melissel Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We did Evan Moor geography this year, and it was just what I was looking for--latitude, longitude, map skills, etc. Now I'd like to find something that is a light overview of countries and cultures, something that is easy to slot into our days like the Evan Moor was. It doesn't have to be workbook based (though that works fine too), but I don't want to spend weeks on every country, dressing up and cooking the food, IYKWIM? I just want to focus a bit on the basics for now and have something to give us some familiarity. Does something light like that exist? I have Galloping the Globe, and it's not exactly what I was looking for. I would love to hear some other suggestions if anyone has some. TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We're using +Expedition Earth by Confessions of a Homeschooler , it sounds like what your after. Its nicely scheduled, one country a week, so easy to skip out extra activities you don't want to do. I like her program because its simple & fun, and extremely customisable. So you could easily use yours to create something akin to Evan Moors. Its close to open and go. I wanted something that was a solid spine, and customisable, as we wanted to do cultures over a period of 3 years. So I used some country unit studies with EE as the spine, and its perfect. I love Evan Moors workbooks, I actually purchased one of the world geography ones to use as a supplement for our "introduction to the world" weeks. I would highly recommend at least reading the page I linked, she obviously went to a lot of work creating it, and i think its a fabulous program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleyfam Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Thanks for the tip! I love that it's an Instant Download as well so you can get started immediately. It looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 If you don't mind a focus on Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, the new MP Geography might interest you. You could get by with just the student textbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We're using +Expedition Earth by Confessions of a Homeschooler , it sounds like what your after. Its nicely scheduled, one country a week, so easy to skip out extra activities you don't want to do. I've looked at this and thought about getting it a few times. I'm wondering though, how easy is it to leave out the prayer stuff? Is it something that appears on each page of the student book or is it a separate component? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I like Rod and Staff 4 as a read aloud, followed up by some drawings from Draw Write Now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We also used R&S Geography. It was a great study---light, easy, and enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNadine Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I've looked at this and thought about getting it a few times. I'm wondering though, how easy is it to leave out the prayer stuff? Is it something that appears on each page of the student book or is it a separate component? Looking at the samples, it appears to be just in the teacher's guide, but I'm not guaranteeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlight Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 What about top secret adventures and/or little passports?? These might be great as a supplement. I am going to use these with my boys and align the countries so they do the same country each month, then go through books such as a life like mine together...maybe cook a dish together.. Seema Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I've looked at this and thought about getting it a few times. I'm wondering though, how easy is it to leave out the prayer stuff? Is it something that appears on each page of the student book or is it a separate component? Its very easy to leave it out. I omitted the religious items from it easily. I can't remember (I don't have it in front of me) but the prayer cards are part of a printable, and then on the schedule it would say something about the prayer cards, I would just skip over it. Hope that makes sense :) Because its a printable, its easy to just not print out certain printables, and to just skip over/cross them out of the schedule. If you want me to double check for you, just PM me (so I am reminded and don't forget :tongue_smilie: ) and I can check it out for you tonight (and answer any other questions regarding the curriculum you might have). xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We love the trip around the world series. Each book has 8 countries. You color the flag and map, learn a few words in the local language, learn some fun facts about the culture, do a craft, food or other such thing from the culture and complete a worksheet (word search, crossword etc) about the country. The way we did it was 1 country per week, with extra books from the library left out for the kids. The kids would do the flag first and we would cut it out with the name of the country and glue onto a peice of construction paper, this became the cover page of the little booklet made up by the map, language sheet, fun facts sheet and worksheet finishing it off with a matching peice of construction paper for a back cover. It was a great gentle introduction to the cultures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLC Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We used DK Geography of the World: The Essential Family Guide to Geography and Culture for that purpose. It's 300 pages with about 20 pages introducting geography concepts and then 1 to 2 pages about each country and culture. Like the usual DK book, it is full of pictures and diagrams. My ds enjoyed reading this for "fun". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Its very easy to leave it out. I omitted the religious items from it easily. I can't remember (I don't have it in front of me) but the prayer cards are part of a printable, and then on the schedule it would say something about the prayer cards, I would just skip over it. Hope that makes sense :) Because its a printable, its easy to just not print out certain printables, and to just skip over/cross them out of the schedule. If you want me to double check for you, just PM me (so I am reminded and don't forget :tongue_smilie: ) and I can check it out for you tonight (and answer any other questions regarding the curriculum you might have). xxx That was my only question, thank you. :001_smile: It sounds like it won't be too hard to leave out. I follow the COAH blog so I've seen her posts with it in use, I just could never tell for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 I created my own literature-based program and have the book list on my blog. We just read one or more books from a country each week and found it on the map. It was exactly what dd needed at the time. I have continued to update the list as I find good books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 Here is what another mother (from a different thread) did for around the world studies. I have saved it for a couple of years in my "Curriculum plans" folder, and we will do it next year or the year after. This year we are doing states. 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! I like the idea of passports and the kids being expected to remember something at the end of the week. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 I'm using the Disney's Small World Library plus printable maps, a few library books, and making a food from the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 Thank you all so much for the ideas, and Tracy, thank you for that great list! I remember trying to find books when I got GtG years ago, and I couldn't find books for half those countries. You did an amazing job! Now I have some research to do to narrow down my plans :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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