What is the best secular geography?

[ExcitedMama]

I'm still trying to use up the last of my virtual charter funds for DS and now I'm trying to decide on something for geography. The annoying rules of the state funds mean I must not only order secular materials but they must also not be used on companies like MP and VP, so even though Legends and Leagues looks secular it isn't something I can order. Is EM as basic as it looks? The samples look way too simple. Anything more interesting? Thanks!

[HomeAgain]

We liked Little Passports as an introduction to places around the world.

 

Last year I bought the EM Daily Geography book and it is pretty simple.  It's nothing more than fill in the blank or cut and paste. 

Moving Beyond The Page has a guide for geography in their 6-8yo package.  You can buy it individually. http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/curriculum/samples.aspx?level=Age-6-8

[MistyMountain]

I do not know how much funds you have left but I like how Visualize World Geography looks and plan on getting that with funds.

[2_girls_mommy]

We loved the Complete Book of Maps and Geography from about 2nd through 5th grades. 

[freelylearned]

Too bad you can't use MP, our charter lets us use funds for a lot of MPs language arts and history materials because they are neutral.

 

You can try Trail Guide to World Geography. It didn't strike me as a Christian geography program, but is from a Christian company, so your charter may blackball it. Uncle Josh's Outline maps has really good blank maps.

 

It isn't a bad idea to invest some of that money in a really nice children's atlas.

[Clemsondana]

At the suggestion of somebody on here, I ordered Simply Charlotte Mason's 'visits to' books. I got North America because I wanted to do the states and also Asia because I let my soon-to-be-third-grader pick the other one. If you're trying to spend money, you could get them all. They look like an effective way to learn to label the places on a map. They also have you buy a couple of books (I got them used) that you can use with all of them, and there are suggestions for particular books to read with each.

 

I'm also a big fan if pin-it maps if your kids like hands-on things. It took a while to get all of the pins put together, but I imagine that we'll use it for years. Even my older child (going into 6th grade next year), who has always seemed to absorb geography without much work, enjoyed finding all of the places to put in pins, and there were places that we had to look up on an atlas (and, if you haven't already got one, you could also get a good atlas and a globe as part of geography).

[mmasc]

I could be wrong, but I *think* MP has a specific website set up that can be used for this very purpose (purchasing secular charter materials). I'd definitely give them a call and ask if you're interested in their products.

[Mrs Twain]

My favorite map workbooks are:

 

The Complete Book of Maps and Geography (For early elementary)

 

Maps, Charts,and Graphs (after the above through 8th grade)

 

My favorite map drawing program is this:

 

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