So we are using Sonlight, and so far we love it! My girls love all the books that we read, and so do I. They are really learning a lot. Next year, though, we are planning to take a break from Sonlight and study Canada. My girls will be age 7 and 5, grades 2 and K. I would love any advice about how to go about it, good books to read, etc. I'm thinking we should spend a little bit of time on the geography of Canada first, and then do some history. Any help is appreciated
We haven't studied Canada yet, but I've been gathering material for a Canadian unit study. Most of it I saved as PDFs on disk, so I don't have all the links, but here's a few I planned on using: Lapbook: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/country_canada.php Links to games and other learning sites: http://www.livinglifeandlearning.com/canadian-geography-lesson-plans.html Geography and Government lapbook and notebooking printables: http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/profile/8943
Thank you! It seems the majority of curriculum is geared towards the US, so finding good stuff for Canada is a little more challenging.
Check out Donna Ward. She's got tons on her website for Canadian history and geography. We are doing the Apple Press mapping books. Their Canada Map book 1 has taught our guys tons about Canadian geography, and has been a spring board for discussion an research. We use the Scholastics Children's Atlas of Canada. It has a lot of other great info. There are quite a few great resources out there for learning about Canadian history and geography, but I find that I have to work at getting them into my curriculum. It's easy to find yourself only learning American history/geography and famous people. But I really try to make it a priority to teach the Canadian side of things too. We love our American neighbors though! Don't get me wrong friends!
Donna Wards materials are excellent. However here is a link http://www.k12studycanada.org/resources_teacher_resources.html that should help you greatly as well. You are right Canadian education materials are hard to find even as a Canadian. There is a huge market right now for making curriculum for Canadians based on Canada.
My best suggestion - go for a really long drive this summer! lol! We drove from BC to Ontario a year and a half ago. It was crazy, but those kids really understand the difference between the mountains, the prairies and the rocky Canadian shield. Seriously though, I hope you are finding some resources that get your creative juices flowing. Have fun.
LOL! We do have family in BC, Alberta, and Ontario. DH is hoping to take a trip to BC in the next few years, and eventually Ontario as well. Just waiting for the kiddos to be a little older so it's easier travelling.
There is a family that lives in a town about half an hour away, and they have a little homeschool store. I'm thinking I need to take a drive out there and check out what they have. When you can see books and flip through them, it helps. I think they even have Donna Ward's stuff there.
Christian Light Education has a course or two specifically dedicated to the study of Canada. And their fifth grade is the history of North America, not just the US, so there's pretty good coverage in there. www.clp.org
I think they are just for older grades though, right? My girls will only be grades K and 2 next year. I may use those yet, once they get to that point as I really like CLE workbooks. Good to know about grade 5 history.
Check out their website and see what they have - Canadian math in early grades, maybe some SS for youngers, IDK.
Our main resource for Canadian history and social studies is the Historica Canada website. Remember those Heritage Minutes tv commercials (I smell burnt toast!... Johnson, Molly Johnson.... etc)? They have all of the videos online, and tons of free lesson plans to go with them. It's hands down the best resource out there, IMO. I have .pdf files of a unit study on the provinces I did up for my oldest a couple of years ago. I'd be happy to send them to you if you like. We use the EnglishSmart series of books for our Language Arts, too, because it's Canadian based, and each LA lesson is also a small social studies/history lesson.
Thank you! I will have to check out that website. Are the EnglishSmart books a complete LA curriculum, or do you have to add anything to them?
