the history, and the people in different parts of the world have a much better and more permanent handle on where things are. Pakistan and India are fighting over the state of Kashmir? They must border each other then. Germany invaded Poland? These two countries are probably close to each other. There is a big mountain range that runs down the east side of South America? How can we use that information to understand other traits of the physical and human environments in South America and to help us remember which nations are the mountain nations on this continent?

[Allearia]

My dh got a game called Stack the States on his iPhone. Oh my, my kids are so into the states now, especially the 6yo is learning the shapes, cities, weird facts, etc. At first he had to answer all the questions for them, but they started to remember and be able to answer themselves and are very excited about maps, state books, etc. I can't say they have all the states and capitals memorized yet but they are on their way there.

 

Presidents vs Aliens is doing the same thing for the presidents...

[Karen in CO]

I have Expedition Earth if you want to look at it.

Oh wow. It has recipes too. and lesson plans. and flash cards. and is in my price range. I'd love to look at it. Thank you. :D

[Mergath]

My dd can identify around forty countries. We have a big world map taped up on the living room wall, and she's always randomly had me tell her the names of different countries. For some reason, they just stuck. :tongue_smilie:

 

For what it's worth, I couldn't even find the UK on a world map until a couple years ago. I switched schools in eighth grade and somehow missed ever having geography.

[ErinE]

We're doing the states right now and I purchased an atlas to make my own curriculum. I created notebook pages for every state which listed capital, a few other facts, and the state flag. On the back are outline maps from National Geographic. I also have an outline map for the United States; before completing a state notebook page, he colors in the state on the US map. Twice a week, we look at the US map and he goes through the states we've studied. I randomly select states so he won't memorize the order. Then, we read a short blurb about the state in the atlas and fill out a notebook page.

 

On the map, we label:

* The capital and three to four other large cities

* All bordering states or countries

* Major bodies of water and rivers

* Any major geographic features like mountains or deserts

 

My son really looks forward to this and wants to do all the countries next year so I'm creating a curriculum based on this book. It has a short blurb on 180+ countries and a colored map showing major landforms. Again, we will use the National Geographic outline maps to fill out a notebook page. Putting this together is time consuming but I'm trying to do a couple countries a week so we'll be ready to start up when we complete our state study.

 

My son's geographic knowledge has increased tremendously from this exercise and he's really looking forward to next year. We'll probably cycle through the US and the world again, this time focusing on human geography. However, I think having the physical geography down will really help him understand the human elements.

[...................]

All I care about really, is them knowing where everything is on a map. We do the Map Skills books every year and talk about movement, location, etc, and all that but what I really want is for them to have a clue when people talk about a foreign country!

 

My kids were learning a LOT when we were playing the "Ten Days in..." series of board games.

 

My husband and I just mastered all of Europe using GeoMaster on the Ipod or Iphone or Ipad. It's awesome and fun. However, when you start knowing nothing, it takes some discipline to get through till it's fun...so I haven't started it with the kids yet but I have high hopes.

 

My husband actually mastered all of South America, and all of the States, and all of Europe, and it was really fun for him. He's working on Asia now which is very difficult (I think there are 89 countries in Asia or something.)

 

So my plan is to just use Geomaster and offer a reward if they can do one entire continent without more than 2 mistakes. I'll have them start with Europe.

[ErinE]

I've found that students who know something about the lay of the land, the history, and the people in different parts of the world have a much better and more permanent handle on where things are. Pakistan and India are fighting over the state of Kashmir? They must border each other then. Germany invaded Poland? These two countries are probably close to each other. There is a big mountain range that runs down the east side of South America? How can we use that information to understand other traits of the physical and human environments in South America and to help us remember which nations are the mountain nations on this continent?

 

I agree with this. Expanding the information beyond the physiography will help the child remember more about the country. I would just say that, right now, I don't think my child needs to know where to site a hospital or the full history of various conflicts between countries. I hope we will go through two cycles of geography: first, the physical features, and second, the human geography. Knowing the physical location, bordering countries, and the specific landforms will help understand the human component.

 

I think understanding the physical first makes later study of the human element easier.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Right now we are doing MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures. It doesn't go in-depth in studying about every country, but there is a Country game included (that they developed) that you learn the countries by continent, then once you know those, you add another continent. Then once you know the location and names of all the countries you can add in the capitals and then landmarks. My kids love it (4th and 1st).

 

 

 

 

:iagree: Absolutely! My 4th grader and 8th grader (though my 8th grader had a ton of geography before so alot of this is review) know all the countries, locations, capitals and landformsof N. America (ok, thats lame, all kids do :lol:) All the countries, locations, landforms and capitals of Central America and all the countries, locations, landforms and capitals of South America. They LOVE the geography game. We are going to Europe next.

 

Now like julikins said it does not have every single country but it is easy for you to add those in! We LOVE ECC

[HSinNH]

My son has memorized all the countries and most capitals playing these games:

 

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm

 

He started with one continent and learned all the countries, then moved to the other continents. After that, he started on the capitals. You can also do rivers and mountain ranges.

 

ETA: He also has a wall map of the world, and we have a globe sitting in the living room. As soon as a country comes up in conversation and we are not entirely sure, we look it up on the globe.

 

 

:iagree: Love sheppardsoftware.com!

[idnib]

My kids actually get reinforcement from this shower curtain. It's really colorful and brightens up the bathroom. It has capitals and other major cities marked. The toilet faces the bathtub in our bathroom. ;-)

 

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=114153&RN=382&

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Sorry, but since most people here misspell the word:

a capitol is a specific building. Most countries do not have capitols.

 

Every country, however, has a capital: the major city which is usually the center of government.

 

 

I didn't see this until after my post and I went back to double check my spelling :lol: I am good though

[mycalling]

I made two stacks of cards; one of important places around the world (Panama canal, Ural Mountains, etc) and one of countries. The kids picked 2 cards to then research and give short oral reports on, including showing us the locations on a map or globe. They loved teaching us something and we all got to learn about multiple places together. There are tons of informational videos online so emergent readers can participate also.

 

I stick with location games online for younger kids.

Edited December 16, 2011 by MyCalling

[Embassy]

 

The best way to learn where countries are on the world map is to learn about them and develop relationships in your head. Rote memorization of maps is certainly possible, and filling in blank maps over and over and over again is one way to do that memorizing. But those arbitrary patterns can be forgotten quickly without constant review.

 

 

 

:iagree: We spend a lot of time on geography because it is such an important topic to our family, but my kids don't know the names of all the countries and the capitals. We focus on getting to know the culture and what makes each country different. We spend an entire school year on 2-3 countries studying them in depth. We do some map-related work with the country, but in general we are getting to know and appreciate the culture. We look a little at the past, the customs, the religions, and the day to day life. I do like the 10 Days in _____ games as a way to learn where countries are in relation to another. Take Off is good too.

[butterflymommy]

Right now we are doing MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures. It doesn't go in-depth in studying about every country, but there is a Country game included (that they developed) that you learn the countries by continent, then once you know those, you add another continent.

 

We've used MFW ECC too and my kids can identify all the countries in the geography game. It amazed me how quickly my kids learned the countries. The curriculum says to add the country capitals once you know the countries.

 

We didn't end up using the full curriculum but you could just buy a student packet to get the geography game. It's simple enough to make yourself but the packaged one is nice and colorful. Basically it's blank maps of each continent with numbers on each country, and a stack of cards with the country name on one side and the number on the other-- you play by taking turns matching the numbers to countries. We also use it for pop quizzes without actually playing the game.

 

The geography game has been one of my few homeschooling successes over the past year :tongue_smilie:.

[Homemama2]

I have a world map, a US map, and a globe in our school room. We reference the map as often as is practical

 

We do this. Also, once a week we have a blank map that we try to label. This year we are doing Europe as we study the middle ages. All they do is label the countries they know from memory and try to learn one new one per week. We tie it into history, so if we learn about something that happened in Norway, that will be the new country we add. If we spend 3 or 4 weeks learning about what was happening in France, then I just choose a random country to learn. It seems to be working pretty well. So far, they have learned about 12 of the countries although they don't always get the spelling correct. We aren't worrying about capitalsfor the countries yet at this age, although we will learn the state capitals for the US next year when we work on the learning North America.

 

Another thing that has helped is having placemats that they use for meals. We have world map ones, and US ones. They've picked up quite a bit from those, too.

[Karen in CO]

We discuss landforms and how geography influences culture as part of our history education. I think it is very important, and we're really good at including it. This is purely for memorization. I just want my elementary age students to know that Georgia is a country and have a mental picture of where Burma is when we talk about it during dinner. My first grader doesn't actually know that Germany invaded Poland and may not know it for a few years, but I think it will help her when she learns about it if she already knows where Germany and Poland are.

[Karen in CO]

:bigear: Could you share what your ds's professor said? I'm curious why it is important to know every capitol city. :001_smile:

 

My 10yo is getting a talking globe for Christmas. She is interested in geography, but I wouldn't say she knows much yet.

 

I don't remember exactly what he said that sparked my interest in it, but it was my ds's professor for a global conflict class which is one of the "capstone" classes for his International Affairs major. The professor was on a mission to increase the geographical knowledge of all of his students. He'd found over the years that the students had lots of understand of trends and conflicts and such, but were lacking basic, detailed knowledge of the world. He blamed the "strand" approach to geography. He said that people were becoming totally unaware that there were about 200 (give or take depending on who's counting) sovereign states in the world with language, culture, history, and desires all their own. No one was bothering to learn about countries that didn't have major wars in the twentieth century.

[Kathleen.]

My 8yo had a great interest in maps when she was 2 or 3. We put maps up of the US and world. Then a few years later we got the The World shower curtain and Geography Songs CD. She really liked it all and always looked for countries and states. As far as books we do "Map Skills for Today" by Weekly Reader which go by grade. These books are easy, fun and only $5/grade. We also do "Beginning Geography" by Evan Moor. But one book that really made the US states and capitals stick was "The Little Man in the Map" along with the state capital book. We read this book many times, at their request, and 8yo and 5yo can easily pick out the states.

 

Expedition Earth looks really good from another's post, but we may have to wait for that - grade 5-12.

[Amie]

I love Sporcle.com ! (go to the geography tab)

And you MUST spell every name correctly for it to work! Now I'm off to check out all of the other links you guys have posted on this thread. :auto:

[Kuovonne]

We use Visualize World Geography to memorize the names and locations of all the countries. It is super easy. Just pop in the DVDs. (I wouldn't recommend doing it without the DVDs.) I do reviews with post-it flags on a blank map, and even my 5 year old can label all the countries in Asia.

 

It won't do capitals though.

Does this have Christian content?

 

How long are the videos, and can you give me an idea of what the lessons are like?

 

As far as I know there is no explicit Christian content. There are lots of bad puns.

 

The videos are quite short. There are four sets of DVDs, with 20 "lessons" per set. Each "lesson" covers 1-3 countries and is only a couple of minutes long. You can see examples of the videos on the web site.

[Halcyon]

Oh wow. It has recipes too. and lesson plans. and flash cards. and is in my price range. I'd love to look at it. Thank you. :D

 

I agree that this looks great-is it secular?

[Halcyon]

We're doing the states right now and I purchased an atlas to make my own curriculum. I created notebook pages for every state which listed capital, a few other facts, and the state flag. On the back are outline maps from National Geographic. I also have an outline map for the United States; before completing a state notebook page, he colors in the state on the US map. Twice a week, we look at the US map and he goes through the states we've studied. I randomly select states so he won't memorize the order. Then, we read a short blurb about the state in the atlas and fill out a notebook page.

 

On the map, we label:

* The capital and three to four other large cities

* All bordering states or countries

* Major bodies of water and rivers

* Any major geographic features like mountains or deserts

 

My son really looks forward to this and wants to do all the countries next year so I'm creating a curriculum based on this book. It has a short blurb on 180+ countries and a colored map showing major landforms. Again, we will use the National Geographic outline maps to fill out a notebook page. Putting this together is time consuming but I'm trying to do a couple countries a week so we'll be ready to start up when we complete our state study.

 

My son's geographic knowledge has increased tremendously from this exercise and he's really looking forward to next year. We'll probably cycle through the US and the world again, this time focusing on human geography. However, I think having the physical geography down will really help him understand the human elements.

 

 

I love this idea-thank you for sharing.

[EmilyK]

Freerice.com has quizzes on country location, capitals and flags. We're all enjoying free rice more now that we can all have our own accounts to track progress.

[angela in ohio]

My older girls learned that in CC Challenge. My little guy learned some then (I taught and he often sat in the back of the class,) and he's worked more since then. He had the US and Canada and Europe down cold and the rest is most of the way there. He plays Seterra and draws and traces and fills in blank maps. I also quiz him on capitals during memory time. There isn't really much planning required: hand them a piece of tracing paper and a pencil and an atlas. Then print out blank outline maps.

 

Learning location names is valuable. That is the peg on which dc will hang other information. They don't just learn what we teach them during "school time." They are also observing and learning all day, but many things will go whizzing by if they don't have a context. If you give them the names and locations, then they have a place to accumulate data. As we read books, visit museums, study history, and so forth, dc organize the info and develop a constantly maturing idea of each country.

[ForeverFamily]

I am really enjoying looking through all of the posts. I had a horrible background in geography. Like another poster mentioned, I think I must have missed geography when switching around schools. I promise I never learned the states and capitals in school. I am determined that my kids will have a great background in geography!!!

 

I have also been interested in The Man in the Map book. I have had that book in my amazon shopping cart a couple of times but it has never made it to checkout.:lol: Kathleen did you use both the state and the capital books? They both look like great books to teach US geography!

 

I also love the looks of all those great ipad apps. Unfortunately I don't own an ipad:glare:. Some day!!!!:001_smile:

 

The only idea contribution I have to make is that I have had my daughter use a wipe off map and circle different countries and oceans when I call them out to her. She loves using dry erase markers so she has had fun with this "game." Does it work as far as retention goes? I don't know, I haven't been consistent enough with it.:lol::tongue_smilie: She seemed to remember them for a few days after doing it 2 times. One of my school goals this next year is to be consistent with playing this "game" with her. I think she will get alot out of it if I do.

 

Thanks for all the great links ladies.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

There are several aspects to geography; political, cultural, and physical. The OP mentions knowledge of political geography. The basics of which are name, capital and location. To be honest-it is memory work, plain and simple. It is best aided by a good map placed at an appropriate height for the child. A laminated map can be written or a map on a cork board can use pins to label. The next item is lots of blank maps for the student to label and use for identification. These can be broken up regionally or even by country if you wish more detail. There are drawing maps from memory programs. While I love the concept and the reinforcement be careful how you use them with a child. One without an artistic bent may get very frustrated about the drawing and consequently loose interest in geography. There are also lots of games, quizes and puzzles that help reinforce geography and make it fun.

 

Another curricula option is Trail Guide to World Geography. It works at several age levels and could be repeated for all 3 WTM cycles. It gives bits of political, cultural, and physical geography.

[SailorMom]

I don't know that my son, or I, will ever have all the countries and their capitals memorized :)

However, he knows where most of them are, knows where most major rivers, seas, mountain ranges, etc., are, and knows historical geography as well.

I don't put a lot of emphasis on memory work like that. Especially with Google being so available now to everyone :)

Now - I do expect him to know the capitals of the states, and of the countries that we usually hear about in the news - Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, England, France, Italy, etc., etc., but not only are there way too many, countries change frequently (like many in Africa).