Just wondering how you teach geography.. Do you just drill them on where countries are located or do you have them learn about the area? If so, what sort of things do you feel is important?? We've been doing US Geography and the kids know where all the states are now. We will be doing capitals next using Setera.. And I will go over landmarks and such like the Grand canyon and Yellowstone. This will be done through the summer. Next year I want to do world Geography along with world history.. I just don't know where to start on that.. I have yet to find a curriculum that we like.. :/ Thanks for your input.. Forgot to mention that my girls will be in 7th and 4th next year if that makes a difference.. My youngest learns best with games and hands on stuff.. she has to SEE it and DO it to learn it.. My other daughter can pretty much just read it and she's got it down..
We have the Which Way USA books, if you can get your hands on them unused, do it! I also bought almost all of the Top Secert Adventures (but they are written in ) for world geography. They are fun and they learn so much from them. Another suggestion is to look at The Complete Book of Maps and Geography. It doesn't go into culture so much but it's got everything but. Oh.. and also I really like the Evan Moor books on the continents. Those cover almost all strains of geography.
We use this: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ to learn the location of the states/countries. Plus there's quite a bit of geography built into MOH. We did spend one year concentrating on geography. We did Around the World in 180 Days. I liked it, but it did take a good bit of teacher prep time!
We used Geography Songs last year and that was fun. I do not concentrate on the geography but instead just do some as we go through history.
We're finishing a year-long world & U.S. geography course next week. Sheppard Software for learning the locations of countries, capitals, states, landmarks, and bodies of water. Geography Songs for a fun way to remember the names of all the things you learn in SS. We also used the Winky Adam "Around the World" coloring book, Galloping the Globe, and a variety of Barefoot Books with stories from all over the world (the catalog index tells you which country each book represents). To fill out the information on the worksheets/coloring pages, and as a fun bonus, we used worldatlas.com.
We are currently working through a vintage ebook (that sounds funny doesn't it?) that I got free from homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com. It is called Home Geography for Younger Learners. We are enjoying it. We just go through at our own pace and ability level using experiments, library books, etc to expand ideas. We also do what we call "missions" where we pray for the missionary kids of our church organization's missionaries. Then we learn about that continent, country, etc. by using library books (fiction and non fiction), maps (we have a variety from felt wall map to It's A Big, Big World map book. We also do pen pals from our MK chart (to help dd with her handwriting). Another amazingly great resource are the Time Warp Trio books/videos...we have done only the videos and it is astonishing how much they remember from those and connect it to current lessons! World/ geography is one of our favorite topics! We also try to watch youTubes of cultural things like instruments, dance, etc and do a weekly art project (simple) related to the continent...for example we did watercolor koi fish for Asia and watercolor sunset and animal silhouettes for Africa! I'm currently trying to figure out what art to use for Europe!
coloring maps helps Enchanted learning has a ton of them ! We used around the world stuff with Trail Guide to Geography --- they probably have a US edition...
We are just wrapping up our year using galloping the globe. We enjoyed it , we used as a "launch pad" , all the possible suggestions can be overwhelming at times. We picked a country for every month of school. I did map drill with blank outline maps. We together created our own legend for the blank map & then they filled it in themselves using colored pencils. For example the legend for our Italy map brown is where the Dolomites mtns are , the Alps black, the islands of Sicily & Sardinia were pink, a red star for the capital Rome, a green triangle for the volcano Mt. Vesuvius etc. I let them decide the colors for the legend & what to put on the map. I also focused on 1-2 famous people from each country - for Italy we did Galileo the astronomer & tied in science with Italy. Also we included & Da Vinci & the Mona Lisa .And I try to find out some things / inventions that came from the country. And when possible we learn about the foods eaten & either find a recipe to make ourselves or go to a restaurant that would serve something lose to that type of food. I believe Galloping the Globe is K-5th ??? Not sure if your 7th would enjoy it but the options are many . Hope you find something that works!!
I cover geography in the elementary years using inexpensive map workbooks. We fill in blank US maps with state names, name the continents, play geo games, and watch a few IMAX or Nat Geo documentaries. I also incorporate art projects or recipes from the country. I usually do geography for half a year then go into some history.
I've focused on a few countries each year and we read library books about the culture and country, do projects, and watch videos. This year we are focusing on the US and Canada by doing virtual travel.
