How much importance do you give to geography?

[HS Mom in NC]

A note to those looking for geography resources, Mapping the World with Art and Mapping the World by Heart are two different things.

[Lilaclady]

We study geography year round but just once a week. My kids first learn about the continents, oceans and where they are. Last yr, we did American history so my dd1 learnt about the 50 states and can roughly place over 35 states correctly. This year, my oldest two learnt about where some countries are- mostly the ones they are likely to hear about and where we have relatives around the world.

On Monday, I will be testing them by giving them a blank map of the world and see how well they can label it.

[Ellie]

 

My bad habit even though I know they are not bears :) I just like to call them koala bears. I have a Koala stuff toy though and used to have a Koala kids backpack.

 

 

Caution: Rabbit Trail Alert

 

One year--late 70s?-- pot belly stuffies were popular, and for Christmas, we gave older dd a pot belly sugar bear and younger dd a pot belly koala. Younger dd named hers Cookie, and she still sleeps with him, almost 30 years later. Her dh doesn't seem to mind, lol.

[SnegurochkaL]

This coming school year we are going to use a combination of " A Child's Geography:Explore His Earth" and " Our Planet Earth" from AIG which will cover Earth science and Geography at some point. I will be making my own curricular using various resources most of which are in Russian. I was raised in Russia. Formally, Geography as a subject had been studied there for 6 years( 6th-11th grade). Before that young children( primary school) study a subject: "World around you" for 5 years which combines elementary knowledge of geography (maps reading, cardinal directions, etc), science, history, some elements of political science and few other things.

 

[MeaganS]

nm

[Crimson Wife]

I don't see the point in having a stand-alone geography curriculum when we're already covering so much geography in our other subject areas.

 

 

That's what I thought up until last summer when I realized it wasn't sinking in. I'm not looking to have a National Geography Bee champion (unless one of my kids expressed a particular interest in competing) but I do want a kid who won't embarrass himself/herself on The Tonight Show's "Jaywalking" segment.

[Amy M]

That's funny. This is what we get: "Wow, you live in Denmark now! Have you learned Dutch?"

 

DS likes geography, so I emphasize it. We are excited about our new find: flag quizzes.

Lol! When I told people I was moving to South Africa, some said, "Oh! Which country?" and one person asked, "Is that near Japan?" :p Most South Africans would be aghast to know that most Americans don't know who Nelson Mandela is or what apartheid was...

 

I was just as bad though, so I'm looking forward to self-educating along with the kids. :) It's important that the children have a larger sense of the world than typical American myopia.

 

ETA: Geography is also a subject the students can choose in high school here.

[tm_burriss]

We do geography daily and I also have blackline maps that my kids trace a few times a week and label in the places they know. We are working on drawing and labeling the entire world by hand along with capitals and major land forms such as mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc. They enjoy it and it helps them understand historical events and even some science better.

[laughing lioness]

We always have a world map on the wall. We have globes around. Some of my kids have worked the MCP's geography, but this year the youngers did MP's Geography I and I LOVE it. There is a II, thankfully, and we'll be doing that next. It is excellent!

We also get Nat'l Geograhic, and NG for kids when we can afford it, talk politics and read very, very widely.