National GEO Bee contest

[Guest path]

I have a 4th grader who is very interested in participating in geography. I want to register him for the National Geo Bee contest but have no idea of how to prepare him and where to start. I would truly appreciate focused and helpful resources from parents/teachers who have gone through the process and preparation. Thanks in advance :-)

[madteaparty]

I am subscribing to your post, because I would love to do this with DS in the fall. In the very little research I've done, I've discovered you need a minimum team of at least 4 (if I recall). This may be an issue for me, but we will start our search in earnest at the end of the summer.

[G5052]

Just so you know, they don't make it easy for homeschoolers.  You have to have what they call a "homeschool association," meaning that is formal and established.  Then you have to get approved as an association to offer it.  It can't just be a group of families in most cases, and you need 6 or more to participate. The fee is $100 per "homeschool association."  You get pre-approved, and the fee is due in the fall.  It also needs to be run by someone who does not have children participating.

 

Several of the larger homeschool groups in my area offer approved bees every year that feed into the national competition.  So it is certainly possible to get it set up, just not as easy as it once was.  A friend of mine and I used to run a local one when it was easier to do.  When they imposed more rules, we couldn't do an official one any more because they wanted the large homeschool groups to do it, not just two moms.  They told us to send people to the homeschool group ones.

 

Here's the link to the official study site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/study-corner/

[Dmmetler]

There's also a National Geography Challenge, run by the same folks who do Continental math league. It's not as thrilling as a big bee and doesn't have the trip for finals built in, but it's very homeschool friendly and only costs $20 for a homeschooler to participate.

[brownie]

We've done the geo bee twice.  There is a book on Amazon called "The Geography Bee 1001 questions and answers".  We've used that as it gets close for practice.  Mostly he's done Seterra (free program online).  This year we are planning on adding Trail Guide to World Geography as a course and reading National Geographic (I don't know that will help).  We've done some physical geography as well, which does help.  Also, note that 1 or 2 of the rounds changes each year.  2 year ago they had to know all the state nicknames.  This past year that didn't come up even once.  Brownie

[SunnyDays]

There's also a National Geography Challenge, run by the same folks who do Continental math league. It's not as thrilling as a big bee and doesn't have the trip for finals built in, but it's very homeschool friendly and only costs $20 for a homeschooler to participate.

 

I found the website for this, but didn't see any information about homeschoolers... just an application to register a team.  Do you have a link? 

 

DS would love to participate in the Geo Bee, but homeschoolers in my state don't tend to organize well, LOL, except into smaller support groups.  Thanks!

[Dmmetler]

You can just register a single student for $20 with LastName. Homeschool as the school. That even applies if a PS student wants to participate without a team. You're not eligible for team awards, but are for other awards.

 

The downside is that you can't register online-you have to print the form and mail it in.

[SunnyDays]

Okay, thanks...  I will take a look again!!  :)

 

[Guest path]

I agree with dmmetller:-)

 

Also thank you all for helpful insights :-)