I absolutely LOVE geography--it's my favorite subject! However, I struggled last year trying to figure out the best way to teach it to a 2nd grader--there are so many ways to do it and so many materials to choose from. We ended up doing lapbooks the 2nd half of the year, after 1/2 a year of boring lessons that we both hated. Since then, I've done some internet-research on how other homeschool moms teach it. Mostly inspired by my friend Jolanthe (Homeschool Creations) but with some other ideas added, I think I've come up with a good plan for this year. I decided to do 2-week unit studies on different countries, but I chose the countries based on Isaac's history studies (Story of the World: Middle Ages). History is my 2nd favorite subject-very closely following geography, so it's natural that I link the 2! I'm using the books I have pictured on the Amazon widget below, but I'm also using other children's stories, games, puzzles, youtube video clips, websites, crafts, notebooking, and smaller-scale lapbooking. Living in the UK, we'll also have access to some wonderful take-away restaurants--Fish and Chips, Chinese, and Turkish (we did Indian earlier this year).
Can I also mention that I'm very thankful that Jolanthe recommended Around the World in 80 Tales and the Geography Songs? After reading her reviews on Homeschool Creations, I purchased both from Amazon here in the UK, and I LOVE them!
Oh, and we're also going to do a passport. I found the template at http://www.guesthollow.com/. I'll post a photo once we get it started. I purchased Flags of the World stickers to put in the passport,and I'm going to use my handy date stamper when we begin and finish a unit. Okay, so here are the countries we're going to study (not necessarily in this order):
United Kingdom, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France, Israel, China, Japan, Iraq, Russia, Norway, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Mexico. We're going to end with a 4-week unit on Explorers. We're definitely starting with the UK, which should be fun since we've lived here 4 1/2 years. Once we get started, I'll post more about what we're doing! Hurray!!!
This year we're using The Story of the World: Middle Ages by Susan Wise Bauer. Last year we used the first book in the series, The Story of the World: Ancient Times. Instead of getting the book to read to Isaac this coming year, I decided to get him the audio CDs of the book. This way, he can do his own history lesson while I work with Moriah. I also purchased the activity book that goes with it. The activity books are great because they have wonderful coloring sheets and maps, which you can photocopy for your own children. Also they have reading lists and wonderful activity ideas that bring history to life! Isaac does the coloring sheets and map activities and places them in his history notebook. He also does a timeline. Isaac loves to draw, so I let him draw a picture or symbol for each time block. For 3rd grade, I'll be giving Isaac independent reading assignments in books that go along with our history lessons.
We will be reading Door in the Wall as part of our storytime this year, and I plan to have Isaac do a lapbook on it. Along with the books pictured above, Isaac will also be reading Castles, What Were Castles For?, Once a Mouse, Lon Po Po, Baboushka and the Three Kings, Explor-a-Maze, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, and William Shakespeare and the Globe. If you've never watched Animated Hero Classics, they are wonderful! I look for them on Ebay and have several already. This year Isaac will be watching the DVDs on Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Joan of Arc, Marco Polo, and Christopher Columbus. In Science this year Isaac is studying Earth and Space. Around the time we study the Renaissance, Isaac will read a biography on Galileo as part of his science study. I'm planning to look in charity shops for books of Renaissance art. I particularly want to study da Vinci as part of Isaac's history. I also have a few field trips in mind. It REALLY helps that we live in England!!! We normally go somewhere every Saturday and have already visited loads of castles, but I have in mind 2 particular "big" trips for this year. We are planning to visit Warwick Castle (which is supposed to be the best medieval experience at a castle and also costs a lot--we're going to save our money!) and also the Jorvik Viking Centre in York. We visited it when Isaac was 3 1/2, but it would be so much more to him when he studies Vikings!
