abrightmom Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 We are going to use this as the foundation for a "Countries and Cultures" study for 2012. My oldest is on the upper end of the recommended age range but he will have a lot of meat in his 3 R's. :001_smile: What does your weekly schedule or plan look like? Any "must have" resources that your family has enjoyed? What did you use for science alongside GTG? It looks like we can do "delight directed" or "interest led" science integrated with the countries & cultures. But, it's hard to tell from the samples. I am considering using Apologia's Zoology I alongside it. Thoughts? Any ideas for a geography game (similar to what ECC does) that will help us in learning the countries, capitals, etc.? :001_smile: Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Here are some helpful sites: http://homeschoolcreations.com/Geography.html http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=14&category=4616 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 When we used GTG, I basically just used it for geography so you will get a lot more out of it than we did. That said, we did it 3x a week. We learned geography terms, made maps, coloured flags, read about children in different countries and made recipes or did activities. The books we used the most and would recommend are: Children Just Like Me Geography from A to Z Missionary Stories with the Millers (huge hit!) We used our own science alongside, which was God's Design. I believe we did the World of Animals book. I think Apologia Zoology would be a good fit. I also had Magnificent Mammals and the other two books in that series, which fit in nicely but may not be necessary if you are doing zoology. I don't have any ideas for geography games, but I did get a few geography puzzles and the boys still do them in their spare time. Hope this helps some! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhahabu Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 At Confessions of a Homeschooler, there is a free program called Discovering God's Animals, which matches up various animals to the countries they're found in http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/08/expedition-earth-discovering-gods.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellen Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I did GTG last year with my 5/6 year old and toward the end didn't use the book at all. My son is not a coloring fan so we didn't utilize any of the coloring. We also didn't use the religious portion or really any of the crafts (it's just not his thing). Mostly we just read library books from the various countries. I ended up doing a lot of searching on Amazon and through my library catalog to find books that weren't mentioned as supplements. We were able to read a lot of amazing books. We ate food from around the world, listened to music from other countries, and attended several cultural festivals. I enjoyed it and look forward to doing it again next year when I have a kindergartener again. I'll have a second grader at that point and will have him do it with us as well for reinforcement. If I had a child as old as your eldest I would assign additional reading to him I think. Something like Shipwrecked! The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy by Blumberg when covering Japan. We read a lot of books that related to our countries and it was quite time consuming. For the most part we did one country per week. There were times when we did the science as well but I had a hard time juggling two little kids and getting that done. Your idea of the Zoology sounds great. As far as games we have 10 Days in Asia. It is good for learning countries but it is a bit too difficult for a 6 year old to play well. He could play it but never win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 We were using FIAR with it our first time through, I'm debating doing it again but am undecided for my youngest student. Anyway we spent one full week learning about the country & one full week with the FIAR title. We added in for each country: A recipe costume music language {we learned to speak 5 words or more} Badge {my kids earned a badge for each country} Animal We made a mammals chart and didn't use the supplied science. Rather we picked an animal from that country and studied it {they were all mammals} and we made a poster to go with it. The poster had a spot to glue a picture of the animal and it's footprint. Then on the poster we ticked if it had hair, backbone, drank milk from it's mother, and what it ate. All to determine if it was a mammal or not. My children knew, pat, what a mammal was by the end of the year. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Katrina, We never tried GTG here, so I don't have any advice for you. But I'm very excited for you because I know finding something to use with everyone has been a process! Yay! :hurray: I hope you have a great semester! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 We use GTG off and on. Mostly when our FIAR book hits another country. Right now we are galloping the poles. The missionary book is a hit here. Children Like Me is just okay in my book, but many love it. What I do is used what is on our shelves or I find at the thrift store. For example we are using Penguin Zoo Book, and and oldie but goodie oop The First Book of Eskimos that I found for 50 cents. It tells off all sorts of stuff the Inuits do with hunting, etc. Love it! Then I found Do Penguins Get Frostbite? (about polar animals) for a quarter. A dear friend gave my dd one of those binders that have large cards with interesting info about many mammals so we are pulling out the ones that match our units. We also use animal reference books. I get print-outs from http://www.homeschoolshare.com when I find some that go well with our studies. I have printed several of the penguin sheets from there. We also love to have a fairy tale book that has tales that represent each country. Around the World in 80 Tales is good. If you want additional craft ideas Global Art is good. Our Father's World is fair. The CD and book Geography Songs is great for teaching the countries. Our units never look alike. As you can see from the above mosaic of books that we use whatever works. I also never lock us into a week. It may be more or it may be less. We spent a month having fun with the rainforest when we were in So American. I used printouts from HHS for this as well. About once per month my dd ask to study the rainforest again! I have to tell her that we have other responsibilities too so we will come back around to it one day, but not now. ;) I am gonna try to squeeze both poles in in one month, but we will see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 (edited) I forgot to mention that we also use movies and documentaries whenever we can. So like with the antarctic we watched March of the Penguins and a doc on Shackleton. ETA: Just a note here. March of the Penguins represents ONLY 1 of the many species of penguins. Others live completely different lives. I think it would be more appropriately titled March of the Emperor Penguin. I find it amazing that this species survives at all. Edited December 31, 2011 by Susie in MS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura W. Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I'm following this thread with interest, since I'm planning to use Galloping the Globe with 4 of my children next school year. The links listed above are excellent! A few resources we have on hand from when we did geography a few years ago: Material World Children Just Like Me: Celebrations I was pleased when I saw how Galloping the Globe integrated Considering God's Creation in the curriculum. That was something I wanted to use anyway, so it was nice to have it scheduled. For the animal studies, the Expedition Earth materials looked nice. A couple of other resources I'm planning to get that include science are: Usborne Geography Encyclopedia with World Atlas Science Chef Travels around the World Looking forward to hearing other responses. Blessings, Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrightmom Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Katrina, We never tried GTG here, so I don't have any advice for you. But I'm very excited for you because I know finding something to use with everyone has been a process! Yay! :hurray: I hope you have a great semester! Thanks Lynn! We dropped HOD and decided to step away fom boxed curricula for now. I will finally use all of the WTM recs that I love and combine my kids for content. That works for this season! I'm still considering Preparing for next year but adjusting it to accommodate our writing, grammar, and pacing preferences. I love it, my boys would love it, and it's on the shelf. :D. I can include my daughter as well since CHOW is accessible for many ages. Thanks for the sweet encouragement! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gratitude Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Thanks Lynn! We dropped HOD and decided to step away fom boxed curricula for now. I will finally use all of the WTM recs that I love and combine my kids for content. That works for this season! I'm still considering Preparing for next year but adjusting it to accommodate our writing, grammar, and pacing preferences. I love it, my boys would love it, and it's on the shelf. :D. I can include my daughter as well since CHOW is accessible for many ages. Thanks for the sweet encouragement! I haven't used Galloping Globe either, but I just wanted to say I am so happy for you Katrina! It has been a process for many of us, and I am excited for you! :hurray: I am really enjoying combining my kids for content with my own writing, math, spelling preferences, etc. too. Enjoy! Carin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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