brownie Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I've been looking for something for about 2 years I think! I am just not sure what to do. DS11 loves geography and does the geo bee each year. In the fall, I'd like to give him time to pursue this in more depth over the course of the year rather than cramming for 3 weeks before the geobee. I've looked for a curriculum to guide him - I can't find one that is appealing and not ridiculously expensive. I just don't think he will get anywhere if I give him free reign, though I am totally open to pulling together my own plan to guide him. I looked at Memoria Press and here's what I think. It has 2 components...label the map and a dense paragraph or 2 of historical and current information. Maps are free online to be completed again and again so I have no need to pay for this. The info is great - probably the closest I've found to what I'm looking for but blech! It's so boring! It's a dense list of facts. Are you supposed to memorize it? Read it again and again? It's just not very appealing and it doesn't look like there are any REAL questions on the material to encourage interaction with the material and actual thinking. So does anyone have any suggestions? Lists of resources? This is for a will-be 6th grader who is VERY bright and has an excellent memory. Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I would look at the GeoMatters website. They have a wealth of resources and information. ETA: They have books as well. However, they also have lapbooking and notebooking to go along with those. They have different levels so he can work where he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 I will check that out. I've looked at it before, but needs change :) I also discovered the website worldatlas.com which seems worthwhile. I could creat a whole curriculum, with that as the spine...of course that's a lot of work :( but I have a hard time finding what I want! Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I'm following. DD did a just for fun geobee for the first time last year and enjoyed it. So far our curriculum has been playing with iPad apps. I'm sure we could do a little better than that but so far I haven't found anything we are excited about. ETA: Not that this is my thread but I would be especially interested in things that can be done independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Well.... It is ridiculously overpriced, cutesy, absurd songs and mnemonics, but my dd really enjoys playing with Visualize World Geography. I actually think the younger the better for this particular program, for those reasons...she is too young to really understand the corny groan factor:) http://www.visualizeworldgeography.com/curriculum/single-family/ She tore through apps like Stack the States/Countries and GeoPuzzles, along with major landmarks and waterways, and that was the best thing I could find for a younger learner. I would love to hear if anyone has anything better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskra Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I will check that out. I've looked at it before, but needs change :) I also discovered the website worldatlas.com which seems worthwhile. I could creat a whole curriculum, with that as the spine...of course that's a lot of work :( but I have a hard time finding what I want! Brownie You should totally go for it and create your own curriculum that is both fun and rigorous enough to prepare kids for the geobee:) and then share it on these boards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Well.... It is ridiculously overpriced, cutesy, absurd songs and mnemonics, but my dd really enjoys playing with Visualize World Geography. I actually think the younger the better for this particular program, for those reasons...she is too young to really understand the corny groan factor:) http://www.visualizeworldgeography.com/curriculum/single-family/ She tore through apps like Stack the States/Countries and GeoPuzzles, along with major landmarks and waterways, and that was the best thing I could find for a younger learner. I would love to hear if anyone has anything better! DD would probably like that but $249 is pretty ridiculous when I can buy several levels worth of math and language arts for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 DD would probably like that but $249 is pretty ridiculous when I can buy several levels worth of math and language arts for that. I know, right?! Really ridiculous...all I can say it I got it at a MUCH better price than that:) We will be done with all the DVDs and such soon, so maybe I will revisit this post and see if anybody wants it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebblesjns Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I'd be interested in seeing the answers as well. My son is only 4 right now, but he is obsessed with geography and anything I can throw at him in regards to it. By the time he turned 4 he had already memorized every state, what it looks like, where it's located, which states border each other, and their capitals. We have since moved on to world geography (at least as far as maps go) and he knows a lot of capitals and can pretty much tell you which continent any country is on. I know at least for South America, he can look at the map and label every country. He also loves world flags. I am to the point where I need something more geography wise to keep his interest, but don't know which program to go with or just make up our own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I'd be interested in seeing the answers as well. My son is only 4 right now, but he is obsessed with geography and anything I can throw at him in regards to it. By the time he turned 4 he had already memorized every state, what it looks like, where it's located, which states border each other, and their capitals. We have since moved on to world geography (at least as far as maps go) and he knows a lot of capitals and can pretty much tell you which continent any country is on. I know at least for South America, he can look at the map and label every country. He also loves world flags. I am to the point where I need something more geography wise to keep his interest, but don't know which program to go with or just make up our own. My dd is 4 as well, and has been enamored with geography for a loonnnggg time too. If you haven't done all the Geopuzzles I highly suggest them as that was the step that convinced me to get her Visualize World Geography. I think TimberDoodle has a deal at the moment (under $54 if you are okay with them all being in the same box. They also make great sets of cards with info on each country or state, and a fun geoBINGO set. And Montessori makes the coolest wooden map with little flags you insert into each country that she must have played with daily for weeks:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks. DS is 11 though. There's a lot more to geography than just being able to find every country and capital in the world on a map. He can do that for free with Seterra and has basically known all of that stuff for 2 years. For example there is cultural geography, human, physical geography... a lot of this stuff comes up eventually between science and history, but I am looking to focus in on it for one year. The problem is finding a curriculum that is interesting, digestable, and actually presents this material in pretty much one place. Geomatters (Trailguide to world geography) looks pretty decent. It allows you to do through high school level with one book so I can amp it up if need be. And I could get the U.S. version for ds9 to do smultaneously whose strength is NOT geography. I just hope that it is specific enough regarding the assignments and objectives, versus vague suggestions like "study such and such". Otherwise, paying for a curriculum is of no help to me. The curriculum that gets done is the best curriculum! Has anyone actually used it? Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 We haven't looked that far ahead yet, but have you checked out the AP human geography exam? That might be an interesting challenge for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_dad Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Have you looked at the Big History Project.... what I've seen looks somewhat glib... but it purports to reveal underlying patterns in history <shrug>. If you want a broader understanding of geography, you need to tie geography and history together. The French geographical historians like Braudel do a good job of this. How does geographical structure determine historical outcomes.... Jared Diamond, William McNeil, and others also touch on this issue... it allows you to consider much broader issues. If this is interesting to your child, it would allow you to greatly expand the realm of their interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 We haven't looked that far ahead yet, but have you checked out the AP human geography exam? That might be an interesting challenge for him. http://www.amazon.com/Human-Geography-People-Place-Culture/dp/1118018699/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398903654&sr=8-1&keywords=ap+human+geography+people+place+culture Hmm...this seems to be one of the possible books they use for the AP course. Might be a bit much, being college level, but it does look interesting. Apparently I can try it free on my kindle so at least I could check it out before purchasing because it is quite expensive (being like a college text!) I am really rather useless in geography and history so I'm not much use for helping him delve in without a curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 My son is really into world geography and wants to do some major depth next year. I looked for AP Geography resources not because he is going to take the test or anything next year, but more because it is a direction to head and I'm rather clueless. Here are the bits I have found. Many of them are either ways to put together tests/discussions/essays questions or videos and resources which could be used as a curriculum. All of the resources are grouped into the topic headings for AP Geo so chapter studies can be created easily. I have not majorly examined the resource, so some might be all flash or too much fluff. As far as I can tell, all are currently working. National Geographic's resources for AP Human Geo. Activities, multimedia, and references for a whole list of various subheadings and topics. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/collections/ap-human-geography/?ar_a=1 A list of movies to use with AP human Geo is about all way down the page and is followed (a section or two later)with places you can find them online. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/197352.html Here are chapter by chapter quizzes, essay questions, Internet links and exercises, along with critical thinking discussion questions for the AP Geo Fellman text (9th edition). It is a great site. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072827653/student_view0/chapter1/ More questions like above http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&itemId=0471679518&bcsId=3139 http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_rubenstein_humangeo_8/ Interesting mapping and demographics models http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=resource&bcsId=3206&itemId=0471701211&resourceId=8133 A ten video series geared for AP Geo, free through Annenburg Learner http://www.learner.org/resources/series85.html?pop=yes&pid=469 The proposed curriculum to go with the above videos http://www.learner.org/series/powerofplace/ Games and links http://www.quia.com/pages/mrsbellaphg.html Audio podcasts http://audioaphuman.podbean.com Blog with lessons, games, links, and weekly posts about current topics http://ineedgeography.blogspot.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Did anybody see that GalorePark is coming out with a new comprehensive geography studies curriculum in June? https://www.galorepark.co.uk/Product?Product=9781471827266 Not a lot of info available on the website yet, but something to watch for... ETA: 2 New Geo books, broken into Physical Geography and Human Geography... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seastar Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Well.... It is ridiculously overpriced, cutesy, absurd songs and mnemonics, but my dd really enjoys playing with Visualize World Geography. I actually think the younger the better for this particular program, for those reasons...she is too young to really understand the corny groan factor:) http://www.visualizeworldgeography.com/curriculum/single-family/ She tore through apps like Stack the States/Countries and GeoPuzzles, along with major landmarks and waterways, and that was the best thing I could find for a younger learner. I would love to hear if anyone has anything better! Hmm...I am so poor at geography. I STILL don't know where all the counties in Ireland are (I was meant to learn this by about age 8). I really don't want my kids to have my embarrassing lack of geography knowledge. I just watched the demo of Visualise World Geography and it looks great. Think I'll try the samples with my DD4 later and see what she thinks of it. Geopuzzles are also on my list. Thanks for the tip Keri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 Marshall Cavendish has some really nice products for geography, history and science in Singapore. I can't tell if it's possible to get your hands on them here in the U.S. http://www.mceducation.sg/Catalogue/result/titleCountry=/iSBNTitleAuthorTags=/levelName=67a6082d-f6eb-4484-9f1a-e24b52d20837/subject=Geography/typeCategorySub=/typeCategory=/#hook1 If anyone knows of a distributor who sells them, please let me know. Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I've never used them, but I believe Sgbox ships to the USA http://www.sgbox.com/singaporegeography.html I'd also check e-bay for anyone selling any Singapore texts not normally sold in the US. When my DD accidentally got "hooked" on the New Primary Maths vs the Standards, I found an ebay seller selling used NPM texts. Not the grade level I needed, but when I contacted her, it turned out that she was a US military wife homeschooling her kids in Singapore while her husband was stationed there, and she could buy and ship the books I needed. It ended up costing me LESS to do NPM than it would have to have gotten the Standards books from Rainbow Resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I wonder if there are any materials for the National Geography Challenge that would be useful? I like their math contest prep books. http://www.continentalmathematicsleague.com/ngc.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketcase Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Coursera? I didn't have a great geography course until college - but then I had a truly inspiring semester of urban geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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