I have read this book 2-3 times to my now 8 year old. He loves it. It is so exciting and has wonderful rich language. I’ve never really done a ‘formal’ geography study with it, but it would be great for that. It also presents a great opportunity to learn about time zones & the rotation of the earth.
I just wanted to bring it up because I haven’t really heard it mentioned in Charlotte Mason circles, but I think it would make a fantastic addition to a living book curriculum.
We really enjoyed it as a family too! My kids got out the maps and followed them around the world. Have you read any more of Jules Verne? We also loved Journey to the Center of the Earth. We read it in small chunks a few times per day instead of longer readings to make it accessible for all my ages (at the time ages were eight kids age 13-1).
We read Around the World as a read aloud, too. My girls really enjoyed it (I did too). The whole time I was reading it, I wished we were doing some kind of mapping something – but we weren’t. I have determined that next time, we will!
We haven’t read any of the other Jules Verne books Tristan, but thanks for the recommendation. If they are as engaging as Around the World, I’m sure we would love them!
I also just realized this week, as I was reading Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey to my 3 & 5 yr old, that it would be fun to print out a map of Boston from Google Maps or something and track the ducks around the city. They mention quite a few landmarks and streets in that story. It would be a fun little mini-geography lesson for the littles.