Having homeschooled for as long as we have, I frequently get questions regarding the “how to’s”.
“How do you organize your school day?”
“How do you teach multiple ages?”
“How do you find extra curricular activities?”
The question I get most often is about choosing curriculum. Specifically, Geography. I have no idea why it’s this subject in particular, but, I know my answer!
There are dozens of choices on the market. My favorite way to teach Geography is in the context of History or Literature. The reason is simple, not only will combining Geography study with History or Literature will save you time and aggravation. It’ll make the lesson that much memorable as more connections are made in the brain.
You can implement either subject with Geography fairly easily. Taking the teacher’s notes from History, print a blank map of the country (countries) to be studied. Have your student locate capitols, key towns, rivers, mountains, battle sites, changes in boarders (to name a few) before beginning the unit. As they learn, they can refer back to this map making the account more realistic and cementing details in their minds.
If you don’t have the teacher’s notes, never fear. A little sleuthing on the internet will help give you key areas to concentrate.
To implement this with Literature, the same procedure can be followed with a little foreknowledge of the plot of the novel.
If you must follow a set curriculum, we have used and enjoyed Tapestry of Grace, Sonlight and NIA Unit Studies. However, the best times we have had have been in utilizing the freedom of choosing a variety of time periods and literature and then adding maps as the icing on the learning cake.
Whatever method you choose for your homeschool, taking the extra step to correlate Geography with History and Literature will pay benefits in years to come!
You can check out a variety of geography selections at Rainbow Resource!
