Posts Tagged "geography"

Simply Ways to Make Geography Fun

Posted by Stef Layton on Sep 12, 2016 in Homeschool Helps | 0 comments

Geography has always been an interesting subject to me, but for some younger students it can be overwhelming. 7 Continents, 4 sometimes 5 oceans, imaginary lines, 4 hemispheres, and over 190 confirmed countries. Add the  different landforms, temperatures, and languages … the Earth can make students feel like it’s just a spinning sphere of confusion.

Simple Ways to Make Geography Fun

1. Invest in an inflatable globe. Globes are easy to spin, point, and even toss around for review. They make it easier to locate different lands because of reference points. I can easily see where Africa is compared to Asia – but if I print a map of Africa … I just see Africa.
You can also use a dry erase marker on inflatable globes to draw navigation or trade routes, regions, etc. It is much easier than printing out a new map each week.

2. Explore one country every few days. Do not be afraid to stick to one country and really learn about it. Discover landforms, major cities or rivers, borders, imports and exports, regional food, plus famous landmarks or famous people. Sure a child can sing a song and memorize words, but when asked to point to those countries on a map they look lost. Ask them one unique thing about that country and they can only chant the next country in their cute song. The library will be your best friend to check out books, movies, and reference materials.

3. Purchase Country Notebooking Pages. Let’s be honest. We all want to create the perfect curriculum, but just don’t have the time to make our way through Pinterest to piece it together. You can easily grab a beautifully compiled pack of almost 200 countries and study the world at your own pace! No mean teacher’s planner to bark deadlines and remind you how much you’re “behind” this year. Print a country and enjoy learning about it.

We might sing, It’s a Small World, but I disagree. It’s a big beautiful world full of interesting places – enjoy learning about them with your children.

Summer Vacation Maps

Posted by Stef Layton on Jun 13, 2016 in Educational Travel, Travel | 0 comments

Are you planning your summer vacation? Or packed and ready to hit the highway? Let your students enjoy some map making skills and create a fun keepsake this summer.

Summer Vacation Maps

Print a black and white map of the USA (or country you will be visiting). Encourage your students to label the map of the places you will be traveling through. Then draw a line of your route through the states / country. As you drive along suggest your students add special landmarks, cities, rivers, mountains, etc. along your way.  Color in bodies of water, railways, forests, and interesting terrain.

Older students can add historical landmarks and special events.

You do not have to make a cross country trip. Even if you stay in state and head to Grandma’s house, do something different and map a Summer Vacation Map.

Keep your map in a safe place. When you get home laminate their Summer Vacation maps! You’ll have a special reminder of the trip y’all took the Summer of 2016.

We flew to Washington DC, so I did not have my children create a fun map. However, when we got home we laminated all of our museum “tickets”, Metro passes, and some special things we picked up into a fun little poster. They even drew pictures of the Washington Monument and Capitol Building.

All of our family fun pictures are on Facebook and Instagram, which are not easy for little ones to look back and remember the exciting trip. Having these laminated “posters” or Summer Vacation Maps help spark conversations, geography lessons, and remind our children of the great times we have had together.