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Anyone else skip map drill for Middle East with young children? Or some history with ancients too?
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I have to be honest; in planning Module 2/3 for next year I am not excited about having my kids (10 and under) do map drills for the Middle East. Many countries are hard even for me to pronounce, and Africa was hard enough for them last year, with the writing/spelling of country names. I am also afraid they are going to glaze over during the history sections too, ancient pepople in Greece/Rome just seem a bit abstract, and unimportant/unnecessary to them at this point in life.
Does anyone else use a different plan for younger kiddos? We did Module 5 and 6, then Ancient Egypt last year, so I feel we need a bit of a break from America, but am not really looking forward to Greece and Rome:(
I may be a minority here, or maybe my kiddos have gotten too much twaddle; maybe your kids love Ancient Greece/Rome!
Middle Ages could be fun for this age group. I would probably feel the same if mine were all young. I usually plan somewhat for the older ones, and just let the younger ones drop out/”get off the bus” when they’ve had enough. We will be starting with Module 1 next year, and I’m wondering how it will go for my younger ones. I plan to collect all the SCM recommended books for little ones from all modules over the summer, and just read from them as wanted to give them a little something more at their level and ability.
I wouldn’t even start map drills until they were about 10..and then Middle East wouldn’t be my first choice for sure! At that age, I think I would just keep going (or start over to review and solidify) things closer to home. You could consider just doing local geography…your town, familiar neighboring towns, highways to get there, your state…I had to do this with one of my high schoolers! when he was about to drive b/c somehow, he just never got that Just my 2 cents!
When we did map drill for the Middle East last year ( my boys are now 6 and 8), we didn’t write the names in. I had them use a different color for each country( whatever color they wanted to use) and each week we would start with the same country, and color them in. Eventually, I had them just write in the first letter of previous countries, and then completely color in the new country for the week. After that, i would call out countries in random order and have them point them out. We only did the draw the country activity once, I think.
I felt it was valuable, especially with so many middle eastern countries in the news. They don’t see or hear much news, but were able to make good connections when the names did come up. It made Afghanistan and Syria more “real ” places rather than just names for them.
We did not finish all of our Greek reading, but the boys got a LOT out of Little Spartan cousin and Little Athenian cousin, as well as a different book called The Great Alexander the Great. For fun, we are reading Our Little Macedonian Cousin of Long Ago this summer. 🙂
I did module 2 Ancient Greece last year with an 8 and 5 year old. We didn’t finish the SCM plans. Part of that was life circumstances, and part was it was starting to go over both of our heads. I think that’s not the most enjoyable time period for me. I still feel like we got a good picture of that time period. We loved the Our Little Cousin books that Katrina mentioned. We read these other books that had a lot of pictures in them that helped:
The Greek News
I Wonder Why Greeks Built Temples
Modern Rhymes in Ancient Times
Growing Up in Ancient Greece
Greek Myths (Jim Weiss audio recording)
You WOuld Want to be a slave in Ancient Greece
Adventures in Ancient Greece
Run With Me, Nike
Greeky Myths from Storynory (free online audio stories)
I still used the Stuff They Left Behind, just not when it was scheudled.
We did Ancient Egypt the year before and really enjoyed it. We did what Katrina mentioned with the maps, coloring the countries. I think it’s okay at this age for them to learn the countries receptively instead of expressively.
We are going to go with Ancient Rome next year.
Hope you can find what works for you!
We always do http://www.sheppardsoftware.com for map drills. The kids think it feels like a game and they try to beat their best score. My 8YO has been using it since he was 6 and knows more countries and capitals than I do.
Another thing we have done is to order a geopuzzle to go with the geographical area we are studying. It’s a nice hands on way to learn the countries.
Here’s something else my younger ones enjoyed while we are reading from our geography books. I would draw out a shape of the continent on a piece of construction paper. Then I give them squares of tissue paper. They roll them up into tiny balls and glue them inside of the continent shape until it is all filled up. Great way to keep hands buys, mouths quiet and good fine motor skills! I also borrowed a montessori idea and let them to pin punching for the outline of the continent.
We started Module 1 when my oldest was 6, so went through 2 and 3 at age 7 and 8. Personally, I felt like he needed to learn the continents and states first, before learning other countries. I also knew we would revisit this at an older age and do more. This year we used the Visits to Europe book as a guide, but did not do the map drills. We would find the country when we were studying it, but that was it. I also supplemented with Expedition Earth for geography, and it was one of their favorite subjects.
You can always make up some simple file folder games with a printed color map and a black and white copy. The b/w copy is the base and you cut out the colored one. Have them match the shapes (countries/continents/etc) to the other. The maps can both be labeled or the b/w copy could be blank. You can make several like that for each continent, one for oceans and bodies of water…anything. I laminated mine and used double sided tape, but you don’t have to.
They could also just glue the new country on a map each week and quickly review the names of the others.
In the Visits to Series, Sonya provided the names of the countries studied in the back of the book for you to cut out and simply have the child label the map each week.
We really enjoyed modules 2 and 3 several years ago (minus the Famous Men books). My eldest was in 2nd/3rd grade at the time. My ds was 5 at the time and we had a 2 year old. We will return to the module 2 time period in the coming year with 13, 10, 7, and 4 year olds.
Yes, I would do map drill with any children 6 or older. It isn’t too hard and the names are easy enough with the help of online pronunciation. The books chosen for the Visits to the Middle East book are really great. So great, that we are making this study part of our CM co-op. Map drill is a wonderful, wonderful tool and I think it would be a shame to do without it personally. If writing the full name of the country is too much, let them write the first letter or let them color it in. I like puzzles and games to supplement, but the books and the map study are terrific!
My 6 and 8 year old really like the map drills last year. I printed off the country names and as they added countries they colored the country name paper to match the country on the map. My oldest could read so she would try to say the names, but since my youngest could not read he sat next to me and did more of a “matching game” and I would tell him the names. They also really liked the family read aloud books. What was also great about map drills is that I learned with the kids, it has been so helpful to me, someone who never really learned about other countries.
We started with year 5 my first year, went back to 1 but it was tougher (but we really liked Boy of the Pyramids) so then I moved onto year 2 read alouds. I think I just struggle with ancients and early grades. So…. this year we are going to do year 4 and I am so excited! The kids really like to read about early American history and I told them we are going to learn about the times before the Pilgrams even came and they thought that sounded good. I already have some of the family read alouds and they look really good.
I am often reminded that while the idea of a chronological order sounds good, that does not have to be the only way 🙂
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