Little Green Leaves Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 (edited) Hi all, I'm looking for a few fun and relatively easy things for my fourth grader to work on, while I'm working with my second grader. His work has gotten more difficult this year -- I'm expecting more from him in terms of writing, note taking, his math has obviously gotten harder, etc. He's doing well, and it's nice to see him stretching. But I'd also like to give him some simpler work that he can just pick up while he's waiting for me. I don't mean busy work, I just mean something he can enjoy and learn a little something from, without having to be operating at maximum, if you know what I mean. Anyway, he really loves geography and is good in it. I'd like to find him a book where he can learn mountain ranges and rivers in the US and around the world. We already have a lot of atlases and spend time studying them; what I want is a workbook where he fills in names. Or even a coloring book. Does anyone have any ideas? Or any ideas about similar kinds of projects? I know workbooks get frowned on a lot, but we use them rarely enough that my kids seem to find them relaxing! Edited October 3, 2020 by Little Green Leaves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 Maps Charts Graphs. My dd did the whole series during her grades 5-7, I want to say. (I didn't discover them until then.) They are leveled by letters on the cover, not grade numbers. We started with book A and continued on in order. https://www.rainbowresource.com/hSearch.jhtm?keyword=maps+charts+graphs 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 2 hours ago, perky said: Maps Charts Graphs. My dd did the whole series during her grades 5-7, I want to say. (I didn't discover them until then.) They are leveled by letters on the cover, not grade numbers. We started with book A and continued on in order. https://www.rainbowresource.com/hSearch.jhtm?keyword=maps+charts+graphs Thank you! These look like something he'll love. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acresoft Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 You might like Memoria Press Geography Student Workbooks. https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/american-and-modern-studies/geography-iii-exploring-and-mapping-the-world-student-workbook-second-edition/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 1 hour ago, acresoft said: You might like Memoria Press Geography Student Workbooks. https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/american-and-modern-studies/geography-iii-exploring-and-mapping-the-world-student-workbook-second-edition/ Thank you! This does look really interesting. I couldn't tell from the sample pages what "Robinson maps" are but I guess that's explained in the book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 (edited) LOVE the Complete Book of Maps and Geography! Colorful, interesting, tons of geography topics -- even a whole section on each of the 50 U.S. states. In general, my DSs didn't care much for workbooks, but they both *really* enjoyed this one a lot. We also enjoyed the Maps Charts & Graphs series mentioned above. Both the MCG workbooks and the Complete Book... workbook are pretty independently done by the student. Not colorful, and more analytical are the Mark Twain Discovering the World of Geography books. We did the gr. 6-7, and gr. 7-8 books when DSs were in middle school. Here is the grade 4-5 one. This series required a bit more parent involvement for explanations and guidance from time to time. I have to confess, the Memoria Press materials always look like real joy-killers to me, but I know they are a good fit for many families. 😄 Edited October 3, 2020 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Lori D. said: LOVE the Complete Book of Maps and Geography! Colorful, interesting, tons of geography topics -- even a whole section on each of the 50 U.S. states. In general, my DSs didn't care much for workbooks, but they both *really* enjoyed this one a lot. We also enjoyed the Maps Charts & Graphs series mentioned above. Both the MCG workbooks and the Complete Book... workbook are pretty independently done by the student. Not colorful, and more analytical are the Mark Twain Discovering the World of Geography books. We did the gr. 6-7, and gr. 7-8 books when DSs were in middle school. Here is the grade 4-5 one. This series required a bit more parent involvement for explanations and guidance from time to time. I have to confess, the Memoria Press materials always look like real joy-killers to me, but I know they are a good fit for many families. 😄 Thank you!! I especially like the look of the Mark Twain series. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, Little Green Leaves said: ...I'm looking for a few fun and relatively easy things for my fourth grader to work on, while I'm working with my second grader. His work has gotten more difficult this year... in terms of writing, note taking, his math has obviously gotten harder, etc. He's doing well, and it's nice to see him stretching. But I'd also like to give him some simpler work that he can just pick up while he's waiting for me... ... something he can enjoy and learn a little something from, without having to be operating at maximum, if you know what I mean. ...We already have a lot of atlases and spend time studying them; what I want is a workbook where he fills in names... Totally just a thought: Since you're looking for more of a supplement for your DS to do solo, and because he has stepped up in rigor and volume for Writing, you might consider something that requires less writing/rigor for the supplement. I totally see that you are specifically requesting something where DS fills in names of geographic items, BUT... Maybe have your DS look at the samples for the various resources and get his input about which would be of most interest to him for a solo-working resource in a subject area he loves? Esp. since you guys already are using and studying your atlases, you might not really need a fill-in-the-name resource workbook... Maybe online geography games might be something that would be more interesting?? (Check out the free online Sheppard Software geography games (capitals; locations of countries; regions; rivers). Again, just a thought! Edited October 3, 2020 by Lori D. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 2 hours ago, Lori D. said: Totally just a thought: Since you're looking for more of a supplement for your DS to do solo, and because he has stepped up in rigor and volume for Writing, you might consider something that requires less writing/rigor for the supplement. I totally see that you are specifically requesting something where DS fills in names of geographic items, BUT... Maybe have your DS look at the samples for the various resources and get his input about which would be of most interest to him for a solo-working resource in a subject area he loves? Esp. since you guys already are using and studying your atlases, you might not really need a fill-in-the-name resource workbook... Maybe online geography games might be something that would be more interesting?? (Check out the free online Sheppard Software geography games (capitals; locations of countries; regions; rivers). Again, just a thought! It would DEFINITELY have been a good idea to have him look at samples and give input about what he wanted to use. That is a good point. Of course I was way too impulsive and have already ordered one of the Maps Charts and Graphs books. In the past, he's really liked filling in blank maps with country names, so I'm thinking he'll enjoy this, but I'm also ready to set it aside if not : ) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Little Green Leaves said: It would DEFINITELY have been a good idea to have him look at samples and give input about what he wanted to use. That is a good point. Of course I was way too impulsive and have already ordered one of the Maps Charts and Graphs books. In the past, he's really liked filling in blank maps with country names, so I'm thinking he'll enjoy this, but I'm also ready to set it aside if not : ) lol. It's all good! And, we found that we moved through the MC&G workbooks pretty quickly, so if your DS does too, that just gives you the option of trying another resource in a few months... 😉 Edited October 3, 2020 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 (edited) On 10/3/2020 at 2:20 PM, Lori D. said: LOVE the Complete Book of Maps and Geography! Colorful, interesting, tons of geography topics -- even a whole section on each of the 50 U.S. states. In general, my DSs didn't care much for workbooks, but they both *really* enjoyed this one a lot. We also enjoyed the Maps Charts & Graphs series mentioned above. Both the MCG workbooks and the Complete Book... workbook are pretty independently done by the student. Not colorful, and more analytical are the Mark Twain Discovering the World of Geography books. We did the gr. 6-7, and gr. 7-8 books when DSs were in middle school. Here is the grade 4-5 one. This series required a bit more parent involvement for explanations and guidance from time to time. I have to confess, the Memoria Press materials always look like real joy-killers to me, but I know they are a good fit for many families. 😄 Another vote for the Complete Book of Maps and Geography. Absolutely love that workbook! I've also used both the Maps, Charts, and Graphs and the Mark Twain books. I have not used the Memoria Press ones, because they looked soooooo dull (and also because their reading comprehension stuff is super dull). Also, the ONE thing my oldest remembers most fondly from homeschooling, more than all the SOTW projects or hours of read alouds or science experiments or field trips any of the things I poured hours of time and attention into is playing on the Sheppard's Software site. They absolutely loved it and learned sooooo much. Edited October 5, 2020 by Terabith 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 35 minutes ago, Terabith said: Another vote for the Complete Book of Maps and Geography. Absolutely love that workbook! I've also used both the Maps, Charts, and Graphs and the Mark Twain books. I have not used the Memoria Press ones, because they looked soooooo dull (and also because their reading comprehension stuff is super dull). Also, the ONE thing my oldest remembers most fondly from homeschooling, more than all the SOTW projects or hours of read alouds or science experiments or field trips any of the things I poured hours of time and attention into is playing on the Sheppard's Software site. They absolutely loved it and learned sooooo much. hahaha! We must have very similar learner-types! 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 On 10/3/2020 at 12:55 PM, Lori D. said: Totally just a thought: Since you're looking for more of a supplement for your DS to do solo, and because he has stepped up in rigor and volume for Writing, you might consider something that requires less writing/rigor for the supplement. I totally see that you are specifically requesting something where DS fills in names of geographic items, BUT... Maybe have your DS look at the samples for the various resources and get his input about which would be of most interest to him for a solo-working resource in a subject area he loves? Esp. since you guys already are using and studying your atlases, you might not really need a fill-in-the-name resource workbook... Maybe online geography games might be something that would be more interesting?? (Check out the free online Sheppard Software geography games (capitals; locations of countries; regions; rivers). Again, just a thought! These have been around a LONG time! We used these in the 1990's! My boys had a geography board game that we found at a yard sale. And we used to cover a lot of geography during family worship time when discussing missions. Biographies. DVDs from the library. And I used a lot of NIE (Newspapers in Education) stuff and covered geography while keeping up with current events. And there are AP Geography and AP Environmental Science classes that overlap and there was a lot of free stuff online and cheap textbooks hanging around at yard sales and the library for that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 24 minutes ago, Hunter said: These have been around a LONG time! We used these in the 1990's! My boys had a geography board game that we found at a yard sale. And we used to cover a lot of geography during family worship time when discussing missions. Biographies. DVDs from the library. And I used a lot of NIE (Newspapers in Education) stuff and covered geography while keeping up with current events. And there are AP Geography and AP Environmental Science classes that overlap and there was a lot of free stuff online and cheap textbooks hanging around at yard sales and the library for that. Nice to see you again Hunter! I always enjoy hearing about the resources you find, or ones that homeschoolers were using in the 1990s, before we started homeschooling in 2000! 😄 Games -- very fun! For a short while in middle school, DSs really enjoyed the strategy board game of Risk, which was a very loose Geography addition! 😉 Now we enjoy the Ticket to Ride board games, and learning the major city names on those boards has helped me come up with a few crossword puzzle answers! 😄 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Oh, yeah, and Carmen Sandiago! Oh, my!!! Carmen got an upgrade since the 90's, didn't she? Egads! https://kidzshowz.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/carmen-sandiego.jpg 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 I found the board game! National Geographic Global Pursuit. https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m33128843098/?gclsrc=aw.ds&msclkid=b411bbf494a91992207be48f608400fc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=[ADL] Temporary ROAS Shopping {Reg} SellB1 (Control)&utm_term=4576648438032146&utm_content=ADL Shopping&adlclid=ADL-32313023-8fee-4b4d-9506-44b8e69875ec 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) A little Trivia: Prince William majored in geography. His major was originally art history, but Kate encouraged him to switch to geography. Edited October 6, 2020 by Hunter 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 10 hours ago, Lori D. said: Nice to see you again Hunter! I always enjoy hearing about the resources you find, or ones that homeschoolers were using in the 1990s, before we started homeschooling in 2000! 😄 Games -- very fun! For a short while in middle school, DSs really enjoyed the strategy board game of Risk, which was a very loose Geography addition! 😉 Now we enjoy the Ticket to Ride board games, and learning the major city names on those boards has helped me come up with a few crossword puzzle answers! 😄 We have Risk too! And it's definitely good for making geography seem real. One day we were reading about Britain getting Gibralter and my son was really confused about why they wanted it in the first place. The next time we played Risk, he could see why that was a strategic spot. @HunterI will look at the Global Pursuit game. Thanks a lot. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Not what you are asking... but I will share anyways - My dd said she learned more basic world geography from doing the continent puzzles. Basically, every weekday I would put a continent puzzle out to complete. I also had one of the US and states. We also played 10 Days games... She also watched Carmen San Diego in the car. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.