cin Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 DH wants a little more geography in DDs schooling. He wants something that teaches map skills. And world geography, world maps, foreign country locations, countries and what country their located in, and so on. He doesn't care that much about culture (I'll probably add that as needed ;)) Any suggestions? PLEASE?!?!?!?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweed Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 For younger children, Rand McNally has an excellent workbook on teaching map skills. http://www.amazon.com/McNally-Schoolhouse-Beginner-Geography-Activities/dp/0528934694/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239232881&sr=1-8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 (edited) We use a lot of things from Geography Matters And for learning names and places we haven't found anything we like better than an interactive globe. This is the one we have. You can find them on sale. We got ours at Costco for much less than the list price. There are other companies that make them also. Edited April 9, 2009 by jcooperetc fixed the Geo Matters link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hathersage Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I'll second the interactive globe idea. Ours is the leapfrog smart globe. I usually don't go for the battery-operated toys, but this is an exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 Oohh! these are some great ideas. Keep 'em coming! Thanks so much!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 We are using cartography I in the fall from angelicum academy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I like McGraw Hill's Complete Book of Maps and Geography. Also, Spectrum Geography is okay. I like the BF guides along with the Holling books for a U.S. study - there are large maps to go along with these.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I used the book My World and Globe as an introduction, and now Maps and Mapping with inflatable globes. Next year when ds is six we're studying geography with SOTW, Geography Lessons by Tanglewood (free with their downloadable $5 Lesson plan book), Usborne's Peoples of the World and Kingfisher's Children's Atlas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Galloping the Globe is nice, especially for kids that young. They also have Cantering the Country if you'd prefer to start with US geography. They use lots of pictures books and notebooking. You can get a lot out of these books, if you want. They cover: * Basic Geography * People/History * Literature * Science * Activities * Internet Sources * Bible (Let me know if you like the looks of these - I have an older version of Galloping the Globe and several of the books you need for the geography part that I should really list on the S&S board. :)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 How about Geography Scribe? The workbook series K12 uses, Understanding Geography, is avail. at maps.com for grades 3-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I'd look into Evan-Moor. I have Trail Guide and it's neat but Evan-Moor covers map skills better (for less money) and doesn't require all those extra resources. Don't get me wrong; I like a good atlas, I just don't like it to be a specific one for each level etc. Overkill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen the RD Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's called Daily Geography practice and there is a level for grades 1-6. These cover a lot of ground: basic mapreading, using legends, different types of maps (political, physical, road, cultural, etc), parallels, meridians, time zones, historical maps, Robinson & Mercator Projection maps....and much more. You can go to their website and see the actual pages from each level at www.evan-moor.com. HTH, Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 For younger children, Rand McNally has an excellent workbook on teaching map skills. http://www.amazon.com/McNally-Schoolhouse-Beginner-Geography-Activities/dp/0528934694/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239232881&sr=1-8 :iagree: We used both levels and enjoyed both. They were easy to implement and got the job done. This year I had actually planned to use them as a jumping off point to do more of a cultural and in depth study of each continent.... never happened here but if you are more ambitious that I;), it could definitely work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) :iagree: We used both levels and enjoyed both. They were easy to implement and got the job done. I will third this recommendation given your daughters' ages. We'd read folktales, studied the animals of each continent and made notebook pages, but my six-year-old was still giving me a blank look when I asked him to point to Africa or the Atlantic Ocean. (He could retell an African folktale and recite the fauna of the continent, though.) We're now about halfway through the Schoolhouse Atlas & Activity Book for younger children, and all of those problems are gone. It could be maturity, or that he finally had enough exposure, but I love the targeted knowledge of the exercises in the Rand McNally book. My eleven-year-old has been listening to Audio Memory Geography Songs since he was eight, and that's worked for him pretty well. My middle kid liked CATW's Children of Many Lands a bunch but it's more cultural, less political and physical. We're using the Evan Moor series now, Antarctica, and it reinforces those place names and landmarks so frequently that I tease the kiddo about being the only eight-year-old on the planet who could navigate the South Pole without a map. I avoided using the Continents series for a long time because it seemed too schooly. It includes a variety of activities intended to teach these new geography "strands" that seem like just another fad to me. But through those it manages to reinforce place names pretty frequently. At least, that's been my experience with Antarctica. The other books seem similar. Then there's The Trail Guide to World Geo which includes all kinds of teaching suggestions and ten minute daily drills in locating stuff. Edited April 9, 2009 by dragons in the flower bed apostrophes. as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I completely forgot about Evan-Moor. I focused on the world geography in your question and was just picturing what was on my shelf. We just finished a bunch of geography centers from Evan-Moor but they focus heavily on North American geography to study mapping and terminology. All of the world geography I have from them is downloaded on my computer as an e-book, a format I love and an additional vote for the curriculum, but I tend to forget about them when I am not using them... So, I second the recommendation for Evan-Moor. They have a lot of great geography stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 We are using the Trail Guide to World Geography this year and are REALLY liking it a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeJM Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Also, take a look at My Father's World Countries and Cultures, that would be a whole year's study, your primary thing, not an add-on. It can be used for the ages you have. I've seen the Trail Guides and Galloping the Globe and Cantering the Country, and they look fun, although I didn't get them. The Evan Moor books are great, also. I used the early elementary ones (just sold them). And how about Around the World in 180 Days (I think by Apologia)? I bet you could use that with your kids at their ages next year. Oh, don't forget about the Geography Songs audio CDs! They can learn their continents, oceans, countries and states while you drive! This is a fun CD. Well, all the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom4him Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 We just finished Galloping the Globe. It was good. You can make it as much or as little as you want. Once I got discaplined:glare: in it my children enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gevs4him Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 (edited) For the past two years we have used Scholastic Sucess With Maps and Map Skills for Today. Along with Abeka History Reader. We plan to use them again this comming year. Our son loves them and has learned from them. We feel they have given him a good start on maps, USA/the world around us and leaves us plenty of time to focus on reading/phonics and math. Blessings Lisa wife to Guy - mother to dd18 and ds6 Edited April 10, 2009 by gevs4him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 http://ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/history/worldstudies.html has a lot of very good culture studies and some map-type geography. Since you said that YOU wanted to include culture, I thought I'd post it. Mapping the World by Heart is wonderful, and I can't believe how much "I" learned while we did it, but it's written for an upper elementary level and I would be worried that children as young as yours would have a lot of difficulty with all the work necessary. I found that before we did Mapping the World, the best way to have things stick as far as where countries are located was when we tied it in with something else. Just studying a country's name, place on the map/globe, and a quick summary of it's vital statistics didn't really form the peg to keep it in the kids' memory. BUT....what did peg and stick was when I started pulling out the globe and having the kids find the country that was mentioned in our other studies (from literature reading, from history, even from science or other subjects when it references anything about a country). For instance, in science if the book we were reading said that this person lived in that country, we looked for the country.....this was invented or discovered in that country, we looked on the globe. This also helped the younger kids to get an idea of how far away those countries are (this is where we live, this is where Grandma lives, and remember it takes us 4 hours by airplane to get to Grandmas....here is where Louis Pasteur lived and it takes an entire day to fly there...etc). That said, Evan Moore and Carson Dellosa both have some great resources specifically for early elementary kids in teaching them about maps and globes and where things are located that we used before I realized the pegs were better for the memorizing of globes. I can't remember the titles because that was quite a while ago and we no longer have them, but I'm sure a quick search for "maps" or "geography" on their websites would come up with many choices. When the kids were old enough to watch the nightly news with us, we'd also pull out the globe to find exactly where they were talking about. Although we now know exactly where Somalia is located because of Mapping the Globe, before that program, we'd have located it on the map as we listened to the news about the pirate/hostage situation which is so prominent in our local news this week. Your kids may be too young yet to be hearing a lot of the news, but I mention it for later years (a peg for you, lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 We love Trail Guide to World Geography with Student Notebook on CD. It is reusable as it covers 3 levels in one book and the notebook gives you all the blank maps and worksheets you need. If you purchase the multi-level notebook you'll be covered for several years. If you want more on the cartography end there is Nat'l Geos materials but the only place I've seen to buy them is Great Books Academy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabanana1992 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Sorry if I am high-jacking, but I have a few questions... I am also looking for a geography curriculum for a 3rd and 4th grader. We will be using SOTW next year, so I am not sure what I need for geography. I *think* I want something that they can do somewhat independently because everything else I have chosen is teacher intensive it seems. I looked at Galloping the Globe which looks great, but it seems to have more than I need. With SOTW, we aren't going to have time for additional readings and other curriculum tie-ins. I also looked at the Rand-McNally, Evan-Moor, and Scholastic series mentioned in this thread, but it was difficult to tell how they are organized or how teacher intensive they are. Are they strictly map skills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline4kids Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 www.simplycharlottemason.com has some great suggestions. She uses one map per year of one continent and has the children put what they know onto a blank map each week after looking at a completed one (like a picture study). By the end of the year they pretty much know it all very well. This is a great long term approach to geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Sorry if I am high-jacking, but I have a few questions... I am also looking for a geography curriculum for a 3rd and 4th grader. We will be using SOTW next year, so I am not sure what I need for geography. I *think* I want something that they can do somewhat independently because everything else I have chosen is teacher intensive it seems. I looked at Galloping the Globe which looks great, but it seems to have more than I need. With SOTW, we aren't going to have time for additional readings and other curriculum tie-ins. I also looked at the Rand-McNally, Evan-Moor, and Scholastic series mentioned in this thread, but it was difficult to tell how they are organized or how teacher intensive they are. Are they strictly map skills? Evan-Moor's basic geography program is just map skills but they also have separate books about the continents that include cultural stuff. The basic geography has different books for each grade level, the continents books are a one shot deal at 3rd-6th grade level. They are not independent workbooks, really. The Daily Geography books could be done independently I suppose but either way, just take a few minutes a day. Depending on what level of SOTW you are doing, there is some mapping included in the Activity Guide, seemed like it was more a part of the lesson in 1 -3, but it just involves country names, not geographic features and such. Don't know about the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gevs4him Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Sorry if I am high-jacking, but I have a few questions... I am also looking for a geography curriculum for a 3rd and 4th grader. We will be using SOTW next year, so I am not sure what I need for geography. I *think* I want something that they can do somewhat independently because everything else I have chosen is teacher intensive it seems. I looked at Galloping the Globe which looks great, but it seems to have more than I need. With SOTW, we aren't going to have time for additional readings and other curriculum tie-ins. I also looked at the Rand-McNally, Evan-Moor, and Scholastic series mentioned in this thread, but it was difficult to tell how they are organized or how teacher intensive they are. Are they strictly map skills? We use the Scholastic series if your child can read they will be able to do these on their own. We have done grade 1 and bought grade 2 for next year. Scholastic is all map skills. Lisa:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoryChick Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I would check out some of the Evan Moor geography books. Most of their books you can view online at their website. Evan Moor UPDATE: Just realized I only read the first page and there were a couple of more! :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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