Has anyone used Apologia's Around the World in 180 Days?

[Forgiven]

I've been looking at Apologia's Around the World in 180 Days curriculum. I'm just wondering if anyone out there has used this yet? Does anyone plan on using it? I was thinking of buying it, but doing a continent a year--or summer. I don't want to use it and have it interrupt our normal history studies, but I really like the idea of it.

 

Since I like the idea...is there anything else like this out there? I've seen Winter Promise's Children around the World (or something like that), and I just don't think I could buy from Winter Promise again. They left a horrible taste in my mouth. So, besides Winter Promise's CATW, is there anything like Apoligia's Around the World in 180 Days? I really like the look of Apologia, but I also like to compare different curriculum to see which is best for us.

 

The one thing I'm not sure about with Around the World n 180 Days is that it's a lot of questions that you have to research and answer. I'm not sure if this would be the best fit for us...But then I wonder if we could do this in the evenings, as a family, when dh is home.

 

Any thoughts, comments, ideas, critisisms of the curriculum? I'm all ears.

[Lily_Grace]

I think relying on Apologia to accurately interpret other cultures might leave a worse taste in your mouth than Winter Promise.

 

Have you looked at the unit studies by Amanda Bennett? Or Creek Edge Press's geography and culture task cards?

[merylvdm]

There are also the Trail Guides to World Geography. I used that and the Apologia - both are OK but a bit boring. Essentially students have to research to find the answers. I have been disappointed with most Geography out there and so ended up making up my own curriculum most years (incl high school). I think one of the best ways to learn geography is through videos - it is far more interesting to 'see' what you are studying. We did go through continent by continent and then used Rick Steves, Michael Palin and other ones to provide the interest. Of course my kids would also look at where it was on a map, learn the major rivers, mountains, capitals etc. There are tons on free online sites and apps for kids to practice the basics of where countries are and their capitals / flags etc so between using games and DVDs and a lot of real life travel my kids are all pretty good at geography. And they enjoy it. Doing too much research based stuff would have killed it for them

[Forgiven]

Thank you, merylvdm. I think you're right about doing too much research based stuff. I think it would kill it for my kids as well. I have a few Geopuzzles, and my plan is to get all of them. We also have the game Pandemic, which incorporates different countries, and I have one of the 10 Days games--need to get more of these. Are Rick Steves and Michael Palin's stuff books or videos? Just curious. ;)

 

Oh, and I am thinking now of doing everything informal until around 7th grade and then using Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World by Art.

 

I just don't want to drop the ball anywhere-kwim?

 

I love the idea of the kids learning about missionaries while learning geography, but then again, I don't want to bore them either. I think there are some great missionary stories that they'd love, but I don't want to overkill it. Maybe I'll do a few read-alouds during each year that are about missionaries in different countries...

 

Thanks!

[Donna A.]

180 Days is middle or high school level and has a lot of history research included along with the geography. I would not recommend it for your particular needs or children's ages.

 

Also, FYI for anyone else reading.... you do need other resources in order to be able to do 180 Days. There are NO maps included, and you have to use another spine/reference material for the history part of it.

 

The student book is consumable. The pages are perforated for notebooking, so each child needs their own student book.

[RanchGirl]

We are using the geography portion of 180 days as a wrap-up of each continent that my son studies in his self-designed geography program. So he studies a continent and does a variety of activities, including the Geography Coloring Book and several copies of Uncle Josh's outline maps. Then we go over the pages in the 180 days workbook for that continent. We don't do their history or religion studies at this point (this is my 5th grader). For younger kids, I would suggest Beautiful Feet's Geography and Galloping the Globe, both of which we have done and enjoyed (still doing BF on and off). Once we did Galloping the Globe, I felt pretty comfortable with my son taking charge as he is a geography nut, I just need to give him the resources.

[merylvdm]

Michael Palin and Rick Steves are both DVD series that you should be able to get at your local library or on Netflix. I wrote a web page on geography suggestions that might help - www.squidoo.com/teach-geography. Many of my suggestions don't cost anything but I do link to some games etc as well.

[Forgiven]

Thank you guys so much. I'm going to take a look at Beutiful Feet, Galloping the Globe, and the DVD series by Michael Palin and Rick Steves. I'm going to check out that web page by merylvdm too.

 

Donna A, thanks for the info about 180 Days. After reading what you wrote, I'm going to put this on the backburner and maybe come back to it when my kids are in high school.

 

Thanks a lot, everyone!

[RanchGirl]

My son is loving the geopuzzles and ten days games as well. We have several of each and trade with a friend every now and then so we don't have to buy them all.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I used the following for my High School aged children:

My oldest used 180 days and did not mind the researching. He actually enjoyed the curriculum. The researching encouraged him to rabbit trail within a country so he learned more then he was asked to.

Another son used ACE Paces World Geography and I thought this was an excellent program. I loved the way you needed to draw the country and then label it.

My youngest son used the Eastern Hemisphere Explorer...the 2011 (maybe 2012) version...but not using the World Book Encyclopedia. He just used research to find what was needed.

 

Middle school aged we used Trail Guide, but just the mapping portion.

We just finished an elementary aged Geography year using the book Children Just Like Me and this web site http://homeschoolcreations.com/Geography.html (scroll down for individual continents)

[Donna A.]

I used the following for my High School aged children:

My oldest used 180 days and did not mind the researching. He actually enjoyed the curriculum. The researching encouraged him to rabbit trail within a country so he learned more then he was asked to.

 

 

My oldest is looking forward to doing this for 12th grade next year, as well, but the OP's oldest is only 9. ;)