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How to make Geography and History more fun?
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We have been using the SCM guides. We are almost finished module 2 and will start module 3 with the next school year.
The problem is that just reading what is assigned isn’t enjoyable for my kids (ages 6 and 8). I have really enjoyed “A Child’s Geography: Explore the Holy Land.” I’m not one that really enjoys geography or history, but this geography book is really interesting . . . for me. I don’t want to add a lot of time to the school day, but something has to be done different to make it more fun. The history is okay. I could walk away from it and not care, I’m hoping when we get past the ancients it will be more fun.
We’ve been in the middle of a terrible and stressful move (and it isn’t over) so my planning for next year has been stalled. But I really need to be coming up with some ideas and plans. Any imput on how to make this more fun for all of us would be great. Once we are actually done moving to a final destination, we should be settled for a couple years and can put some things up on the walls. We have been in such a transition stage the last couple of years that there has not been anything on our walls (even the clock has sat on the floor!).
Thanks for any ideas. Everyone on here seems to have such great ideas. I feel so uncreative and boring! Maybe I should send my kids to your house!! =) lol
Have you ever seen the History Kits from Hands and Hearts? They’re pretty fun!
I have felt the same way. We just finished module 2 and although one of my children found it fascinating the other did not. So for module 3 I have been looking at the extra resources/links section on this website and will try to add those into the schedule. That is an easy doable thing. I also want to do the Roman feast. Sounds like fun. Maybe even try to dress like the Romans and everything.
Since you just finished the greeks you might also want to extend it a bit and allow your children to watch some sections of the olympics. Then discuss.
That is why we start w/ U.S. History 🙂 My kids know the difference because we discuss Biblical history at Bible times..we do a timeline etc… They just LOVE U.S. history! It is so much fun. We are about to start Westward Ho! Then we learn our states, capitols, and wonderful info about America for Geography. Kids just relate to what they are familiar with in my opinion.
I know it is not CM to do this! It is what works for us and many others too!
I love the hands and hearts kits!! I think I’ll have to try and get that and we can work on the Greek ones throughout the summer and then add in the Roman ones next year. Those kits even made me excited about doing it!
I’ve never been a huge olympic watcher, but my dh likes to and has already been telling the girls about them and watching them. I’ll have to remind them about the Greeks and the starting of the games.
2flowerboys, I sometimes wish I’d started with US history. I liked the idea of working through it chronologically and that the US history would be in the older grades where we would be going more into depth. I also liked th idea of doing it in the later high school years and combining some of the english papers with more modern history. I’ve thought about skipping to US history, but we’re already half way there and I already have the module 3 guide.
We have a lot of fun doing mini unit studies on one country at a time. We learn what they eat (and maybe try some recipes), how they live, their culture (music, art, lifestyle), livelihoods, family life, etc. We learn some important history, and you can make a timeline just for that country. It’s a lot of fun. My kids love the Highlights Top Secret Adventures too. Right now they have the Australia one. The Canada one my son fell in love with the country from it and begs to go there soon!
Tara
My favorites for geography are cultural event and apps. At cultural events children get to experience music, dances, food, crafts and people from certain geographical regions. A lot of times people are open to talk to your children about their home country. Or just take them to a speciality store from the region you are learning about.
For learning geographical facts there are great apps out, if you have a tablet or iPhone. They are fun and entertaining or that age group but still educational.
Another thing we did is getting books from the library that portrait the everyday life of a family in a certain region.
Un fortunately I am not that creative with history. We mainly stick to the bible stories and look in the library for books that may be interesting. Only “fun” thing we did was going to see a King Tut Exhibition (we are in Module 1).
Blessings
Christine
http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/history-games/index.php Scroll down to the Greece links – there’s a cute song that sums up Greek history in about 2 minutes – it covers a lot of the highlights from Module 2 in a fun format with pictures.
I HIGHLY recommend the Hands and Hearts kits–we have used these for a long time and loved each one.
Speaking of the Estes family, however–if you don’t already know, their youngest son, who has had chronic long-term health struggles, is now dangerously ill and the entire family needs to be surrounded with a wall of prayer right now.
We do similar to Tara for geography. It is not very structured. We have the right books and things available and have fun learning about a different country/culture per month.
Some books and things we like:
Geopuzzles
10 Days in… games
Look What Came From … books (which also has a recipe in the back)
Passport to the World
Material World
children’s atlas for that country
Window on the World (to learn of that country’s prayer needs and pray for them) Dover’s Around the World coloring book of that country and flag
Travel videos
They made their own passports out of file folders and color that country on the outline map and draw and color the flag and write the country name. I write in their “travel dates”. The maps are blank outline maps that cover about 1/5 of the page; one continent per file folder page. I plan to add a travel journal sometime when they are a bit older. Mine are 7.5 and 5. So my 2nd grader probably is ready for the travel journal now. This would include written narrations and drawings from the country of study.
If there are any other literature books that go with the country, I add those in as read-aloud, but you could assign independent reading to your older children as you see fit. We also watch travel videos like Rick Steves or Rudy Maxa.
PS, concerning history, our least favorite has been Greeks.
We used a lapbook from A Journey Through Learning this term for ancient Rome. ALL my kids (7-14) loved it and begged to do more. They have lots of options available. Here’s the link:
Sometimes we get overwhelmed and just need a break. I would suggest some Noggin games. They are simple and fun. Even my 5 year old is good at guessing the answers. Sometimes she even knows the answers and surprises us! 🙂 They have a few different History games and they are so simple! There are good games out there. Some were mentioned above. I would also suggest maybe products of Hot Dots. It is simple and they love the pens. They have different learning cards for their pens. I don’t have time to look up the site because we are about to go on a feild trip. I must rush off. You should be able to find it by googling Hot Dots or looking for it on Amazon. Go to their home site to find the products. I love Hot Dots. I would just do that until everything gets back to normal.
Blessings! Good Luck with your move…. 🙂
History Pockets are fun for creating a lapbook. I felt the same way with history. DD needed something hands on (not just something once/term around exam time).
Wow! Wish I knew about Hands and Hearts! That looks fantastic!
BTW, for geography, DD loves doing puzzles. She has really taken off with geography on the iPad as well.
Thanks so much for all the great ideas! Y’all are awesome!
I need to print up my planning sheet for next year and write some of this down.
We should be finishing module 1 within the next 2 weeks, so I think I’ll just stick with what we’re doing for now. We should be able to finish up all of our other subjects by the end of May.
The house we moved into ended up still being for sale (after we were told 2x that it wouldn’t be) and there is work that needs done that the owner doesn’t want to do, including mold removal. We do have to give a 30 day notice before we move out, so we’ll be staying put for at least another 30 days. Though we are not really unpacking which leaves us living amongst boxes and messes ’cause nothing has a place to go. Anyways, hopefully we’ll be pretty much finished school for the summer by the time we move out and can focus on getting settled before a new school year starts up.
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