Overwhelmed trying to pick Geography

[cjthedog64]

I'm looking for something for US geography. I'd like something pretty complete, I don't want to have to search the library every couple of weeks for additional books. Colorful and fun would be great, use probably 2-3 times a week. Around 3rd grade level. Any suggestions?

[Mom0012]

I used Galloping the Globe for my kids in early elementary and some of my best homeschooling memories are from that time. The same company puts out a book called Cantering the Country for a state study, though I never could get interested in studying the states other than to learn them and their location. I never felt like there was enough differentiation between most of them to make an interesting study and I don't care about state birds very much. But, I do know there is a cookbook that goes with CTC and I'm sure they have some fun ideas.

 

Other than that, you could just go real simple and use www.sheppardsoftware.co. to learn the states and capitals. That would be a good addition to any state study, I would think.

[asmall]

When my girls did US Geography we used Enchanted Learning. On their website they have lots of facts about each state. It cost $20 for the year and they have lots of geography worksheets. I picked the worksheets that I wanted to use and printed them off. Then I divided them up for the year. To make our study fun we also used the Annimaniacs song of the fifty states and their capitals. My girls each had a US map and they had to point to the state and capital as it was sung. They loved it, and learned the whole song. They still like to sing it!

AL

[happypamama]

Yes, Animaniacs' songs for the win!

 

We are going to use this book next year (6th, 3rd, and preK along for the ride). I put it in worksheet form and added notebook pages for each country (GeoScribe, I think, available on CurrClick). We'll get some library books for each country and fill in the notebook pages, look at the flags, maybe look at the currency, maybe try some snacks from each country. For a bargain book, it's quite nice and very colorful: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Global-Puzzle-Challenge-Google/dp/B008W3BEMU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370702561&sr=8-1&keywords=great+google+earth

 

For US geography, we enjoyed using the state books from Sleeping Bear Press (K is for Keystone, etc.); they lend themselves well to multi-grade teaching, because you could have older kids do more research on their own, but the little ones get a little flavor of each state in a predictable format. We did it along with US history, reading each state's book as we came to that state's founding (for the 13 colonies) or that state's admittance to the Union (the rest of the states). I chose to do the 13 colonies as we came to their foundings, because we also had a blank map that we colored as we came to each state, and it was more dramatic that way, one or two states at a time, rather than one big east coast chunk after the Revolution (we also live on the east coast and have been to many of the states, so I wanted to differentiate them a bit).

 

Also, yes, Sheppard Software had some good games, and we're also going to try some of the iPad games like Stack the Countries. And we LOVE the old Carmen Sandiego games for the PC; some of the countries are a bit outdated, but they're still fun games that do teach a lot.

[Walking-Iris]

I used a combo of Scrambled States of America, puzzles, wall maps, Dover US States coloring book, collection of states quarters, Travel The Great States and projects to teach US geography. Our favorite project was a country shaped cookie decorated with candies and frosting.

 

The Complete Book of Presidents and States is also a great resource.

 

I do geography every year in some form integrated within history.

[happypamama]

Scrambled States! How could I forget that? Love that book!