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Geography for 6year olds
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I have a 1st and 3rd grader. Does any one have a 6 year old? As far as the Geography, and History are these resources “exciting” enough to keep their attention. This is my concern. I’m new to CM so I’m still learning here but as far as the geography and map outline, does anyone one use any other resources other then what is suggested here. I plan to start this year with Module 3. Are there any suggestions from you all as to How to keep the Geography “hands-on” instead of having my 6 year old simply write the locations on a blank map? OR is your experience in this area prove that most children this age range are doing well in. Would having a large world map or ancient map and “footprint” the steps of ancient times be more visual? I don’t know, I’m looking for suggestions.
My smaller kids just look at a big Sam’s Club map tacked on the wall.
I don’t do the SCM map drill wiith anyone under third grade. My four year old just points and says what she knows and then we add a new state or country each time. It has to be a BIG map for my four year old to “get it”. Oh, and she just learns things that are common to her–like our state and city and where Grandma and Grandpa live. I don’t do map drill with my 6 year old yet either. Like Caroline we use a big wall map and a globe to get the feel for the basics as it is a very abstract concept. One of my favorite books to share with this age group is “Me On the Map” by Joan Sweeney. It begins in the little girl’s bedroom, then her house, then her street, then her town, then her state, then her country, then the world (introducing maps all along the way). This “zooming in and out” effect was the key for my kids to understand maps conceptually, then I had them make their own maps beginning in their room, house, etc… just like in the book. It’s a great way to start! Also, we use the World Floor Map puzzle by Melissa & Doug. It’s very inexpensive and gives young children a great start on continents and oceans in a very hands-on fashion. Hope that helps a bit!
Rachel
I wouldn’t do formal map drills with a six year old either. For my youngest (3 1/2), we draw a dot on a large map when we read about a place in a story. She also likes to know where she lives and where her reletives live.
I have a third grader and had asked Sonya just a couple of weeks ago about map drills for him and she gave a great suggestion. Here is the link to that post.
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/how-old-for-map-drills
Heather
Don’t underestimate the educational value of simply posting maps on your walls! One of the best (and easiest) homeschooling things I’ve done is put up a map next to the kids beds. They stare and study the map and know quite a bit on their own. If you have wall space, put up some nice maps and let them become part of your life. If you can find the plastic placements with maps on them, they make good lunch-time schoolwork.
For a 6yo, I like to concentrate on your own neighborhood. What’s the terrain like and why? Where did the town and street names come from? Where’s the nearest body of water, the highest point, favorite place in the neighborhood, etc? What makes our neighborhood different from Grandma’s or Auntie’s neighborhood? Notice the changing plants and weather whenever you walk out the door. You get the idea.
As you talk about other subjects, especially history of course, pull out the map and say, “Let’s find out where that place is.” You don’t need to do more than that for age 6. I had the habit of finding our city on the map before finding anywhere else on the map during exercises like this (until my kids rebelled and said, “Mom, we know where we live!” LOL).
A fun book is the Scrambled States of America. It looks fluffy, but my kids got hooked on learning the state from reading that book (and there is a cute DVD too).
Charlotte Mason actually recommended beginning “geography” for very young ones with the concrete things around them—hills, rivers, directions, creeks, –the idea being that you go outside and see and experience these close-at-hand things first. This always seemed like a good place to start with my children, even though I live in a sort of low-on-features area. 🙂 There is still plenty to learn. We geocache in our family, too, so we are often teaching the basics of direction-finding, orienteering, using compasses, estimating distances, etc. by the age of 6. If you have access to the original writings of Charlotte Mason, I really recommend the section “Out-of-Door Geography” in vol. 1, Home Education.
We have the Scrambled States book, and also a fun game called Scrambled States that my kids have loved. They all know the outlines of every state on sight now. 🙂 In fact we have a lot of geography games, and along with the outdoor suggestions above, and finding “where” on a map for all the things we read and hear about, playing those games is a lot of our “curriculum”
I don’t do the SCM map drill wiith anyone under third grade. My four year old just points and says what she knows and then we add a new state or country each time. It has to be a BIG map for my four year old to “get it”. Oh, and she just learns things that are common to her–like our state and city and where Grandma and Grandpa live. 
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