A Bite of Geography
Posted by Jolanthe | 0 comments
There may come a day when our family will be world travelers, but until then we are exploring our world from the comfort of our home. We might be sprawled out on the floor using an atlas, globe, and some great literature to learn all about the world around us, but in our own way we are traveling and having a great adventure.
The first year we homeschooled, our oldest was in kindergarten and my theory was “I really can’t do much to mess up kindergarten….so it will be fine!” The next year, when we decided to continue homeschooling and we added another child into the mix, I needed to know the direction we were going to go for the next few years– mainly because I like to plan, and know what’s coming, and plan {it’s a vicious cycle for me}.
The decided course of action was a geography~based study for the next few years.
Why geography? Truthfully, I wanted to learn more about the world around us and also have our children understand how big our world is ~ and how creative their God is who made it all!
Last fall we embarked on a two year study of the continents and various countries, touching on key facts and basic information about the countries we picked to study: geographic features, missionaries, animals, historical figures and events, literature, art and so much more. We usually spend two weeks studying a country, unless we become so involved in something we are learning about and want to know more. Our studies are not all-inclusive, but give us a wonderful basis or ‘stepping-stone’ for understanding our world as a whole.
Even if your studies are not geography based, there are some easy ways to incorporate more into your day ~ without much prep needed.
- Learn a little at a time. We started with some basic information: learning how to read a map, basic geography features {mountains, rivers, oceans, continents} and went from there. Our preschooler can name the seven continents and five oceans just from listening to his older siblings sing fun geography songs. He also knows the directions of North, South, East, and West ~ not because I’m the world’s greatest teacher, but because he is surrounded by the information and picks it up in our everyday life.
- Hang up some maps! A map can be put up practically anywhere: in your school area, the bathroom, your child’s room or even under the glass of your dining room table. We have a world map hanging at our kid’s eye-level and I find our kids plopped down on the floor looking to see where we live or just exploring the map in general. When we are studying different continents, I print off maps for them to color and fill in key features: rivers, capital, mountains, etc… Anything to get them interacting with the maps!
- Find a good atlas. We keep our atlas in plain site so the kids have access to it whenever they want to use it. There are times that we look online for more resources and we really like National Geographic Xpeditions and WorldAtlas.com. Between our library and online resources, we have plenty to keep us busy and learning.
Geography can seem overwhelming because there is truly so much to know and learn. Taking it in little ‘bite-sized chunks’ and having fun along the way makes all the difference. You don’t have to cover the entire globe next week ~ start your journey out by taking one step at a time and see where your travels take you!
Jolanthe has found that she learns just as much {if not more} as her kids through homeschooling. She has been married for almost eleven years and has four children ages two through eight. Her interests include photography, organizing, re-organizing and blogging. You can visit her at her blogs No Ordinary Moments and Homeschool Creations.
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