Geography, if you don't tie it to history

[CadenceSophia]

Pacing our geography study along with history isn't working very well right now. I need more freedom in history than our spine is offering for a while. I really want my kids to improve in continents, countries, capitals, lakes/rivers and climate across the entire globe this year.

 

I am sure I could go to d-maps and print out various maps and cobble something together, but is there anything pre made that is short, sweet and sticks just to this type of information?

[Mrs Twain]

This is the best program I have ever seen for learning to draw the continents, countries of the world, and states of the USA. I think it is only $15 for a PDF of the entire program.

http://map-of-the-whole-world.weebly.com/

 

So far my son and I can draw the Canadian provinces and territories, all 50 states, and all the countries in Central America, South America, Europe, and Asia. We are going to start Africa next.

 

You could easily add the capitals, rivers, lakes, and whatever else you like once your student can draw the countries.

[happypamama]

Trail Guide to US Geography worked well for us last year (although maybe a little tedious with the state mapping), and the World one has worked well this year. We're using it as a framework and hitting world monuments and animals, learning about diets around the world, some world music, etc. in addition to mapping.

[Tanikit]

I taught geography through everything - so used history, but also every literary novel or read aloud that we did - they were all published on a certain continent, most do discuss a particular country and many relate to the type of biomes in those countries - it is not always obvious, but can certainly be mentioned (especially at your children's ages). Of course mine have had geography through Life of Fred and any news I pick up that might interest my children (I read newspapers from a few countries a day and pull anything my kids might be interested in and that is emotionally suitable). I just keep a big world map on view and make sure we look at it daily. Even if news is not suitable (like discussions about the war in Mosul) - I can still tell them there is fighting there and show them it is on a river and how the river might influence the living conditions. When going to the beach we can discuss how different coastlines differ and discuss sea temperatures and compare. It just takes makes geography a priority - I found having the map in full view all the time and even bringing it onto the floor so the kids could crawl all over it has helped us concentrate on it. The capitals have come slower this way, but my eldest does know a large number of them. Tracing the journeys people took in stories and discussing what geographical obstacles they may have faced has also helped.

 

The books I choose to read my children do come from numerous countries and I make sure we do books from each continent each year.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Tanikit

[Milknhoney]

Stack the States is an app that both my kids love. Good for learning states, capitals, and other trivia. There's a Stack the Countries too.

 

We also got a lot out of reading through Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, both by Jules Verne. 

 

There's maps online of Phileas Fogg's trip around the world. My son just loved looking at each location on Google Maps satellite view and zooming in. Take as much time as you want looking up all the landmarks mentioned, too. We had an annotated version of the book from the library that helped a lot too.

 

In 20K Leagues, it continually gives their location in lat/long. Keep an atlas nearby as you read and get lots of practice figuring out where they are by the coordinates. An encyclopedia of sea animals would also be an extremely handy reference to have. There were many we hadn't heard of. (Some, but not all, are found in Apologia's Swimming Creatures book.)

 

We did Trail Guide to World Geography, but that is a full curriculum which it doesn't sound like you are looking for. 

[Milknhoney]

Oh and also for your littles...

 

Read through the FIAR book list. Many of the books take place in various locations around the world. The curriculum package comes with little story disks to color and then tape to a world map on the wall (which you could easily do yourself if you don't use the whole curriculum). I did this with my daughter. Every day we'd go to the map and recall which book went with which location on the map. My very favorite book was How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World, which involves multiple map locations.

[CadenceSophia]

This is the best program I have ever seen for learning to draw the continents, countries of the world, and states of the USA. I think it is only $15 for a PDF of the entire program.

http://map-of-the-whole-world.weebly.com/

 

So far my son and I can draw the Canadian provinces and territories, all 50 states, and all the countries in Central America, South America, Europe, and Asia. We are going to start Africa next.

 

You could easily add the capitals, rivers, lakes, and whatever else you like once your student can draw the countries.

 

Wow I can't believe I have never heard of this before. I had to check out the sample last night -- It looks incredibly perfect! Even my 4 year old can get into placing continents when we are doing the preliminary drawings that way! Thanks

 

 

 

We also got a lot out of reading through Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, both by Jules Verne. 

 

There's maps online of Phileas Fogg's trip around the world. My son just loved looking at each location on Google Maps satellite view and zooming in. Take as much time as you want looking up all the landmarks mentioned, too. We had an annotated version of the book from the library that helped a lot too.

 

In 20K Leagues, it continually gives their location in lat/long. Keep an atlas nearby as you read and get lots of practice figuring out where they are by the coordinates. An encyclopedia of sea animals would also be an extremely handy reference to have. There were many we hadn't heard of. (Some, but not all, are found in Apologia's Swimming Creatures book.)

 

 

Oh yes, We have several by Jules Verne on our reading list for next term. I'll have to remember to have the supplies on hand to look that info up.

 

 

 

Thanks everyone these are great suggestions! 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by CadenceSophia

[Momto6inIN]

Trail Guide to US Geography worked well for us last year (although maybe a little tedious with the state mapping), and the World one has worked well this year. We're using it as a framework and hitting world monuments and animals, learning about diets around the world, some world music, etc. in addition to mapping.

This us what we do too. Simple and effective!

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[cintinative]

We did Trail Guide to world geography over two years.

 

The first year we did just the general mapping laid out in the book.  

 

The next year we did more of the cultural end of it--languages, animals, climate, etc. I think I relied a bit more on the Ultimate Geography and Timeline guide that year. That would be a good time to do food also--we have a lot of food restrictions here so I didn't cover food really. 

[cintinative]

I meant to post this earlier but had computer problems. Here is the sheet I used for mine for the cultural end of it. They were pretty young at the time so this was perfect. 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0oUXygCNeMlZlRnSVpMUkV0MUU/view?usp=sharing

[TheAttachedMama]

We love visualize world geography.   It is expensive, but SO easy to use and effective.   To me, the price was worth it.   Within one years time, my kids learned to identify nearly every country in the world.  (we still struggle with some of the smaller island nations.)    Having this knowledge has really added depth to our history studies, literature, and even science.   When we hear about a place mentioned, we can picture in our minds where it is on the globe very easily.

 

To keep their memory of the material sharp, I assign map drills as independent work using Shephard software.  (It takes about 3 minutes per day, and they can do it themselves since it is all online and free.)  And we also work through one "Draw Europe" (or Africa or whatever) book per year.    My future plans include memorizing all of the major rivers and bodies of water in each continent, and the major mountains.    After that, we will spend some time on "cultural" geography using the Simply Charlotte Mason visits to reading list.   :)   Hope that helps!

[mom2kando]

Easypeasyallinone has a geography year under history that we just started using. You can edit as needed, my kids like it and the info is sticking.

[2_girls_mommy]

The Complete Book of Maps and Geography Workbooks are good to just work through at your own pace. They have map skills, plus sections on US, etc. My kids used them over the course of several years in elem-middle school.

[goldenecho]

The free Globalmania curriculum sounds like what you need (excpet maybe climate).  http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/Globalmania.html

 

[OrganicMom]

We love visualize world geography.   It is expensive, but SO easy to use and effective.   To me, the price was worth it.   Within one years time, my kids learned to identify nearly every country in the world.  (we still struggle with some of the smaller island nations.)    Having this knowledge has really added depth to our history studies, literature, and even science.   When we hear about a place mentioned, we can picture in our minds where it is on the globe very easily.

 

To keep their memory of the material sharp, I assign map drills as independent work using Shephard software.  (It takes about 3 minutes per day, and they can do it themselves since it is all online and free.)  And we also work through one "Draw Europe" (or Africa or whatever) book per year.    My future plans include memorizing all of the major rivers and bodies of water in each continent, and the major mountains.    After that, we will spend some time on "cultural" geography using the Simply Charlotte Mason visits to reading list.   :)   Hope that helps!

 

How long does the visualize world geography take and how often did/do you do it? I have an 8.5 year old (not strong reader at all) and an 11 year old. I have visualize world geography in hand and all the CC cycles and i'm trying to decide if I should choose only one geography tool to study at a time? (VWG or CC) or if both are good to study at one time, etc. We start school back tomorrow/over the next few days. 

[ErinD]

For years we had a world map shower curtain, and I was amazed how much geography my kids picked up from it. People would call for a "bathroom break" in the middle of a movie to go and look up a place that was mentioned! They'd also come out of the shower with questions or comments and it often led to further exploration on a wall map.

We also own and love Bright Ideas Press's WonderMaps and use them regularly for explorations, especially because we can print topographical data or not as desired. I can also print historical maps so we can compare with current maps.

[TheAttachedMama]

How long does the visualize world geography take and how often did/do you do it? I have an 8.5 year old (not strong reader at all) and an 11 year old. I have visualize world geography in hand and all the CC cycles and i'm trying to decide if I should choose only one geography tool to study at a time? (VWG or CC) or if both are good to study at one time, etc. We start school back tomorrow/over the next few days. 

 

 

Visualize geography takes a few minutes per day.    However, kids will often ask to do more than one lesson per day...so it has the potential to go on and on unless you limit the kids to a lesson or two.   We often watch these in the car, or at the end of the day, or as a quick thing in morning time.  You watch a video lesson with a funny skit that teaches and reviews the lessons.   (The skits are really low budget and cheesy, but my kids still like them.)    

 

You are supposed to move at the child's pace and wait until they can re-tell the story and locate the countries in the lesson before moving on.   I originally planned to learn one continent per year.  (My origiginal plans were Africa with Ancient History, Europe with Middle ages, South America + North America with Early modern, Asia with Modern.)   However, we moved much quicker than planned.   We were able to memorize the whole world in two years thanks to VWG.

 

You do not need to read at all in order to do the lessons.  The lessons can be completely independent since you are just watching a video.   Shephard software can also be completely independent and you do not need to read at all.   (The website speaks the country name for your child.)   

 

We also do the CC geography work.  (Well, some of it.)    It is good too, just different.   I personally like to do the VWG first as a base, then add on the CC geography next since it is very geographic.   (Tallest mountain, rivers in Europe, etc.)   We are not in a CC community, so we can do this.