BrandonMommy Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 So far I want . . . Evan-Moor's Beginning Geography, National Geo Kids Beginner's World Atlas and a children around the world type book. I'd like a general resource book or something I can just pull activities from. Mini-books, a literature-guide, etc would be good too. When I used to teach, I got a monthly package about a particular country, I think it may have been something like Carmen Sandiego or a kids social studies book club?? Gosh, I don't remember but I know it was for an individual child. Each pack had a book, stickers and other stuff inside about the country. When they finished each country, they got to put a sticker inside the passport. Anyone know anything out there like that? Also, I used to get videos from the public library about kids around the world for my students but can't for the life of me remember the series title (and don't have access to the library). Emily Yeung-type videos would be good too. There are some on youtube but the quality is bad. Anyone seen them elsewhere or know other similar videos? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Hands of a Child has a lot of geography lapbooks. Perhaps that would work. Their continent lapbooks cover such things as regions, languages, climates. They also include a research guide to read to the child, a reading list, and multiple activities which the child could put in a notebook or a lapbook. I have bought a lot of lapbooks from HOAC, and I think they are good quality. I like the passport idea. You could make one yourself if you can't find a premade kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssavings Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Monthly kit... Little Passports? I know people who like it, but it was a bit too expensive for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Becker Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 DK's Children Just Like Me is a really nice resource. Little Passports is similar to the monthly mailing you described, but expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Great ideas! We're using that Evan Moor Beg. Geog. book next year (1st grd) and I was looking for ideas to expand on it. If you are looking for passports/stickers, MFW has something similar for their ECC program (uses flag stickers & a passport). It's $6-7 + shipping, I believe, so Amazon may have something that's less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 You might run a search for Little Passports on here. I think those who have ordered them have stated they probably wouldn't again. If I'm remembering, the kits are simplistic and there isn't much to them. DD will be using Beginning Geography next year as well. I checked out the Nat Geo Atlas book from the library, but it didn't do much for me. Do you have a good library system? We will be using the Country Explorers book series. They seem pretty well done and have age-appropriate text and content. This is what they look like... http://www.amazon.com/France-Country-Explorers-Tom-Streissguth/dp/1580138195/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330446388&sr=8-2 Also, I think we're going to use the Many Cultures, One World series. http://www.amazon.com/Mexico-Many-Cultures-One-World/dp/0736815341/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329878909&sr=1-1 Do you have a TeacherFileBox subscription? We will be using additional resources from there too. Also, search Amazon for "Dover flag sticker book". Scholastic has a good map eBook. Anyway, run a search for Geography on here. There are several other resources that have been mentioned over time. Too many to type out. I think we are going to create a lapbook for each country we study. If not, then we'll probably notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandonMommy Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm sure it wasn't Little Passports. I think it must've been an order from Scholastic book clubs. Might be old and out of date now. Oh well. I could do like Mrs Twain said and make my own version. I think after we learn the basics (neighborhood, city, country, etc), we'll do just that. I'll do the passport idea and find whatever I can on the countries we "travel" to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 DK's Children Just Like Me is a really nice resource. :iagree: We are doing something similar. Here are my core books I am using for all 7 continents: National Geographic Kid's World Atlas (along with a globe and some large laminated maps from Geomatters) Around the World Art and Activities Encyclopedia of Animals Children Around the World Around the World in 80 Tales Wee Sing Around the World Stories from Around the World We spent about 2 months on the US (since we were easing into HSing) so we covered each region of the country. For the Southwest, we learned about deserts and Native Americans; for the Northeast, we learned about the Mayflower and the Statue of Liberty; for Alaska, we learned about dogsledding (Akiak and Togo are amazing books); for the Southeast, we learned about swamps. I would basically pick one major thing to learn about each region so the kids have something to remember it by. We learned about Aztecs in Mexico and the monarch butterflies that go there every year, we learned about Mayans in Latin America as well as about the rain forest animals, we learned about snorkeling and volcanoes in the Caribbean. I would get library books about the regions we were in. I could usually find some good stories and picture books about the regions. I also read passages from other books while they colored pictures I printed for free on the internet. We would talk about geography and do mapwork the first day. Later in the week, we would talk about animals. The kids loved the animal study so much that I started doing an animal a day from the region. They would color a picture of it and then they would make a little Who Am I? booklet (took this idea from an Amanda Bennett unit study I used for Canada) for each animal. They would think of clues and then try to "trick" Daddy when he got home from work. At the end of the North America Unit study, we had a fiesta and invited my DH's parents. The kids made decorations and we hung up all the maps, flags and animal pictures they colored. It was a lot of fun! We just finished South America and had a Carnival party with an exchange student from Brazil who goes to our church. It was really fun. I had to buy a lot more resources for South America though. Our library had ONE book on South America. :banghead: One option you might want to consider is Galloping the Globe. That is more premade if you want something like that. I think they have booklists included as well. Amanda Bennett's Expeditions are fun one-week unit studies on different countries. My only complaint was that there were so many links on the computer. I don't like to use the computer too much. That said, my kids loved watching the videos she linked to. They include the Who Am I? form which has been our biggest hit. Even when we aren't doing one of her studies, we do the Who Am I? almost every day with a different animal from the region. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Homeschool Creations has lots of neat geography ideas and printables for free under the geography tab on her blog. Here is the link for where she talk about how she did the passports for her family. You might also take a look at Expedition Earth by Confessions of a Homeschooler. I'm planning on using it with my K'er and 3rd grader next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandonMommy Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 I like all the ideas so far and looking into them. These are cute passport sticker books: http://www.orientaltrading.com/my-passport-sticker-books-a2-9_1081.fltr?prodCatId=90000&tabId=3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Galloping the Globe has different activities for each country and a suggested literature list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandonMommy Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Found it . . . but it's not for KG age: http://www.highlights.com/top-secret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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