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The part of geography besides countries
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I looked through older posts on geography but didn’t find the answer I was looking for; does anyone teach their kids about the difference between lakes and rivers, and where borders are and about North, South, East and West etc.? or do you all just read books and see where they take you?
Yes, I’m using Home Geography for Primary Grades by C.C. Long and Ann Voskamp’s “Explore His Earth” after that.
Rachel
Oh and yes in the reading of books, we naturally seek out where they are talking about on a map or in an Atlas. We all like to do that, alot; the children now inquire on their own; sometimes to my aggravation if I just want to “get through” a reading!
Rachel
We do. We are using Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography, available on the Ambleside Online site.
Gaeleen
Yes, we do this. We don’t particularly use books to do it; we use outdoor time, nature walks, and geocaching. If you want an easy, fun way to teach this sort of thing, geocaching really fits the bill. We’ve learned all of the above, plus grid coordinate systems and how they relate to the land, how to read topographical maps, and orienteering.
For the directions, we have a digital compass in our van, so the kids know or are learning (depending on age) what E, W, N, and S stand for, plus putting them together (SE, NW, etc). We also do this on the map/globe, as well (Milwaukee is east of St. Paul, Seattle is west of St. Paul, Mexico is south of St. Paul – based on where relatives/friends live around the country and world). Rivers and lakes we naturally learn just going over bridges or to the beach, or again on maps/globes.
Each of our children aged 4 and up have a map book of our city, and a map of our province. (The province map was free at the tourist center…. we bought the city map books).
Often when driving around (not always in the city, but definately always out of the province) our kids have their map/book, and track where we are. Easier for the kids that can at least sort of read! The know how to find the right area of the map by the map grid, they know map symbols, how to follow along the road, and it helps them practice reading too. At first I had to help (assuming my dh was in the car), but now the 6yo helps the 4yo. (oh, the 2yo has a map too to look at… lol)
A few weeks ago we took a little daytrip to another province, and our 6yo suggested a different route back home, that would go through a provincial park. He did a great job describing the propsed route, and it would have worked, although it would have added 1 to 2 hours to the trip. Would have been potentially worth it if it would have been daylight out!
I try to integrate geography into what we’re studying. So when a book mentions a place, we pull out an atlas or look at the wall map and try to find it.
I have done some specific atlas skills with pages I found online. And there is a good living book Maps & Globes. But generally we integrate that kind of instruction into our other reading.
We also used Charlotte Mason’s geography book for awhile. It’s available free online. The book prompted me to cover items such as equator, peninsula, horizon, etc. Some of the info in the book was outdated – I don’t have my print anymore to reference for details.
Since that time, we use our other readings as a basis for geography. When we concentrate on a specific place, we make homemade maps. The mapping brings up many issues such as – what is a river delta, plateau, desert, tundra, etc.
I made a point of getting books about our specific area as well. We live along a river, so we studied the history of the river as well as what makes a river. (Incidentally, on vacation last year we visited the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa. The museum has a huge map displayed of the river systems in North America. I love maps to begin with, but that map was amazing and I haven’t seen one like it before. They didn’t have a replica for sale in the gift shop, alas. If you are anywhere near Dubuque, IA, check out the museum. It’s quite nice – and think of me when you look at the huge map of rivers!)
We also display maps in our home – in the kitchen, by the kid’s beds, sometimes in the living room. I’m always impressed by what the kids learn just by having the maps so handy.
We plan to study geology this year, and I’m expecting some geography will be learned in conjunction with that.
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