TreeLoft Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I was planning on doing Berean Builders 'Science in the Beginning' for science this year with my 1st and 4th graders, and having geography as a separate subject (maybe using SCM 'Visits to...' series). But, today I started thinking that it would be a better fit for me and our family if I could find something that combined science with geography. Is there any curriculum out there that introduces continents/countries around the world while studying the habitats, climate, animals, vegetation, bodies of water, etc. within those geographical areas? I may end up piecing my own together, but I would love some suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 My Father's World ECC. There's something by Winter's Promise I know nothing about. I'm piecing my own together. Kind of a geography through cartography with animals and habits, lots of biographies and classical astronomy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 We did sort of our own homemade unit study of that one year for May Term, but a whole year could be really good! Like now I wanna steal that good! So you could (I'm just thinking out loud here) harvest chapters from a BJU science to plug in. Just take a couple grade levels and harvest what you want, doing the reading and hands-on. You could make lapbooks instead of doing the worksheets. Neither of my kids were lapbookers, but there you go, it would work, lol. Have you looked at Galloping the Globe? It brings in your lists of things but it's not really heavy on science, more incidental. Christian Cottage Unit Studies might have something to suit you. if you get your topics and DK books and kits, shouldn't be too hard. (Italy, volcanoes, DK book on volcanoes, do a kit) I guess the problem to me is that 4th grader is going to want more meat and possibly more structure. That's why I was thinking get the BJU texts and harvest chapters or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) If there were enough GEMS units to hit things that apply, you could use those for the science. http://lhsgems.org/gemsguides.html Here, a more helpful listing http://lhsgems.org/gemsguidestopic.html Just looking through it quickly, I think you could probably get 10 to coordinate, yes. Edited July 21, 2019 by PeterPan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 We’re doing MFW ECC this year. It’s our first year with MFW but my friends who have used it absolutely LOVED the Exploring Countries and Cultures year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 The blog Confessions of a Homeschooler has a geography curriculum with an animal habitats supplement. http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/08/expedition-earth-discovering-gods.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Can't believe I totally forgot about this! https://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/geography/geography.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 56 minutes ago, PeterPan said: Can't believe I totally forgot about this! https://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/geography/geography.html I have never used GH but I will testify that this booklist is fabulous. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 What about Holling C. Holling books? You could study ecology, habitats, geography and history. It will be limited to North American geography, though 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 2 hours ago, JHLWTM said: What about Holling C. Holling books? You could study ecology, habitats, geography and history. It will be limited to North American geography, though If you go for those, definitely get the WONDERFUL Beautiful Feet guide. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeLoft Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 On 7/20/2019 at 2:37 PM, Slache said: My Father's World ECC. There's something by Winter's Promise I know nothing about. I'm piecing my own together. Kind of a geography through cartography with animals and habits, lots of biographies and classical astronomy. This sounds fascinating! How are you incorporating cartography into your studies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeLoft Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 On 7/20/2019 at 7:00 PM, PeterPan said: If there were enough GEMS units to hit things that apply, you could use those for the science. http://lhsgems.org/gemsguides.html Here, a more helpful listing http://lhsgems.org/gemsguidestopic.html Just looking through it quickly, I think you could probably get 10 to coordinate, yes. I have never looked at these before. I'm liking what I see. Have you used these before successfully? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeLoft Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 12 hours ago, PeterPan said: Can't believe I totally forgot about this! https://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/geography/geography.html We used their American history with some tweaks 2 years ago and absolutely loved history that year! Good reminder! I'll go through this list for sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 1 hour ago, TreeLoft said: I have never looked at these before. I'm liking what I see. Have you used these before successfully? A few. There are a few that are oop that you can download from them for free. They're set up for groups, so one unit is just a lesson for us and maybe goes faster. So like if it has 4-5 lessons, that's maybe one a week for a month. But I think go with your gut with the samples. They're good with my ds (ASD, a different pace to life) and my dd totally turned her nose up at them. 1 hour ago, TreeLoft said: We used their American history with some tweaks 2 years ago and absolutely loved history that year! Good reminder! I'll go through this list for sure. A good, then that may be a good lead! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 8 hours ago, TreeLoft said: This sounds fascinating! How are you incorporating cartography into your studies? We will be using Draw The World books as a base for map making. We will be reading books about animals, habitats and local landmarks, interesting local stories, missionaries, and artists and mapping those events. We will be using Trail Guide to World Geography for vocabulary and drills, making world cuisine once a week, listening to world music while we clean and reading world fairy tales in the morning. Memory work will be pulled from Geography Songs, Living Memory and scripture regarding the great commission. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 I'm piecing together my own world geography for this coming year, but my kids are older so we're focusing more on people and world religions. That said, there are several great animal atlases on Amazon (Animal Planet has a nice looking one, as does Smithstonian). I also found many nature documentaries free on Amazon Prime (also lots of documentaries about children/families around the world). When my girls were little, we did a zoology year + biomes/habitats. We used these resources: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Research-Report-Printables-680058 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439453372/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557996881/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeLoft Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 On 7/22/2019 at 6:20 AM, Slache said: We will be using Draw The World books as a base for map making. We will be reading books about animals, habitats and local landmarks, interesting local stories, missionaries, and artists and mapping those events. We will be using Trail Guide to World Geography for vocabulary and drills, making world cuisine once a week, listening to world music while we clean and reading world fairy tales in the morning. Memory work will be pulled from Geography Songs, Living Memory and scripture regarding the great commission. Wow! This sounds like such a fun, well rounded study! I like so many of your ideas. I had not thought of adding in local stories and music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeLoft Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 On 7/22/2019 at 7:53 AM, alisoncooks said: I'm piecing together my own world geography for this coming year, but my kids are older so we're focusing more on people and world religions. That said, there are several great animal atlases on Amazon (Animal Planet has a nice looking one, as does Smithstonian). I also found many nature documentaries free on Amazon Prime (also lots of documentaries about children/families around the world). When my girls were little, we did a zoology year + biomes/habitats. We used these resources: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Research-Report-Printables-680058 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439453372/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557996881/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Would you mind listing some of the documentaries about children around the world? I'm having trouble finding these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 Sure! On Amazon prime there are a couple of series. One called Children of the World and another called Families of the World (these seemed geared toward younger audiences, but I've not fully previewed them). And there is a series called Most Dangerous Ways to get to School (or something like that). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 I did Galloping the Globe with my dc’s in a way that combined science many years ago. It was great fun and I managed to use many resources that I had sitting around my house in the process. 😊 I did add in the projects from Considering Gods Creation http://www.eagleswingsed.com/product/considering-gods-creation/which were recommended in my original copy of Galloping the Globe but I didn’t have the other recommended resources as I remember. Basically I had a sheet of paper for each continent and sorted through my boxes listing various resources that might be useful for each continent. We used Zoobooks ( beyond the great info on individual animals there were some puzzles that the kids enjoyed) and the geography portions of Draw Write Nowhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/400545.Draw_Write_Now_Book_1_8. We also did Geography Songs which were great fun. Even more interesting is the fact that former WtMer Pioneer Woman had it on her blog and google just listed it first https://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/geography-songs-you-never-forget-what-you-sing/. Pretty much played if I am honest with each continent until we ran out of the good stuff and moved to the next. We did the Holling books separately but could have easily wrapped them up in this.....Beautiful Feet’s Maps are incredible if you want to splurge but my kids didn’t want to draw on them because they were so nice thus really underused. If I had to do it again I would just design my own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 8 hours ago, TreeLoft said: Wow! This sounds like such a fun, well rounded study! I like so many of your ideas. I had not thought of adding in local stories and music. Thanks! I'm using some Lonely Planet Kids for local stories and YouTube for music. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 You might like the videos at Untamed Science. They're short and engaging. If you scroll down the list there are several on biomes from around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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